Ghettoblaster Remixes (Radio Slave & Jesse Rose Remixes) - Armand Van Helden

Ghettoblaster Remixes (Radio Slave & Jesse Rose Remixes)

Armand Van Helden [Southern Fried]

#01 in this month's The 20

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: The 20: ghettoblaster southern fried records

Armand Van Helden’s album ‘Ghettoblaster’ is one of the best LPs of the year thanks to the NYC producer’s masterful ability to fuse old skool 1980s house sensibilities with modern production methods and electro basslines.

By capitalizing on his rich heritage as one of house music’s most prolific artists, he highlighted the importance of sticking to one’s roots, whilst at the same time demonstrated that he’s still in touch with what works on a dancefloor.

“I always seem to turn in house music, but I’m actually pretty jaded of the house scene,” revealed Armand in an interview to Beatportal in July.

“I’ve been around it so much, I don’t really get it anymore.

“I don’t go to house clubs – see I still call them house clubs which shows how old I am, but I don’t like the word ‘electronic’ there are too many syllables.”

That makes ‘Ghettoblaster’ all the more staggering as it’s packed full of dancefloor destroyers.

Here Radio Slave, Jesse Rose and Jahawi reinterpret three of the best tracks from the album – ‘Playmate’, ‘This Ain’t Hollywood’ and ‘A Track Called Jack’.

As expected, Radio Slave’s version of ‘This Ain’t Hollywood’ is a heads down, slow burning tech house number that would perfectly match the barren concrete walls of Berlin’s Panorama Bar - a club which Matt Edwards has admitted was one of his reasons for relocating to the city.

Gone are Armand Van Helden’s breakbeats, rap vocals and funky synth stabs, instead they’ve been replaced by druggy house basslines and reverb-laden FX.

This certainly ain’t Hollywood.

Jess Rose takes the electro broken beats of ‘Playmate’ and swaps them for a tight crunchy electro house rhythm.

By utilizing the female vocals of the original excellently, Rose cultivates a clever breakdown and manages to maintain the balance between light and dark – something that him and fellow fidget house producer Switch have become famous for.

Finally, Jahawi’s understated Jackin’ Off Remix of ‘A Track Called Jack’ procures the simple vocal of the original, but delivers a much darker and more evil beat.

All three remixes are very different, but excellent in their own right.

The real genius behind it all though, is Armand Van Helden.

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