Station 17 - Oui Mixe (2023)

Oui Bitte is the eleventh studio album by Station 17 and was recorded in Forellenhof, Nordhastedt - North Germany. With tired eyes, the collective usually sat together into the early hours and listened to the takes that the day's work had produced. The compelling rhythm, the supreme discipline of the band founded in 1989, has always been inherent in their work, and with the housy “Hausmann" a collective wish arose: here we need a remix! The desire then grew and spread over the entire album ... Remix albums have already become a tradition in the 30-year history of the collective: In 2001, the legendary label Mute Records released the album "Mikroprofessor" with remixes by DJ Koze, Thomas Fehlmann, Justus Köhncke and To Rococo Rot. In 2011, the "Goldstein Variations Remixes" followed, including versions by Erobique, Tobias Thomas, but also by Ada and Mense Reents, who we will meet again here. Timidly, the band began to ask their favourite producers most of whom agreed without hesitation. Soon, a top-class remix album with a Who’s Who of the local electronic music landscape was ready and even if only the bases of the pieces are recognisable, a completely new listening experience has been created here. It's grown into an independent work through the versatility of the participants and their expertise and can be enjoyed detached from the original material. As if by magic, a simultaneously stringent and diverse vibe has emerged that makes "Oui Mixe" more than just an addition to "Oui Bitte". We start with Berghain regular Efdemin, who takes on the instrumental song '20.000 Meilen unter dem Mond'. Efdemin, real name Phillip Sollmann, belonged to the core of Dial Records and now releases on Ostgut Ton. He is considered one of the most important protagonists in contemporary techno, because in his work he understands like no other how to care for the dancefloor as well as the loudspeakers at home. In addition to his records as Efdemin, he also regularly presents and produces other experimental, avant-garde projects. 'Hausmann', the origin of the remix idea, in the hands of Paul Frick is transformed into a Hi-NRG house number. Paul Frick is not only one third of Brandt-Brauer-Frick, but currently also a member of the legendary Tangerine Dream - a favourite band in the house of Station 17. Paul's version is a floorfiller for people who think they are tired and are proven wrong by the penetrating sound. Pantha du Prince picks up the energy of the whole album rebuilding "Pusch" on a pressing bass drum. Pantha du Prince, who has released modern classics of electronic music with 'This Bliss' and 'Black Noise', was in Thailand during the production. While he was producing the remix in the studio on the island of Ko Pha-ngan, a gang of monkeys stole his nuts: "Pantha du Prince Sharing Lunch with Apes RMX" - a poetry that only life can write. The Andreas Dorau number "Der Monat" is handled here by Toto Belmont from Helsinki. His association with the Hardwax Spectrum are clearly audible, but Kimmo Saastamoinen, as he is actually known, has long since found his own sound: Subtly driving, always slightly melancholic and peppered with billowing delays that you want to immerse yourself in. The number of projects in which Mense Reents has already participated is enormous. Let's limit ourselves here to his electronic projects Egoexpress and Die Vögel - and of course Die Goldenen Zitronen, among whose incredibly accomplished musicianship he is a big part of. The song "Bewegung" is given a subtle dancehall riddim and so many amazing details are flying around in the sound so that close-listening is recommended here without doubt. The biggest surprise is probably delivered by Ada: instead of moving the track "Aufgehoben", recorded again with Dorau, to the club, she simply wrote new music around the vocals, singing over them herself while picking up the trace elements of the original. In a club, this song could take on the role of the last track after a wild night: The lights come back on, but the body is still in the middle of it - and so the soul lifts itself with the music into a sphere reserved only for it: bliss. Michaela Dippel has ventured furthest away from the foundation and yet remains true to it: she picked up the melody that was lying there (according to the text) on the floor, sang it - and it sounded beautiful. Content and form combine and result in a new form, from which one can recognise the creative freedom that Station 17 generate. Finally, we drive slowly with Lawrence from the Forellenhof back to more urban realms. At night, through the province, until more and more lights appear and we finally find ourselves in the middle of a city that doesn't seem to sleep: With a lot of dub, "Das Rasen" thus becomes a deep house track in the hands of Dial Records founder Pete Kersten. A pleasantly soft stomping bass drum drives the melancholic arpeggiator synth. Station 17 are alive and kickin' - in their own and in other people's clothes. – Hendrik Otremba.