Various Artists - Whale Music Remixed (Terra Nova Music) The concept is simple - David Rothenberg’s 2008 Whale Music: which explored the implicit music of the earth’s largest mammal - has been sent to some prominent electronic artists world wide for them to rework. The results are wildly free-ranging across a gamut of laptronics, free-jazz, field recording and minimalism. There’s the jazzy trip / hip-hop of “Killa Koholaa” (DJ Spooky) and “Beluga No Tears” (Gari Saarimaki and David Rothenberg), straight recordings of whales (“Belugas of the White Sea” and “One Lone Maui Humpback Whale”) as well as adventurous free jazz cut-ups - “Valentine’s Whale Remix” (3Corners of the World) and “F**king with Animals” (David Rothenberg and Mark Johnson). Rothenburg’s own field recordings and inter-specie jazz clarinet are omnipresent. As varied as the contributions are, highlights “Call Dem Whales”, White Sea Shamans engage in deep re-vocalised whale-call assimilations which are pure incantation and “Whale Lake” which most exemplifies the music of the whale, with its layered didgeridoo and electronic drones instilling the notion that oceanic depths and world of the whale are as alien as the far reaches of outer space. That Rothenberg contributes towards 5 of the 18 tracks would lead suppose that there was a preconceived idea of what the results should be! www.thousandmilesong.com Willsk Next