photo as featured in Lazio Creativo

This eagerly awaited 7″ finally tumbled through the letterbox the other day.

Sonic Jesus remixed by Sonic Boom.

But what happens when two sonic waves overlap?

Would there be interference?

Would the interference be constructive or destructive?

Would the resulting displacement, leave the individuals in their former exalted locations?

I have always been a little wary of remixes.

Back in the day when the 12″ single was king, more often than not the remix arrived simultaneously – bringing an often welcome, extended play, unhampered by an affinity for the “original”.

What happens though when the remix comes much later?

When the song being remixed, happens to be the opening track, on perhaps one of the most groundbreaking albums ever produced?

Part of me was afraid to even listen, to what this potential transgression on hallowed ground might yield.

I needn’t have worried, my fears were immediately allayed.

The aural juggernaut that was ‘Locomotive’, sees the anointed, further blessed by the holy.

The remix by Sonic Boom aka Pete Kember aka Spectrum aka Spacemen 3, is divine.

It is deliriously subtle, hauntingly harmonious, paying homage to the original, complimenting and augmenting it, in breathtaking fashion.

Panic averted…

In many ways, I was much more interested in Side B.

A remix, even one of this calibre is all very well.

A new song by Sonic Jesus is an entirely different matter.

‘Never In My Mind’ opens to nerve shattering, attention arresting, percussive opulence, soon you are grappling with the uptempo writhing torment, carried along relentlessly – the inescapable, undulating rhythm, delivering a synapse ensnaring, siren’s clarion call…

Initially, I was a bit peeved that I was “only” getting one of the transparent red vinyl copies.

The 100 white splatter copies, were offered only as exclusives with the repressed Deluxe version of ‘Neither Virtue nor Anger’.

Then a warm glow came over me, when I remembered I have a signed copy of the first pressing in black/blue splatter.

At the end of the day, it’s all a matter of perspective.

A perspective which Sonic Jesus continue to enrich, way beyond my wildest expectations…

You too can still pick up a copy of this essential release, courtesy of those wonderful people at Fuzz Club Records.