While we’ve never doubted the ability of Legowelt or Actress on the production tip, or the curation duties of Serge for that matter, we’ve got to say that both artists and Clone have really smacked this one out of the park. Two remixes from Actress of the Legowelt cut “Elementz Of Houz Music“, the original of which dropped on Legowelt’s The Paranormal Soul full length last year. The reworkings first got previewed back in February but then we all seem to have forgotten about the tracks until their official release date last week, sort of like discovering the same amazing record twice.
Talking of much-loved full-lengths of 2012, while we may not have gushed over social media when Actress dropped R.I.P. last year (don’t mind saying that it got a bit embarrassing for a few top name critics and producers), we were still all over it as a stand-out LP. And if you’ve ever seen him go live, you know that he deserves the reign as one the scene’s finest.
In fact as producer’s and live performers both acts are on that rare top shelf material tip. Legowelt’s known for his soft synth sounds, Actress for his unique and scattered structures, though both can do the other equally well. And although the remix was no doubt given as stems after the initial track release, what we’ve got here sounds like a collaboration of their best techniques. Legowelt’s lush arrangements are given an extra attack and a left-field twist with such an organic evolution from the original that they could have been sitting in the studio together all along.
“Mix 1” on the A-side is your floor plate, a slightly darker movement in the house music realm of Clone, but the one 
most likely to fit in to a mix with the other Jack For Daze series plates. Actress managed to increase the playability of an already heavy track, taking it next level by beating it about some, having the underground club thoughts present at all times. This is the label that brought in Kyle Hall to remix Space Dimension Controller, and the series that launched the Geeeman alias, and “Mix 1” on this record is proper stylish against the previous catalogue.
Flip it over and you’ve got a similar framing of ideas flowed in to a 110bpm structure. It probably shouldn’t work but it does. The analogue sounds could be manually adjusted live, slightly off beat and stretched out, but feeling very real. Actress would’ve been well within his rights to push for this haunting version just to showcase what goes on behind the floor side, how complex and busy his ideas are when taken away from face value.
Unlikely as it seems, it’d be great to see a longer term collaboration between Actress and Legowelt, ala Ekoclef of the guys sending ideas back and forth, or like the Peverelist and Shackleton collaboration that saw them focus on one sound. This plate’s been on the deck for the last few days and left me wanting more.
Big ups all involved, stunning plate. In proper Clone style, no press release required, but just underneath you can check the tracks in full against some pretty decent (fan?) videos, compliments of the29nov.