Gr3yman & Valerie Boybender - "The Message" EP

This is unpublished in its entirety.

Gr3yman and Valarie Boybender
"The Message"

Detroit's Gr3yman, (Mike Madill of 19.5 Collective fame) teamed up with the pseudonymous Valarie Boybender to produce this teaser 12" (a full length is forthcoming), with two original tracks and two remixes from Not Robo Boy and Kero.

The A-side, "The Message" is a true stomper, stadium house for the electro generation, with mad phat synths that bump and pump against the booty bass in a mash-up that leaves both the dancefloor and the bedsheets sweaty. Over the track soar Valarie's come-hither vocals, the sexiest thing to happen to music since Serge Gainsbourg.

Not Robo Boy (Himowari's Takeshi) turns in a twisting breakbeat remix that almost completely reconfigures the original track into something both different and just as satisfying. Leaving only basic vocals and some heavy breathing, the track presents Valarie in such a context as to make her the new voice of sex in music. But its about the beats, right? Takeshi takes drum and bass a couple of generations into the future, skipping 2-step, and whatever comes after that; completely unexpected twists and turns in the percussion. He's also taken the melody line and jiggered it to make it more in the avant garde tradition, coming off like Seefeel on DMT.

Kero turns in something similar to Takeshi's take on the track, but this is a little more dancefloor friendly. Almost all of the original vocals and melody are removed, leaving just the smallest example of bass and beats. Upon these fragile elements, Kero creates a new track on top, which thuds along for five minutes with some interesting sample mangling.

Saving the best for last, "Anymore" rounds out the EP, the true highlight, all swirling Liz Fraser vocals and Gary Numan keys. Taking its time to build, this track never peaks but maintains a constantly building groove, getting funkier each second.