Album Review: Daniel Avery – New Energy
2 min read
Some of you may remember London-based DJ Daniel Avery’s debut LP, Drone Logic, released in 2013. It was an international success, unanimously acclaimed as “mesmerizing”, “exceptional” and even defined “a benchmark for so many other dance albums to aspire to” (Dummy). 2015 New Energy isn’t a second album (on which, however, Avery has started working) but a two-disc collection featuring remixes of Londoner DJ commissioned by the likes of Ø [Phase], Rødhåd, KiNK, Factory Floor, Powell, Silent Servant, Roman Flügel, Perc and Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve. Most of the original tracks are off Avery’s superb first record and the reworks compliment and sometimes even rebuild them. Drone Logic has been reconstructed twice – by post-industrial trio Factory Floor and German techno badman Rødhåd. Both results are good for home listening, not only to lift the dancefloor higher and higher. The second one is darker while the first one gives more space to the sinister, disembodied and indecipherable voice.
New energy pulls together some previously released remixes, such Roman Flügel’s hypnotic take on All I Need, but the majority are new and sound like a spontaneous tribute to one of 2013’s best techno albums. London-based techno DJ Perc reworked Reception emphasizing its energetic pulse and dunking the song in a thick acid house sauce. Dutch producer Conforce’s take on Simulrec is pulsating and atmospheric and switches back and forth between house and techno, while Knowing We’ll Be Here (KiNK Remix) is a gem of club music, with its acid line and electro beats. The title track, New Energy (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Re-Animation), has a propulsive rhythm and a vintage, 90s sound. All in all, the album sits together as a cohesive body of work, despite its variety.
According to Daniel Avery himself, the main motivation whilst making Drone Logic was to take the listener on a hi-fidelity trip for the duration of his whole debut album. This new record takes the listener even further away in a gloriously transcendent journey. There’s only one main flaw – sometimes the tracks are way too long and repetitive. Anyway, while you wait for another psychedelic techno record by Daniel Avery, this collection will make you feel as if you were dancing in some of the world’s best clubs.
