The latest release from Years of Denial is one of those albums that needs little introduction. Suicide Disco 2 was, in our opinion, one of the best LPs of 2023, so the source material was already tremendous. Add to that a lineup featuring some of electronic music’s most prominent artists – from the legendary The Hacker to heavyweights such as Kris Baha and Phase Fatale, – and you have something special. There is also a strong representation from VEYL Records, one of the most distinctive and tasteful labels in dark electronic music today. The label is represented by one of its key figures, Maenad Veyl alongside Velvet May. The digital version includes Supreme Low, the project of Jerome Tcherneya himself, who released an EP in 2022 with a curious mix of darkwave and hip hop. Suicide Disco Vol. 2 Remixes was released in October last year and features six remixes, two more in the digital version: in addition to the aforementioned Supreme Low, the great Geistform does his magic to “Art Break”. As usual, we’ll focus on the vinyl version, which we have in our collection.
Years of Denial had already remixed The Hacker in the past, in a superb remix that appeared on Barro 004. Now it’s the legendary French DJ’s turn to tackle one of the duo’s tracks. Michel Amato makes a smart choice with ‘Lover’s Crime’, one of the best compositions of the original album, turning it into an irresistibly danceable track with his signature touch. Kris Baha hits the mark with his choice of ‘Wrong’ delivering a remix in his EBM techno style. Although he is now more focused on the music he makes as Ghost in the Machine, here he returns to the sound we’ve always loved him for. The A-side closes with the hardest-hitting track, a dancefloor-ready version of ‘City Lights’. Its creator, Phase Fatale, has likely already tested it during his Berghain sets. Never (Stefano Santi’s project that released a cassette on VEYL three years ago) and Maenad Veyl offer another take on ‘City Lights’ that couldn’t be more different from Phase Fatale‘s. Their powerful remix explores the track’s darker, more unsettling elements. Velvet May (who released a highly recommendable album on VEYL this year) handles the next remix, reconstructing the track through his industrial vision – my personal favorite of the collection. The B-side concludes with the excellent Codex Empire bringing his characteristic force and darkness to ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’.
