Review Summary: Dance floor bliss.
Anthony Naples does more than a masterful job of remixing Special Request's tune 'mindwash'. While Special Request original intent of the song is joyous and bubbly all due to a prominent and grating synth wave. Anthony just flips this tune over by giving it a hypnotic and rejuvanting feel to it.
I want to speak on the break that Anthony manipulizes on 'Mindwash'. He cuts the sample up perfectly by making it stutter, reversing the drum beat, pitching it, and giving more power to the kick drums. The break seems like its always changing and it would be challenging for any producer to make an excellent tune out of this excellent drum sequence. Compared to the original track Special Request makes pretty good use of the break by putting it in 3 minutes of the track to have a temporary cool down from the heaviness of the song. But Anthony just deconstructs this moment and builds it up like a Burning Man modern art piece.
Of course I can't skip about the other elements that makes this tune so unique. What about the bass? Well there is very little, as I mentioned the power from the kicks from the drum sample make up from lack of a bass line but instead we get this little bass pulse that rises up every now and then. A very smooth synth pad is introduced well over the one minute mark of the song, it helps to cement the feeling of hypnotism throughout the track. Vocal cuts also come into the track they are reggae dancehall vocals that are often used in jungle tracks like this and there is also a subtle 'yea' sample infused with the drum beat.
Yes, Anthony provides a very thorough and well thought remix to the well done original take. What Special Request made robotic and hard hitting, Anthony made organic and hypnotic. By adding a twist on the breaks, vocal samples, and graceful bass pulse we see how a pro does an original idea justice. Oh! and the rest of the album is pretty great.
