PIGFACE

BELOW THE BELT

  1/  Radio Bagpipe (The Protomartyr Mix)                                      4.54
        Remix by Curse Mackey
  2/  Kiss King (Saint James Mix)                                              6.21
        Remix by James Galus
  3/  Burundi (Overload Mix)                                                   5.44
        Remix by Justin Broadrick
  4/  More (Fly Away Mix)                                                      5.16
        Remix by Subgenius
  5/  Nutopia (The Looptopia Mix)                                              4.34
        Remix by Hanzel und Gretyl
  6/  More Methylated (Sheep On Drugs Remix)                                   5.16
        Remix by Lee Fraser
  7/  Metal Tangerine (Forever Georgia Peach Mix)                              5.02
        Remix by Resident Phase Shifter
  8/  First Taken Third Found (Phylr Mix)                                      6.20
        Remix by JF Coleman
  9/  Burundi (The Shore Suite Mix)                                            6.09
        Remix by Scanner
  10/ Nutopia (Warzone Mix)                                                    6.26
        Remix by Van Christie
  11/ More (Moseley Cupboard Smash Up)                                         6.40
        Remix by Quoit
  12/ Warzone (Satellite Transmission Mix)                                     5.22
        Remix by Tranquility Bass
  13/ You Know...(Nothing Mix)                                                 5.30
        Remix by Bagman

          Produced by Pigface

          1998  -  Invisible Records (USA), inv099cd  (CD)

REVIEWS :

As with every other Pigface album, a remix album is sure to follow. "Below The Belt" comes as no surprise for veteran Pigface fans. Unlike other Pigface remix collections, however, this one capitolizes on the current popularity of Drum'n'Bass and Dub. The massivley reworked Pigface tracks are abnormally mellow with percussion are the most commonly added element. Lee Frasier, Justin Broderick, Mick Harris, JF Coleman and others all offer their unique rhythms to their chosen tracks with ruthless efficiency. Unfortunately, if you are unimpressed with the recent Electronica invasion, then you will abhor this remix collection. If you are like me, however, and enjoy Invisible Records latest batch of electronic artiststhen this album will fill your drum quotient for the next month.

Jester (courtesy of the Sonic Boom website)

..................................................

Overall impression: excellent. This cd is the remix followup to the most recent Pigface album, "A New High in Low". This one is my favorite of the remix albums so far ("Washingmachine Mouth", "Feel Like Heaven .."), it's a natural extension of what was achieved on the original album. Several members of the extended Invisible family take part in this remix-fest, as well as a few non-family members like Hanzel und Gretyl, Scanner and Tranquility Bass. Each remix is about what you'd expect from the respective remixer, some are more "industrial" (Curse Mackey, Justin Broadrick, Quoit), others are more "dance-y" (Subgenius, Bagman, Tranquility Bass), but overall they all fall somewhere inbetween the two categories and they all sound great. Matter of fact, this is the first Pigface remix album that I don't have to skip any tracks. None of the individual re-mixes really stand out on their own (ie, just listen to the whole thing!), but I was surprised by how much I like the guitar treated rendition of "Nutopia" by Hanzel und Gretel, the gentle acoustic guitar lines in Van Christie's remix of "Nutopia" and the downright funk of Tranquility Bass' remix of "Warzone". Great stuff, it's another exploration in big and nasty drum 'n bass and the Low. If you liked "A New High in Low", then you'll like this one as much or more, more, more. Not sure what the seemingly random photos on the packaging are for, but they look great.

mark@southwind.net