We first came across Black Strobe many moons ago after we listened to their remix of Tiefschwarz ‘Ghost Track’ ever since we have been big admirers of the Frenchmen.
Fast-forward a few years and the ‘Strobe are no more, but Arnaud Rebotini the brains behind their previous success is back and re-focused.
He’s started a new label, the aptly name BlackStrobe Records and is about to make his long awaited return with 2 new EP’s and a new album.
His album is coming out on May 23rd and we’ve already listened to the whole thing several times, but before we get to that he’s got two new EP’s out, one this week and one in early May.
He quite clearly has a renewed sense of purpose and his first EP ‘Personal Dictator’ has already been winning fans from all over the place, especially the video which is re-imagining of those classic 90’s fights from Street fighter and Mortal Kombat – a video only a quirky man like Rebotini could have come up with.
‘Personal Dictatorship’ starts off with the 12-inch mix and we can safely say that no-one is making music like this at the moment, it’s so brash and effects driven it almost sounds like Siriusmo on acid – a track that almost sounds like it was made with hardware in one take, a truly refreshing sound.
The package comes with a slew of remixes from Mixhell; who adds his traditional love of quirky drums to the mix and makes a driving dark industrial techno number, weird and wonderful in equal measure.
Following on Motor also take the original down the caustic route, but strips the track back and gives it a hollow warehouse vibe, possibly our favourite.
The Hacker also lends a hand on the remix duties and vocodes the original to make another demonically dark re-interpretation. A stunning remix from start to finish.
And to finish off the EP there is a b-side, which shows of Arnaud more playful side, well we say playful it’s just way less intense and even manages to be serene in parts,’Twilights Of The Gods’ is a clever track that is quite different to the a-side and remixes. Were labelling it deviant disco, and for us is the standout track on the entire package
We can’t tell you how happy that Arnaud is back, and from what we’ve heard so far, well all of it, he’s back and better than ever.
HBF Rating 8/10
And check out a preview of his new amazing live show that will accompany his new album.
