MP3 Review: Ummagma "Kiev Remixes" (Emerald & Doreen Recordings)

[https://ummagma.bandcamp.com/]

When I think of Ummagma I always think of an artist that I like and as such I'm not really sure how to write about this collection of ten songs.   For one thing, it's the original version of the Ummagma song "Kiev" (which appears on their album "Antigravity") and then nine different remixes of it.    How can someone remix Ummagma and have it sound bad?  I bet I could put together some kind of Ummagma remix and it wouldn't even sound bad!  (I've only done one remix before, but we're not going to talk about that)

So what you have to understand about this release is that the original song is by Ummagma and about 85% or so of the rest of this music is by other artists, who are all talented in their own rights.   So this might not be an Ummagma album per se, but you still have them at the base of every song so I can see why it works as such.

You know what my biggest problem with remix albums is?   Whenever I think of a remix I think of a song that sounds slightly like the original but isn't quite the same.   There is just that one little piece of the puzzle added in to throw the listener off.    It's one of the reasons why I don't like listening to remixes or entire albums of remixes because I feel like you're listening to "This song" and then "This song plus beats" and then "This song plus electro lasers" and then "This song plus strings" and so on as such.

With this remix album, which I only really listened to because Ummagma hasn't let me down yet, you are hearing the same song- in its roots- ten times over, yet it sounds like ten different songs to me.   The fact that the artists pulled that off is amazing and it does not just feel as if you're listening to the same song only with slight alterations.

To me, this isn't really a remix album.   I feel like it should be better described as a compilation of sorts, maybe a step next to a covers album without it being directly covers.   Maybe it could be called "Kiev Dedications" because these songs aren't so much remixed as they are reimagined and reinvented.