The Artist/Album: Popol Vuh, Revisited & Remixed: 1970-1999 (SPV, 2011)
The Reason(s) We Can’t Stop Listening: If SPV’s limited box set of Herzog scores looked like a little too much Popol Vuh, this tidy collection will do the trick in terms of delivering a proper amount of percussive psych, windswept micro-symphonies, frayed circuit boards and transcendental Krautrock. While the first disc features a ‘best of’ compilation—we use that term loosely considering it splices immersive interludes and more compact pieces with two side-long tracks—is a satisfying summation of a sprawling career, the remix-driven second disc is a more revealing look at just how widespread Popol Vuh’s influence is. So while most remixed reevaluations of experimental artists fail, this one provides a thrilling alternate reality of its own, from Mika Vaino’s engrossing ambient edit of “Nachts Schnee” to the techno entrails of Moritz Von Oswald’s “Dark Development edit” for “Gärten Pharaos.” Werner would approve.
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