Head for the bunkers, because Bomb the Bass have reloaded and they're rolling down the runway. "Black River" is the third single from Bomb the Bass' recent album Future Chaos, and with featured vocalist Mark Lanegan on board, it's likely to leave a swath of destruction in its wake—emotional
destruction.
In the first of three remixes that will remake that landscape in radically different ways, England's Mercury Prize nominee Maps adds a bouncy, house-rooted beat, a judicious bit of Afro-Latin percussion and deep, chiming organ chords. It's a neat trick, when you stop to think about it—joining the offbeat Americana of the original song with elements of Old Europe and the New World alike; what's even more striking is the way that Maps has taken such a solitary song and made it feel like a roomful of people celebrating. From reverberant vocal harmonies to a pitter-pattering rain of detail, every inch of the tune is alive with movement and melody.
Patrice Bäumel, best known for his ultra-minimal "Roar"—a punishing, inventive DJ tool that owned floors in 2008—stays true to his reductionist principles. Preserving only Lanegan's vocals and a single, dramatic piano chord, Bäumel crafts a lithe, rippling rhythm on hi-hats and toms, pushing it forward with a syncopated, snub-nosed bass line; pensive, open-ended chords hang in the air like a memory of Detroit. Simplicity is key: every sound holds it own, and the overall effect is less one of restraint than a profound sense of balance.
The tempo rises under the direction of remixer Gui Boratto, who recasts the material in the warm, resonant style he has brought to releases like 2007's Chromophobia and remixes for Goldfrapp and the City of God soundtrack. Splitting the difference between minimal house and vintage New Order, skipping drums and high-necked bass melodies lock together in a lean but supple framework that foregrounds Lanegan's lonely tale.