I thought Katalyst’s ‘Manipulating Agent’ was one of the greatest albums to come out last year, and this album of remixed, reworked and unreleased material is one of the best to come out this year so far. From the first note of Uprock This to the last beat of Break Up, this album simply shows how good Australian talent really is. All the tunes are fantastically transposed from their original context into new versions representing the sounds and influences of the remixing talent, each tune improving upon the original without taking anything away from the bent of Katalyst’s originals.

Uprock This is a re-working of Uprock by Katalyst himself, and it takes the original up a notch to a head bobbing, break dancing, funky party vibe, and it’s simply the best tune to start the album. All the tunes are stand out tunes, all shine as good as the last, but of particular interest is TOR’s remix of Race Against Time, which takes the already soul-filled track and injects it with more, so you’re almost overdosing on it. Danielsan’s War & Peace remix of Passing Of Peace contains an awesome scratch war between samples of people saying “war” and people saying “peace” to great effect.

Most of the tunes keep the breaks at a regular hiphop pace, but Ribosome’s take on Cycle is an excellent Bukem-styled drum and bass tune, smooth as silk. Another standout is DJ Soup, who Katalyst remixed on ‘Manipulating Agent’. He returns the favour with the Whose Reality Remix of The Agents From MK Ultra. This funky, psycadelic piece of fun rocks along just nicely. Other Aussie artists who get showcased are 2dogs, 7stu7, Crackpot, and Idiot Proof, whilst international flavour is served by Easton Rocks, Purple Penguin and Dynamo Productions (Featuring Andy Smith from Portishead). Katalyst’s unreleased tune Tell No Tales has a similar sound to the Avalanches, while Dangerous is a dark and creepy gun slinging sample fest.

Remix albums are often hit or miss, but every tune on this album is superb. I’m not one who listens to CDs over and over, as I get bored pretty easily, but this is one of those records you can play over and hear new stuff every listen. If you like intelligent hiphop, buy this album.