by Sterling McGarvey

People who are apeshit over Kruder & Dorfmeister are funny people. Many of them are flat out music geeks who manage to stymie other EDM enthusiasts with their encyclopedic knowledge of various Teutonic deities of the down or broken beat. Everyone has encountered one. You might be close friends with one. They might target people on the Internet and chide them for misappropriating a track. They might sit with your group and steal away your potential catch with their incessant diatribes on the power of Austria's finest export in decades (whatever you do, do not jestfully disagree and say, "Arnold Schwarzenegger was the greatest Austrian import." They never take it very well). Don't admit in front of them that you really might not have heard that rare bootleg. Don't admit that, (gasp!) you haven't listened to The K & D Sessions all the way through. The status of social pariah shall be cast upon thy poor soul with a cruelty seldom before witnessed. You might as well just go lock yourself in the lions' den and pray for a quick end.

With that having been said, this reviewer is a tad ignorant on the stylings of one half of Vienna's pride and joy. Put down the stones, please. I come not to bury the Peace Orchestra remix album, but to praise it. Having not heard Peter Kruder's original Peace Orchestra album, I can only judge the tracks on their own ability, not their variation on the source material. Whether that helps or hurts a reader's judgment has yet to be determined.

Right off the bat, the DJ DSL remix of "Double Drums" is absolutely sick. DSL slaps a ridiculous hip-hop beat down. Or is that beatdown? Either way, heads will nod. This remix will get played in lounge parties worldwide. And it will perk ears. Beanfield's interpretation of "Meister Petz" carries all the broken beat/nu jazz-inspired house quality that one expects from Central European productions. The same can be said for Raw Deal's reworking of "Domination." The Meitz remix of "Marrakesh" opens to an eerily cinematic soundscape, then explodes into heavily synthesized hip-hop, a la Herbie Hancock's electro experiments of the mid-80s. Zero dB takes a raging saxophone loop and grafts it onto a throbbing bassline to retell "Henry." Guillaume Boulard's retooling of "Domination" sounds like it would fit into both the downtime of an electroclash set and a nu jazz set. Chateau Flight brings the chill-out madness with their hypnotic mix of "Who Am I?"

As a result of having given Reset a listen, a non-Kruder enthusiast will likely walk away from the album feeling satisfied with its quality. The album exudes a certain craftsmanship in the production and remixing of the original materials. Give Reset a listen. In addition to making for one less embarrassing moment during a music discussion with said K&D fanatics, it certainly makes for a satisfying sonic endeavor.

Reset
by Peace Orchestra
Track Listing:

1. Man [El Hombre de la Pampa Mix] - Gotan Project
2. Meister Petz [Remix] - Beanfield
3. Double Drums [Remix]
4. Domination [Remix] - Raw Deal
5. Marakesch [Remix]
6. Henry [Remix]
7. Domination [Remix]
8. Who Am I [Remix] - Chateau Flight
9. Henry [Remix]
10. Shining [Treatment] - Trüby Trio
11. Man [Deep Gratitude Interpretation] - Kosma