Kammerflimmer Kollektief

With five releases in their back catalogue that skirt the borders of post-rock and electronica, this German six-piece ensemble have opened their vaults to plunder. The original tracks are densely packed with layers and textures offering ample variety to the sound burglars. David Last bookends the album with two expansive remixes of "Matt,” a brief track from the group’s 2005 release Absencen, spinning out two ping-pong rhythm micro-house pieces. Nôze likewise turns "Lichterloh” into a 4/4 crunchy club track, but manages to stack up the layers of piano, saxophone and vocal the other more dance-oriented producers excised. On the woozier side is Jan Jelinek’s treatment of "Unstet,” a track dedicated to late Gun Club singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, made into a jazzy, drunken swagger of swooning guitar and brushed drum work. Radian make "Equilibrium” into a quiet Lalo Schifrin-esque interlude from a Clint Eastwood movie pitting Dirty Harry against corrupt German cops on Mars. The most panoramic track is Hans Appelqvist’s treatment of "Shibboleth.” He maintains the bass and woodwind propulsion of the original but liquefies its edges then punctuates with stabs of horn, turning it into a tin soldier’s forced march into the ocean.