By: Baxtak

It's that time of the year when SOOHAN delivers one of his signature mixtape / remix albums, basing it around Émile Durkheim's sociological concept of collective effervescence; moments in societal life when a group of individuals that makes up a society comes together in order to perform a religious ritual (IEP, nd).

Stephen Suchan's role as a heavily touring artist in the global bass scene is a strong indication of why such moments would be of value to him. Through these remix albums, he manages to capture the essence of dance through a signature style that can bring people of all creeds and continents together; be it different remixes on his album or as crowds that rejoice in his sets.

There's genuinely a little bit of everything in here; The Cardigans, Brandy, Missy Elliot, the Lebanese singer Fairuz and other Arab elements, the French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux and South American vibes, Bollywood, even classics like Scott McKenzie's “San Francisco,” and a lot of other surprises scattered throughout.

This approach to song-making can easily be perceived as a shortcut by some, but SOOHAN's track choices always back it up; whether it is through nostalgia, ethnofusion aesthetics, intrigue, or pure crate-digging talent. Consequently, SOOHAN ranks as arguably the most visionary remix artist that operates at least within the global bass scene and as DJ who often plays to foreign crowds, I can testify that SOOHAN's tracks have saved my sets on more than a few occasions.

Despite all the justification, one cannot stop speculating about what all-original SOOHAN would sound like. If an artist can find all the right sounds to play with, then it's surely just a matter of booking session musicians to deliver something equally good, yet entirely original? Is it even a genuine issue that an artist uses the medium of remixes as his main avenue of expression?

I suppose those are some things to ponder on while blasting this mixtape out. Who knows, maybe the answer is encrypted as a reversed sample in one of these songs?

And enjoy this bonus Halloween-themed remix SOOHAN knocked out with his bud Mr Jennings. It's positively ghoulish.