Seemingly more of a compilation than anything else -- almost half the tracks have remixing credits from the likes of
Vapourspace and
Jammin' Unit (which admittedly just means half the band remixing itself!) --
Red still holds together surprisingly well as an album-length collection of
Air Liquide's clinically aggressive techno, mixing both sheen and electronic dirt together quite well. Even more impressive is how it's held up over the accelerated life-cycles of modern dance-based music -- unlike many releases aiming to be clearly of their time first and foremost,
Red sounds like it just wants to be damn good, period. "If There Was No Gravity" betrays the origins of the album more than anything else -- the slightly drifty, slightly dippy whispering about mythology and the like is very post-ambient chill circa 1994, when the original song appeared.
Jammin' Unit's remix plays up a squalling bass loop, while adding all sorts of creepy, subtle loops during the instrumental breaks, making the song more than the sum of its parts. "Interactive Warlords" sets the general tone of
Red right from the start, both perfectly propulsive and with a just-soft-enough side balancing out rough bursts and clicks not that far removed from
the Aphex Twin's fascination with technical aggro. Titling one track "Tanz Der Lemminge II" is a nice nod to Krautrock's
Amon Duul II, though the crisp techno beat of the
DJ Hell/Tom remix is not exactly something you'd hear on
Wolf City or
Yeti. As for the
Vapourspace remix, while it's not on the level of
Mark Gage's own highlights like "Gravitational Arch of Ten," his take on "Theme from Robot Wars -- System Engaged" does have a nice slow build to it. With a dollop of prescience added for effect ("MP3," titled after the then-new format but years before it became the record companies' boogeyman),
Red is worth looking into if one gets the chance.