This is better! I must confess, I was kind of struggling on the last Now We Rave post. It just felt like things were kind of quiet in the maximal electro/techno world of late, and with the constantly active minimal scene keeping me distracted, the result was a fairly weak selection of records. For that I apologise, but I think this post more than makes up for it. There have been some remarkably heavy remixes being released recently- they say the art of the remix is to try make the original even better, and these certainly give it their best shot.

Surkin's Fan Out was one of the coolest tunes released this year in my opinion. It was so cool in fact, that it was my ringtone (before my iPhone got stolen, at Fabriclive appropriately). Just a divine work of raved-up French house with a bomb of a drop and a ridiculously heavy bassline. The Light Year remix keeps the intensity of the bassline, but adds a little acid-techno flavour to the whole thing.

Surkin - Fan Out (Light Year Remix)


It doesn't take too much of a genius to guess what Bart B More has done to a new Zombie Nation tune. The German techno heavyweight's Squeek (likely to be included in his forthcoming album) is given an unashamedly ravey makeover- not just the inevitable squeek synths, but the throbbing bassline and dancefloor-perfect structure will cause some shockwaves no doubt.

Zombie Nation - Squeek (Bart B More Remix)


The first of two major Tiga related inclusions is the Canadian's glorious remix of LCD Soundsystem's I Can Change. Yeah the original was a classic, but despite their reputation as leaders of the 'alternative dance' scene, I have never found their stuff that exciting on the dancefloor. Tiga sorts that out here, keeping those euphoric vocals but with an injection of Tiga-style electro goodness to make the whole thing exceptionally danceable.

LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change (Tiga Remix)


Next, Mathew Jonson's Dub mix of compatriot Tiga's Gentle Giant is something you could hear in fabric on a Saturday, as well as at a Bugged Out! night hosted by the electro kings. In fact I have- Craig Richards (had to give him an honourable mention somewhere) has included it in his weird and wonderful Room One sets before. Its rolling, trundling trance-inducing bassline is abstract and disturbing enough to keep those characters sane enough at 7am. Of course, there's none of Tiga's ballad friendly vocals on this...

Tiga - Gentle Giant (Mathew Jonson Dub)


Remember Digitalism? Of course you do, but it's unlikely you will have listened to them for a while, their superb eponymous debut album is probably collecting dust in the depths of your early iTunes library additions. Well that's the case for me anyway, and after discovering a friend has a similar experience with them it was time to pay tribute to them again! How ironic that their new Blitz EP has just been released then, and it's stonking good. The Villa remix of the title track is one of the most exciting tunes I've heard for a while. Good to see you back Digitalism, might go have to listen to Pogo now...

Digitalism - Blitz (Villa Remix)


And finally, you have no idea how good it always feels to post anything Ed Banger. It feels even better as it all seems to be at a premium recently. So, a SebastiAn remix of Uffie's Difficult is pretty much just what the doctor ordered. SebastiAn's fingerprints were all over the original anyway, but he couldn't leave it at that- prepare for thumping basslines and moreish, typically Ed Banger distortion. Two thumbs up for Seb'.

Uffie - Difficult (SebastiAn Remix)