Artist: Raskal (US)
Title: Directive Prime
Remixers: Reiche, Tonal Grooves, Brendon Lee
Label: Southern Exposure

Tracklist
01. Directive Prime (Original Mix)
02. Directive Prime (Reiche Remix)
03. Directive Prime (Tonal Grooves Deep Space Remix)
04. Directive Prime (Brendon Lee Spock’s Hangover Remix)

Raskal delivers the goods for Southern Exposure’s first release with his dubby tech-prog groover Directive Prime! The tune reels you in immediately with its haunting melodic pads, trippy panned vocals and sitar-like stings. The bassline is funky enough to satisfy the house heads while keeping with a more progressive techno vibe throughout the length of the song, reminding you of a time when progressive music was at the forefront via 2002-2004. This tune could be played at any point in the evening depending on what kind of set you’re playing and should be a welcome addition to any house or techno dj’s crate.

Brendon Lee takes this tune and adds his signature quirky techy vibe to it in style. He keeps the vocals from the original mostly intact but takes the track in a much funkier direction and it works very well. The open hi-hat gives you that techno vibe while the low-end percussion and bassline make you bounce. This is a remix for booty shakers and that was Brendon Lee is known for. One particular highlight of this remix comes from an oldschool house vibe that comes in right after the main breakdown with some nice horns and this vibe carries the tune home nicely.

Label co-founder Reiche, a recent New York-Atlanta transplant, goes with a rolling, funky progressive vibe for his remix of Directive Prime. This tune is the kind you use to step up a set and let the crowd know that things are about to kick up a notch. It’s quirky, almost circus-like pads and washes float and filter nicely over the top of a low end that should satisfy fans of producers like Robert Babicz. What stands out the most in this tune is the twisted growling bassline that continues to evolve throughout the entirety of the mix.

Tonal Grooves comes into his first remix for Southern Exposure with a fantastic tribal-progressive mix that has a gorgeous breakbeat that pops up in the main breakdown. This is the kind of song that you play deep in the night when you have the crowd in the palm of your hands. Grooves uses the vocals from the original sparsely, deciding to let the synthy pads from the original stay at the forefront for his mix.