It must be great being In Flagranti – rightly lauded by the chairmen of the discothèque for their astounding back cat of filth infused cowbell crudities (which stretches all the way back to the days before electroclash) the Swiss duo of Sasha Crnobrnja and Alex Gloor currently enjoy the jetset DJ lifestyle, get asked to remix all and sundry, can hand pick who they want to remix their own tracks and still have the time spare to go though reams and reams and films of 70s porn to shoot pretty hilarious promo videos and cover their vinyl releases in.

2010 started with “Ex Ex Ex”, their last single proper and a slew of accompanying sweat inducing remixes from the likes of Riton, DJ Wool, Headman and Golden Bug that got maximum dance floor exposure from club veterans like Diplo through to young whippersnappers such as Stopmakingme. Since “Ex Ex Ex’s” release the Swiss duo have put out a couple of under the counter edits on the sly (of course all available at Juno Download) and some five months on we now have their latest single.

“Through The Rabbit Hole” sees Sasha Crnobrnja & Alex Gloor, once again working with sultry vocalist Natalie Smash, demonstrate their adeptness at delivering slow burning chuggers along with the more familiar brand of filth inflected uptempo disco jams with the added bonus of some truly genius remixes. The original is five minutes of pure smacked out sex groove with Smash’s woozey vocals wrapped round a lolloping drum beat and a honky tonk approach to arppegiated synths. There’s also a real structure to the track which is sometimes lacking from the majority of music that gets swept under the nu-disco umbrella. The aforementioned remix genius comes in the shape of four truly different reinterpretations courtesy of the new and old guard of Italian discoteria and two British producers demonstrating their prowess under new guises.

Despite being considered as something of an innovator in Italo disco you can count the number of official remixes from Danielle Baldelli on both hands, thus it’s something of a coup on In Flagranti’s part to secure a remix from Baldelli and cohort Dionigi which is all snappy percussion, plonky keys and yet more arppegiated synth. Indeed this could be transported from the minimal wave era that has been documented so well recently via Stones Throw and Angular. A more contemporary Italian reimagination is offered up via supergroup Clap Rules, with a remix that retains the slow tempo of the original and fully demonstrates the nuances of the trios’ production skills – some lovely farty bass on this one.

Justin Robertson’s reputation as best dressed chicken in the discothèque is bettered only by his long list of staunch productions under a slew of aliases – from Lionrock to Revtone – and it is under his latest Deadstock 33s that “Through A Rabbit Hole” gets reworked as an off kilter sea shanty of a remix with a killer bass-line. Matt Waites premiered his Moscow alias at the turn of the year via “Throw Up” on Endless Flight and more recently on Lo Rec’s LOEB offshoot, with his love for the propa haus sound allowed to beam through away from the electro confines of his Nightmoves moniker. His remix of “Through The Rabbit Hole” ups the tempo and is aimed squarely for the dance floor – a neat way to end off yet another superlative EP from In Flagranti.

Review: Tony Poland