Various Artists: Reich Remixed

Though Philip Glass has always been the minimalist composer with the most crossover appeal, Steve Reich has long remained a favorite among club DJs. Such Reich pieces as "Music For 18 Musicians" and "Drumming," with their hypnotic, interlocking percussion instruments, are chill-out-room staples, and early phase works like "Come Out" and "It's Gonna Rain" clearly influenced the psychedelic soundbites of so many ambient techno artists. Reich's more recent, often religious-themed pieces are a bit too much to relax to, which may be why the new remix project Reich Remixed avoids compositions like "Different Trains" and "The Cave" in favor of such older works as "Eight Lines," "The Four Sections," and the aforementioned phase pieces. What makes remixing Reich such a challenge, and the reason Reich Remixed is ultimately a mixed bag, is the very nature of his compositions: Repetitive but never static, his music is about subtle, focused progression. Compositions like "Music For 18 Musicians" take a long, long time to get where they're going, which is why, for instance, Coldcut's condensed mix of that track sort of misses the point. Reich is so mathematical and precise that there's not a whole lot of room for manipulation, leaving many of these remixes as little more than Reich with beats laid atop them—or solo tracks that sample bits of Reich's material. As tributes go, Mantronik's "Drumming" and Howie B's "Eight Lines" are pleasant enough, and both Nobukazu Takemura's vaguely drum-and-bass take on "Proverb" and DJ Spooky's "City Life" are pretty impressive, but nothing here really sheds any new light on the source material. If anything, Reich Remixed is a reminder of the composer's singular talents and considerable influence, not to mention a reminder of the limitations of many DJs, whose reliance on BPMs too often serves as a creative crutch.