Renegade Hardware Presents: Reanimation EP

Label: Renegade HardwareScore: 7.5/10

Remixing and updating old classic Drum & Bass tunes can be rather dangerous territory. Get it right and you’ve breathed new life into an already seminal record from way back. Get it wrong however and you can be villified from all angles. Renegade Hardware’s latest offering is a four tracks that all on the remix tip with a twist as there is a remix of two absolute classics and two more recent Hardware anthems. 

There’s a little switcheroo on the newer side of things seeing Maztek get to grips with Optiv & BTK’s Inception as they get to work on his track Limber. Maztek takes Inception down a more neuro funk route while still retaining the overall tone and step of the original. Limber is given a tidy rewrite by the Swiss based duo, with the track being given a dash of extra groove from its techy origins. One thing is clear both are destined to do damage on speakers and eardrums. 

As for the classics its up to Inside Info and Verb to see if they are up to the task of pulling two seminal Hardware releases kicking and screaming into 2013. I’d have to say they’ve done a pretty good job of it. Verb takes care of things on the remix of Future Cut’s Whiplash. Taking the Amens and running them throughout the track it’s a sterling update by the Hardware veteran. Usual Suspect’s Killa Bees is given to Inside Info for the refix and bring his A-game, crafting an aggy banger. 

There’s plenty on offer here to warrant your cold hard cash, and a good blend of old and new brought bang up to date by some of the best in the scene at the moment.