Waajeed’s 2022 long player, Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz, was an aural love letter to his hometown of Detroit; an amalgam of the city’s history, coalescing the personal, political and, of course, musical past.
From the Motown soul assembly line to J Dilla’s musically dense Hip-Hop to The Stooges’ proto-Punk to the birth of Techno, the music of the Motor City has spread across the globe inspiring countless artists who in turn went on to create their own forms and genres.
Emulating this movement and transmutation, the Memoirs of Hi-Tech Jazz remixes 12” sees artists from three continents repurpose elements from across the LP, transforming them into productions stamped with their own trademark styles whilst retaining the spirit of each original:
the UK’s Mark Broom loops sections of Right Now while speeding up the BPM for a classic UK-style techno remix; Ghana-born Yazzus takes on The Ballad of Robert O’Bryant adding a surprising number of twists and turns for a five-and-a-half-minute piece; Australians Jensen Interceptor and Assembler Code close the 12” out with their take on the album’s title and opening track neatly closing the loop, bringing us full circle to the start of the LP.
The release of Memoirs…remixes add another facet to the immensely heartfelt tribute to Detroit from one of its most talented citizens and a true milestone in the Tresor catalogue.
