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Apparently Voltage Music was set up by DJ Tomas (aka Tomas Palermo) and Professor Smith (aka Andrew Smith), the idea was to support anything from “electro and broken beats” to “traditional reggae riffs” and “stripped down” dub. Well, they probably covered a fair bit of that on their 10th release, ‘Kara Walker Variation 32’.

The original version is a busy bass laden electro beat twiddle that has a broken feel to it, enough to rock any tech house. Certainly pagan enough for me.

When looking for collaborators, Voltage Music’s electrical impulses extend beyond their San Francisco base. Before they were in contact with Domu, they had allegiances with the electro dub of Kode 9 (remember the opener to Sound Sensation?).

Domu has mixed up the original in that West London broken mode but really gets on with the samba rhythm. If you like this, check the new Daedelus album Denies The Days Demise. Daedelus takes it back to the West Coast.

The 12” inch is rounded off with a track called ‘Scent of Rockstar’ which is like a repackage of the original and Domu mixes of ‘Kara Walker Variation 32’ with a touch of computer game wobble thrown in. I can’t smell a rock star but I’d be interested to know if Mr. Pagan had one in mind when he wrote this track.

It’s taken a while for Hectic to get hold of this. As DJ Thomas says, “a small record label like Voltage is a hard business to run,” (see the link below An Introduction to Voltage Music). He concludes, “it’s important to continue to support the independent arts in variety of ways”. I hope a little support from Fly will help in a small way; at least I know who Kara Walker is now.

Hectic Mix nomination: Kara Walker Variation 32 (Domu Remix)

Reviewed: Douglas Pagan - Kara Walker Variation 32 (Voltage Music) Cat. No. VLT-010 12” Release date: 2005
Tracklisting:
A. Kara Walker Variation 32 (Domu Remix) (6:47)
B1. Kara Walker Variation 32 (Original) (8:06)
B2. Scent Of Rockstar (5:28)

Links:
Kara Walker: “Walker unleashes the traditionally proper Victorian medium of the silhouette directly onto the walls of the gallery, creating a theatrical space in which her unruly cut-paper characters fornicate and inflict violence on one another”.
Forward Ever : An Introduction to Voltage Music