Track of the Day: Illyus & Barrientos - Pick Up Lines (Ki Creighton Remix)

Aug 31

LAMP-totd-blog-ki-creighton Our guest this week, Scottish producer and DJ Ki Creighton laid down a really great mix for us. It's full of treats because of all the unreleased material woven into the tracklist. This however, provided an extra challenge for me as our usual Wednesday tradition is to review a track from our guest's mix. Luckily I was able to find a few and this remix by the man himself felt appropriate on top of just being a really quality tune. Illyus & Barrientos are on my personal wishlist to have on our mix series some day so I get a two for the price of one opportunity to talk about some quality artists and their music.

Illyus & Barrientos - Pick Up Lines (Ki Creighton Remix)

Creighton's remix of 'Pick Up Lines' takes some of my favorite elements of the original and replaces the rest with some really great drums, a bouncing groove and some of other nice FX touches. To start the original's rolling bass line is exchanged for a more bouncy progression that adds a nice pop to kick and extra lift during the snare hits. Speaking of the drums, it's one element of Ki's work that I really appreciate as he understands dispersion and placement of each individual instrument really well. His rolls run really smoothly in the background that help to give the main drum sequence that extra punch in energy when the arrangement returns to the main chorus structure. Also there's this zipping, one-shot layered into the bass that completes the transition out of the breakdown adding an extra driving feel to the returning kick drum beat. A final note on the percussion would be the resampling of the hand drums in the original to create some diversity in the composition by arranging them into the breakdown around the 3:09 mark with some added filters for a nice muted feel. Creatively reworking vocals into a remix is challenge but usually a welcome one for most producers, especially if the original stems are quality and they convey some sort of emotion. In this case the sultry female vocals blend with the airy synth pads as the delayed effects on each layer seamlessly weave them together.Check out the full release below currently exclusively available on Beatport:I don't need to really introduce or speak much more about Ki Creighton and will simply direct you to our recent interview with him. I found it to be insightful regarding the producers, multi-faceted output and his love for music through and through.Materialism and it's parent Material and relatives (Playmobil, Mr. Carter) are labels we rate very highly here at LAMP and the guys that run them, Mihalis Safras & Mark Broom are some the brightest and most talented guys in the business. A vinyl junkie and phenomenal producer in Safras combined with Broom's infinite wisdom in the industry make for an impeccable team. This is verified by the constant quality of music they curate and release on the aforementioned imprint. If you're into techno, tech house or just quality electronic music in general but have been living under a rock here's a starting point