Live Review: Rufus US Tour Dates + 'Desert Night' (Kastle & Groundislava Remixes)

The RÜFÜS (or RÜFÜS DU SOL) boys have recently set their gaze to the far away land of the USA. With the announcement of an upcoming tour to American shores in the pipeline, what better time than now to pump out two remixes of their hit single 'Desert Night'.

First up on remix duties we have Pittsburgh-local, KASTLE. This producer has been making a name for himself with his unique re-imagined sounds of bass-heavy future garage interwoven with a twist of classic Chicago house.

Taking 'Desert Night' into deep house territories, KASTLE splices together cuts of the sultry RÜFÜS vocal hooks and throws them into riffs of weighted bass synths and silken synth chords. He brings in rave house pianos throughout the track, as if pushing a breath of 90s-stained air into the track - and it completely works.

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Next in line on the remix package is LA-based producer and acclaimed WEDIDIT COLLECTIVE alumni, GROUNDISLAVA.

When I first saw the remix credit attached to the trackname I got pretty excited, and I must say I was a little disappointed with the first listen through. GROUNDISLAVA is known for his eclectic retrofuturistic sounds, moving from chiptune, to downtempo hip-hop, to glitch and back within the space of a few songs on a release - however, with his unique sound in mind, this fell a little short.

Releasing a few tongue-in-cheek remixes with a particular 90's flair in the past (for instance, stuff within his 'Treasure Chest' release, or his CITY CALM DOWN remix) you can see where GROUNDISLAVA is coming from. It's a fun re-imagining of the RÜFÜS track and technically speaking it's very tightly produced, but overall it just feels a little too far away from the essence of what GROUNDISLAVA really is.

RUFUS US TOUR DATES

Friday, March 7

Rickshaw Stop, SAN FRANCISCO

TICKETS

Saturday, March 08

The Echoplex, LOS ANGELES

TICKETS

Tuesday, March 11

Bang Bang, SAN DIEGO

TICKETS

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Commonwealth Bar & Stage, CALGARY