single // Do Da Doo
NovaMute released Robotman's
'Do Da Doo' in the UK in August 1994, licensing the track from Definitive.
I've seen that there are other versions of this track floating around,
possibly including Richard Michaels' original mix,
but I've never bothered to investigate. That's because the key draw
of this release is the expansive Richie 'Plastikman' Hawtin
acid house remix.
Anyone familiar with Hawtin's lengthy, twenty-odd-minute
remix of System 7's 'Alpha Wave' will know the drill – a quiet
start and gentle build, clipped beats and hissing percussion augmenting
a low bassy rumble threatening at any moment to erupt into a full-on
acid house onslaught. It takes roughly three minutes of that tantalising
build-up before the 303 starts to waver and coalesce, filtering
madly until a breakdown around nine minutes in, whereupon layers
of that distinctive synth burble along to themselves with only a
howling wind for company. Given the track's duration (all thirteen
minimal minutes), it's no surprise that the breakdown lasts a good
four minutes before the beat nudges its way back in. The repetitive
'got to do da doo' lyric mercifully only appears at the
very start, and – unlike the other mixes – is thankfully
not intrusive. I always think that I must be getting really long
in the tooth to still get excited by acid house, especially given
that this is now almost twenty years old, but frankly I don't care
– it still sounds as thrilling to me today as it did back
then, and way more interesting than a lot of electronic music out
there today.
Across the 12", limited 12" and CD there
are additional remixes from Richard Michaels and David Holmes. Holmes'
two mixes, both crafted with two thirds of Andy Weatherall's Sabres
Of Paradise, can't compete with Hawtin's at all, his Exploding Plastic
Mix over-using the annoying lyric snatch and totally distracting
from what would otherwise be a repetitive, but deep, hard-edged
minimal techno track with lots of metallic noises; rolling 'Spastik'-style
drums try desperately to link this to Hawtin's masterpiece, but
ultimately this falls well short, like so many of Holmes' mixes.
His other mix on the limited 12" is slightly better, aiming
as it does toward a percussive, dubby progressive house / techno
stew with added scary synth wobbles and spiky acid interludes. Even
so, like his Exploding Plastic Mix – both of which last for
almost ten minutes apiece – this remix can't quite sustain
its limited palette of ideas.
Michaels' four mixes are okay, generally going for
deep house in the vein of The Stickmen. Of his mixes, opt for either
the Drum Dub from the 12" or the Deep House Dub from the limited
12", both of which contain little more than a house beat with
barely-there synths and a low-pitched melody constructed entirely
from that omnipresent vocal sample.
12":
A. Do Da Doo (Plastikman's Acid House Remix)
B1. Do Da Doo (Exploding Plastic Mix)
B2. Do Da Doo (Drum Dub)
l12":
A. Do Da Doo (David Holmes' Remix)
B1. Do Da Doo (Hard House Dub)
B2. Do Da Doo (808 Mix)
cd:
1. Do Da Doo (Plastikman's Acid House Remix)
2. Do Da Doo (Exploding Plastic Mix)
3. Do Da Doo (David Holmes' Remix)
4. Do Da Doo (Detroit Groove Mix)
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