AMG Review of Rare Elements

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

While it might seem jarring to have the work of sarangi master Ustad Sultan Khan featured alongside remixes by the likes of the Thievery Corporation, Radar One, Nickodemus & Osiris, Joe Clausell, Brainpolluter, and Ralphi Rosario, it's really not that much of a stretch. Given that Khan has played on albums by everyone from Madonna and Duran Duran to Peter Gabriel and George Harrison, this feels more like an extension than a departure. Rare Elements is the first in a purported series by the 5 Points Records label. Here, a renowned artist such as Khan records a series of new pieces, which are then remixed by electronica's whiz kids and the results are issued as collaborations. In theory, this sounds fine, but in practice it can be tricky. For starters, pieces like "Aja Maji," remixed by Clausell, or "Tarana," redone by Thievery Corporation, focus on the original composition intently; they color, stretch, and illustrate the beautiful harmonic invention and intricate melody lines of Khan's originals, making them available as Western introductions -- in a sense -- to Khan's world. The problem begins with Radar One's take on "Jana," where whatever traces of the original rhythm, melody, and harmonic body remain are impossible to get to under the faux-soul-jazz, late-night house music façade. This is not the old issue of taking source material to create something new. This album bears Khan's name, and his signature is important on each track. In the Nickodemus & Osiris reworking of "Jaadu (Magic)," Khan's vocal and Saranghi are the fingerprints in the track; they are the point of origin and the duo incorporate the composition into an entirely new one making for something deliciously exotic, driven, and loaded with big beat. Other standouts include both Brainpolluter remixes where rhythmic elements in the originals are stripped out, and their droning centers -- as well as trace elements of their melodic fringes -- are woven through funky breaks and striated loops. This isn't a perfect set, to be sure, but it is a successful outing, making whatever comes next automatically of interest.