Known globally for their stomping live sets, Rarities and Remixes showcases Pitch Black’s mellower side. Beginning with a dancefloor friendly, but respectful reworking of the Richard Nunns and Hirini Melbourne original, ‘Te Po’ and ending with an equally haunting version of Tiki’s ‘Past Present Future’, Rarities and Remixes is an album that  represents the past, present and future of the Pitch Black partnership.

Included in the remixes are tracks by fellow Aotearoa/NZ dub trailblazers International Observer and Salmonella Dub, who appear alongside independent music producer Tom Cosm and reggae legends Katchafire. Also fed through the PB warping machine are tracks from further afield: ‘Mirror Beach’ by Mirror System (the ambient project of Britain’s System 7); and ‘A New Day’, a remix of a Sri Lankan track that Pitch Black remixed for the Laya Project, a collaboration of regional folk musicians affected by the 2004 tsunami.

For Mike, the remix process “gives us a chance to play with different types of sounds and composing techniques. I love getting the parts of these songs and creating a folder of sounds in response to the track. This quite often gives us the sound field and sonic vibe for the remix.”

Whilst all of Pitch Black’s four studio albums have been followed by a compilation of versions, this is the first to showcase their own remixing output. Mike says that having released many remixes of other artists’ songs on a variety of albums this release “gives us a chance to put them all in one place. It contains tracks from the very beginning of us working together right up to a track finished earlier this year.”

Included on the album are three Pitch Black rarities, one of which is a recording of 1996’s ‘I’m a Wanderer’, the first track the pair worked on together. “I had a long drums and effects jam that I wanted to turn into a song and Paddy was keen to work together so we took this long evolving track and chopped it up into a structure and then added Paddy’s vibe to it,” remembers Mike. “Pitch Black was born.”

‘I’m a Wanderer’ showcases the industrial beginnings of what would become the Pitch Black sound – a dynamic balancing act between heavily sculpted basslines and choppy melody. In contrast, ‘Protect the Grain’, a windborne ambient track that was previously released on the limited edition EP Flex is evidence of Pitch Black at their gentlest. Also included is ‘Kaikoura Dub’ from Whalerider, which was used on the film after director Niki Caro asked Mike for some music and he gave her a 23 minute mix of a jam recorded in Kaikoura: “She ended up choosing a sliver for the film. We subsequently used the bones of this track for the tune ‘Elements Turn’ on Ape to Angel but it’s great to find the original two track recording,” says Mike.

Pitch Black has always been more than a dance act, but on Rarities and Remixes they demonstrate the full reach of the musical territory they love to explore. 
Pitch Black "Rarities & Remixes" - BaseFM Cd of the week by BaseFM

Pitch Black
Rarities and Remixes

1 Te Po (Pitch Black Remix) Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns 
2 Kaikoura Dub Pitch Black 
3 House Of The Rising Dub (Pitch Black Remix) International Observer 
4 For The Love Of It (Pitch Black Version) Salmonella Dub 
5 The Opaque (Pitch Black Remix) Tom Cosm 
6 Sensimillia (Pitch Black's Sensi Dub) Katchafire 
7 I'm a Wanderer Pitch Black 
8 Mirror Beach (Pitch Black's Iron Sands Re-rub)  Mirror System 
9 A New Day (Pitch Black Remix) Laya Project 
10 Protect the Grain Pitch Black 
11 Past Present Future (Pitch Black's Sleep Whisperer Remix) Tiki

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