Bit Sand Riders [Audio CD] Pluramon; Matmos; Merzbow; High Llamas; Lee Ranaldo; FX Randomiz; SND; Sensorama and Mogwai

From humble origins designating an extended dance version, through the radical deconstruction of Jamaican dub, by the late '90s the term "remix" came to encompass a thorough reconstruction or even recomposition of the original. There are many examples but Microstoria's 1997 Reprovisers is a landmark of this approach (Microstoria's Jan St. Werner has played on previous Pluramon releases). The lipogrammatically titled Bit Sand Raiders brings 10 remixers to work on seven tracks from Pluramon's Render Bandits CD (there is more than one version of a couple of tracks) and Markus Schmickler (who is Pluramon) self-referentially remixes "Self" from Pickup Canyon. The remixers come from quite different sonic schools of thought. Contrasted with Hecker's full-on Viennese glitch-fest, Mogwai provide a nice spot of rock, and Lee Ranaldo contributes a non-digital sounding (and correspondingly titled) interpretation of Schmickler's stated aesthetic objective of taking a microscope to the guitar as a source of electronic sound. San Francisco's Matmos try their hand at "Hinterground," layering additional instruments on top with the duo's characteristic bedroom-funk panache and contrasting noticeably with Mogwai's take. While all the tracks are given a thorough working over, some of the remixers are also intriguing by virtue of not sounding exactly like themselves. While Hecker's laptop shredding is just what you'd expect from a Mego remix and Merzbow delivers the expected sonic assault, the stylistically chameleonic Atom Heart provides a more surprising track than either. Amid such a range, Snd and Pluramon provide a welcome dose of the warm, crunchy, Cologne-styled melodicism that laid the groundwork for the whole project. --Bob Bannister