In 2003, I was on the periphery of a neat local netlabel committed to releasing the type of electronic noodly-warbly choons that Warp Records used to dig. Luke (Mr Eel) and I used to hang sometimes and he sent me a zipload of samples one day, some of which he'd already constructed into full tracks. He asked me to do whatever I wanted with them and come up with a guest release for the netlabel.

The original release notes from the Metempsychosis netlabel read:

"A series of remixes by Steve

An organic mix of washed out sounds, echoes, esoteric samples and cosmic tinkling, this is my re interpretation of Mr Eel, resident Adelaide noise artist.

'Strap-on Futronic' is devolved beat and spatial messiness with detuned nods to the original.

'Rite of the Old Ones' is really a completely new track. Inspired by one sample from the original piece, this takes re interpretation to new places. Dark, forboding, tribal and lonely.

'Untitled07042003' Intangible slices of modern insanity and clinical crackliness.

'Grey and Green Amoeba' Floating spectral flotsam dances with organic clicks and cellular structures from a new world. To be played while experiencing other mindsets.

'Melting Plastic Worms' Crackly, noisy beginnings that soon turn into a twisted plasma miasma of sulphuric bubbles, churns and snarls. Aimless aural intensity.

All contents © 2003 Mr eel and Steve"

Luke noted at the time that these are less like remixes than re-interpretations, as some of them only bear a passing resemblance to the originals. Some are completely new and aren't remixes of an original track. For example, "Rite of the Old Ones" uses a single sample from the original pack and the rest is whatever sonic madness I've packed in. And clearly, I was really into Lovecraft inspired stuff at the time, as this is like a mini-version of another of my tracks: "faded dreams in ebon space".

The closer, "Melting Plastic Worms", is also a new track, except for a sample or two. "Strap-on Futronic" is a remix of Luke's original: "Snapdown Dynamic" - a track that lives elsewhere on Bandcamp as a remix by a pretty well-known electronic noisemaker who has international releases to his name. My version is certainly messier and less technically accomplished than the other remix, but is a different kind of soup...

These tracks are non-objective, abstract, playful excursions. I basically threw a load of sounds into the pot and stirred hard - and I had a lot of my own sounds and textures occupying countless folders on the hard drive to throw in. Consequently, it's pretty messy and aimless. Though, I've always considered "untitled07042003" a bit of a rough gem that deserves some attention. From memory, it wasn't a remix of an original, but certainly uses some of Mr Eel's samples and features my own composition and sound sources.

I managed to find the 16 bit originals, but of course I have no idea what sort of processing I put those through in 2003. I've cleaned them up for this release and added some weight to them. The originals were mixed pretty poorly, so I've done what I can!

Oh, and the download includes 3 issues of Sonic Noodle Soup - my silly digital zine from way back then. Yeah, there are some rants, but there are also a few gems: an interview with Martin Price (formerly of 808 State) and an interview with Rik Davis (of Cybotron). No less than Graham Massey and Andy Barker (RIP) of 808 State got in touch with me to ask for a copy of the interview! So, that was kinda cool.