#&co.

YES ABSOLUTLEY! HERE!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18153779/chapters/52085251

I completely missed &Co.’s acid/Italo stormer “Best of Friends” the first time around, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The skate company (and now record label) Bianca Chandon have just re-issued the track, and though the Best of Friends Remixes 12” misses out on the “Bonus Acid” from the original press, this is more than made up for by remixes from Rub-N-Tug and Force of Nature. The latter duo have had an especially busy year on the remix front, having also morphed Khotin’s “Aloe Drink” into hallucinatory cosmic disco on the Aloe Drink 12”. And no surprise, their version of “Best of Friends” is the undeniable stand-out, though there is much to be said for every track, including the boogie e-piano magic of “Wine Cooler.”

Bianca Chandon presents &Co. - Best of Friends Remixes (Bianca Chandon, 2018) The original cut of “Best of Friends” starts with aquatic synth filigree swimming around cushiony sub bass and a deep four to the floor. It’s a zoned out intro glide, eventually accented by double and triple time hi-hats and soft majestic piano chords. Things take on their final rhythmic shape when a mean bass hook and delicious 303 line fade in, building towards an inevitable acid explosion, all textural and vocal Roland squelches over the vintage drum machine flow. Those intro piano chords reappear, now with more presence and cinematic scope, and occasionally break off into colorful funk riffs and dreamy disco descents…the whole thing like peak time Italo euphoria locked to scorching acid ecstasy. Reaching even higher is “Wine Cooler” and its liquid electric piano fantasies. Things start with a beatless stretch of soaring piano dreams, as the cavernous bass vibes away over steady jazz house cymbal work. It’s a funked out groove for the ages, especially once the blissed out slow motion house beat enters, the whole thing almost too much, just total sunshine vibrations, heightened by the subtle swelling strings. The steady rhythmic thrust allows the e-piano to be ever more adventurous, as the mix is continually embellished with classical deep house signifiers…stomping squelching synthbass, swirling polysynth chords, abstract echo fx, and hot vibed out hi-hat work.

The A-side houses the remixes of “Best of Friends.” Rub-N-Tug start us out much like the original, with a heady percussive introduction built from kick and laser snare locked into a roughshod dub disco pattern, with bright cowbells and rimshots flashing through the sky alongside watery synth squiggles. The massive acid line is sizzling hot on the filter, surrounded by ravey sirens, atonal arps, and percussive fx pinging all around. Cymbals splash in huge hyperactive blasts and occasionally the hi-hat work grows fiery, while aquatic synths add colors of deep blue and sea green to the stereo field. And periodically, the wondrous pianos come in, banging/soloing away in celebratory Italo glory. For their remix, Force of Nature focus in on a particularly euphoric section of key work from “Best of Friends”, layering it over an epic and irresistible build of chest caving kick and 909 hats in a double time flow. Arena rock tom fills flash alongside industrial space noises and oceanic synth fx, until we drop hard into some far-out acid disco, spellbinding 303s percolating away over the cosmic rhythmics, the mix wide open and spacious, allowing all sorts of electronic effects and psychedelic arps to shimmer and swirl. Muscular piano chords add epic drama, the whole thing as propulsive can be, especially once the celestial ivory runs start dropping over the hypnotic flowing rhythms. Near the conclusion, the pianos back away, allowing the galactic jacking beats and tranced out acid line to soar uninhibited, while space drones and sea synths wash over the mind.

Aiiight it's a nice weekend with lot's on!