Sultan/Ned Shepard "Eye Spy"

With a new year comes new music and also new collaborations. What better way for two rising musicians from Montreal to get things into gear than to team up yet again with a top-notch single. One half of the equation is Sultan, and he has been on a tear, making multiple appearances on Global Underground releases and getting in good with the Deep Dish guys. You may be familiar with Ned Shepard; he was part of a duo that produced one of the most heralded progressive breakbeat tracks of the genre, a little diddy called ´Fingerpaint´; perhaps you´ve heard of it? In the past Sultan and Shepard collaborated on ´Connected´ and ´Together We Rise´, and this time around they have worked their magic to conjure up the energetic anthem ´Eye Spy´, now out on Harem Records and one that´s sure to start filling floors.

As the original mix is the most balanced track on the release in terms of percussion, melody and structure, the remixes do a great job of focusing and highlighting track elements. They almost act as primary colours and the original mix as a secondary.

After cooking up some hats and snares that shake-n-bake to start things off, a sprinkle of vocal edits make way for a full-throttle bassline that carries the original mix until fuzzed synths nudge some shy melodies front and centre. The pushy bassline and hesitant melody hold the focus of the track while percussion works around them but it isn´t until the track climaxes with solar plexus-socking chord
progressions and ends with more energy than which it started that you realize the middle half of the track was entirely a build up of tension.

The Gold Ryan remix takes responsibility for the melodies and anthem-like energy of the original, opting to make the percussion less prominent, almost mastering out the mid-range frequencies of the claps and de-clawing the kick. In its place are breakdowns that expand farther, synths that reach higher, and basslines that funk harder.

In stark contrast, Matthew Dekay´s remix is so chock-full of percussion that a can of sardines can listen and feel cosy: the releases between the kicks and hats are so abrupt that the track sounds very compact. As it brings in the familiar melodies and fuzzy synths from the original, it also climaxes higher, adding tightly chiming top melodies that have a tangible shining aural brilliance before it drops back down to the basslines, rising back to the hats and carrying itself to the end.

As the real lounge-y mix of the three, the Patch Park remix is the one track that really differs from the original in overall mood. The phrasing and main hook of the track repeat more frequently than in the
Gold Ryan and Dekay remixes, and in doing so gains that hypnotic groove that melts into the back of your mind and sooner becomes the soundtrack to your evening than the crowd-catching anthem. The subtle swelling and shifting bring the track to life, catching your ear and bobbing your head, drink in hand as you move from the bar back to your seat.

Sultan and Ned Shepard have offered up with ´Eye Spy´ what every release needs: a solid original mix supported by smart, complementing remixes that elaborate on initial ideas but also take themselves in a
different direction. I hear with my little ear some excellent tunes.