The Dust Science label (and label owners The Black Dog in general) have a clearly defined sound. Application, the side project featuring two thirds of tBD, took an interesting take on that style, tougher and glitchier. Their next step has been to put together a collection of remixes that, as it progresses, proceeds to tear that concept apart.

Pye Corner Audio starts off with a gorgeous analogue re-imagining of Front End. Stripping away the clinical beats of the original and leaving a warbling, sub heavy groover, with polyrhythmic piano stabs adding to the lysergic feel. Dancefloor versions are supplied by Geiom (with a stealthy, bleepy hat-driven version of Siren), Beneath (a steppy, grimy take on Flange 7) and Application themselves, with a pounding, speaker bursting remix of Swuth.

But then the album takes a left turn. Scanner’s remix of Ambient B is the inverse of the original, replacing the high end static drones with a steady thudding kick and tribal pattern under muted sci-fi tones, with a heavy sense of impending dread. Russell Haswell deconstructs CronJob, leaving shards of drums clinging onto the grid and allowing glimpses of harmonies through the fog

Mark Fell completes the collection with his usual oddness, with a piece based on the already strange Steve Reich’s Ice Cream Van. The 3m30 woozing fug of the original is stretched into 11 minutes of repetition entirely based on the interplay between two loops, a bassy tom sound and an insect like clicking. It’s closer to Reich than the original was, and is my new contender for “tune I would never expect to hear played at Fabric”. Application’s reasoning is

Sometimes we don’t understand what Mark Fell is doing but we always enjoy the experience

I don’t think that can be argued with.

This is a collection that spans a pretty wide range of electronic styles. And I’d imagine many listeners would find the whole thing too wide, as few are likely to enjoy Beneath’s Bug-esque dancehall beats as much as Haswell or Fell’s conceptual work. And yet every track is of a high quality. You’ll find a great four-tracker in this, but as to which four tracks, that will be entirely down to you.