- It's important to remember that older tracks were being given extra shots at the market via new remixes long before anyone in dance music was worried about retro overload. Nevertheless, there's been a lot more of it lately, and while nostalgia is useful, maybe even necessary at times, it's also too easy an escape route from the present. It's not like Chicago house vet Chez Damier has been laying low lately, either—you may recall a nice little record he helped make two years ago, the Gathering's "In My System." That said, it's nice to see Damier's 1992 Can You Feel It EP (as opposed to the "Can You Feel It" that, by 1992, approximately one out of every five house producers had released) back in circulation, whether the new mixes add anything to it or not.
In this case, they do—not a ton, but something. Supernova rolls the word "keep" around a mix that fondly recapitulates a lot of basic house tricks—conga fills, busy bass, pads, organs, you know the drill. Steve Bug's two mixes offer updated versions—more filters, thicker and deeper kicks, more 3D production overall—of the classic MK remixes that thrust the track into the spotlight to begin with.
The original mixes included here say a lot everything about the state of American dance music in 1992. In just over a half-decade, house had gone from upstart to mainstream club music's status quo; techno had become the cutting edge. Can You Feel It reflected that handily: Half the mixes are from dub house cut-up legend MK, the other half from Underground Resistance. If that were to happen in 2012, dance fans wouldn't be able to find enough "Like" buttons to push, but back then it was business as usual. Even better, UR's "Radio Active Mix" is far more shamelessly poppy than MK's rather meh "Club Vocal"—take that, anonymity fetishists. Their "Low & Sleazy Mix" tumbles along on a fast, syncopated beat that's more abstract but no less hook-driven.
MK's two other versions are where the track's heart truly resides. The "MK Dub" hurtles past, riding a mnemonic, metallic riff that drills as hard as the bass, but the "New York Dub" is the true classic, letting the bass and string stabs do the talking, with that "keep us moving" floating through it all—friendly like Casper the ghost, an effervescent reminder of a more innocent time.
Tracklist 01. Can You Feel It (Supernova Remix)
02. Can You Feel It (Steve Bug Re-Dub)
03. Can You Feel It (Steve Bug Re-Mix)
04. Can You Feel It (New York Dub)
05. Can You Feel It (Radio Active Mix)
06. Can You Feel It (Club Mix)
07. Can You Feel It (Low & Sleazy Mix)
08. Can You Feel It (Club Vocal)
09. Can You Feel It (MK Dub)