[Unterton]

The prospect of an Ostgut Ton-curated white label remix project (hand-stamped, of course) is enough to have many heads fairly chomping at the bit. Add Villalobos to an already potent mix, and you can be reasonably assured of wallets opening faster than the good folks at Hard Wax can scrawl “TIP!” The fact that this 12″ displays a satisfyingly zen-like mastery of musical balance over the two sides comes as a welcome bonus. The debut release on Unterton comprises two remixes of tracks taken from Tobias Freund’s sterling 2011 debut LP, Leaning Over Backwards.

First up comes Efdemin, who completely flips the title track into a peak-time behemoth. And where Freund’s original was a somewhat ponderous excursion — employing a broken-beat sensibility and subtle melodic flourishes — this is a spider-face-tattooed techno beast. All requisite “Berghain stomper” elements are present and correct: Airtight booming kicks? Check. Quasi-industrial field recordings crossed with sinister, druggy 8 a.m. vibe? You got it. And a note here on the hats: in a genre that places serious import on the art of hat processing, Efdemin has it down. They come screaming through the mix like the ticking hands of the doomsday clock. Turning over, Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer deconstruct “Girts” to mightily trippy effect. As is to be expected, it lasts 12 minutes (and seems longer, in a good way), wanders all over the place, and takes you by surprise with seemingly disparate elements coming from nowhere — horn stabs, in particular. In a similar vein to their sprawling Shangaan remix, the original source material lies submerged in some far off abyss — but relax, you’re on Ricky time. All considered, this is a great 12″, and will surely mark the start of some serious adventuring through the outer reaches of techno, these coming years. I can’t wait.