Re-Routed: The Invisible Airline Remixes

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Q-Burns Abstract Message

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Florida native Michael "Q Burns" Donaldson has recruited a multinational task force of friends for this remix project of last year's Inivisible Airline and the result is a suitably eclectic though high quality collection of warm summery house cuts.

The album starts with German producers Rivera Rotation who spicing up the first of two mixes of This Time, his soulful disco track featuring the vocals of Lisa Shaw (who's apparently a favourite of Madonna). DC's Thunderball add a dub house disco complexion to Innocent, while San Francisco's Lovesky maintains the progressive grooves with his lush and tranced out mix of Innocent (our favourite mix on the record).

Next up, Leeds production Funky Transport add a bleeps based electro style version of Differently, followed by Hey Star City, an equally original sounding version by Russian producers Tetris. Hakan Libdo and Norway's Atakama maintain the melodic and highly listenable vibe as does man-of-the-moment King Britt on Innocent. The best mix though is a vocodered version of This Time by Q Burns and his friend DJ Grumpy, who deliver a fantastic otherworldly electro groove that's reminiscent of Yello at their best.

Re-Routed is a fine collection of impressively cohesive songs from a bunch of producers who clearly share Q Burns' singular vision and fine ear for melody.

Mostly house remixes on RE-ROUTED, the remix compilation off of Q-Burns Abstract Message's INVISIBLE AIRLINE -- not that this is a bad thing in the least. Rivera Rotation make "This Time" a sun-drenched Latin pounder, while Lovesky takes "Innocent" on a more progressive path (King Britt, unsurprisingly, goes deep, way deep, with his rub of the same track). Funky Transport almost blips Lisa Shaw's vocals out of "Differently," but she manages to make peace with the digitalism. She much more prominent on Hakan Libdo's version of "Shame," which has a good deal of wobble to it. But there are plenty of different flavors too: Thunderball dubs out "Dreamland," while Atakama give "Drifting Off" a live, funk feel. Doctorolive and his breaks, vocoder, and jazz double bass also help free "Imprisoned Glitch," which was originally imprisoned by middling lyrics. Neon Heights end the album with a chill house mix of "Differently," phasing and layering Shaw's vocals until they take on a different shape altogether. Good, but the remixes here don't quite compare to the originals.