Dear friends,
This time I’d like to share a story.
Houghton Festival, summer 2024, somewhere in England.
John Talabot is at the controls. I’ve spent amazing days with people I love, with people who love the music as much as I do. At least, that’s what we all feel.
It’s the last set of the festival. Everyone’s gathering around a tree and a small cabane, dancing until feet burn, until there’s nothing left to dance to.
Talabot is playing and he knows how to drive us crazy.
Then it hits. That moment when a track locks into the groove so perfectly you forget you have a body.
This picture was taken by Victor Puig at Houghton Festival.
Hanss
And then it’s packing, a bus, the good byes and see you soon! But you packed an obsession with you and it won’t go away. Turns out all the above wasn’t only a by-product, my friend Uri sends an audio a few days later.
Download isn’t even finished before the file is chopped, sampled, warped, stretched. I had to remix it.
Second release. A reworked, stretched and bent remix of Mantix’s original. It won’t be available to stream on any platforms apart from SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Free download, pay what you feel.
Why This Track?
Mantix’s original had this hypnotic quality I couldn’t shake. Despite my best efforts to contact the artist, I never got a response—but the track kept calling me back. This remix is my tribute to a piece of music that clearly needed to exist in another form. I wanted to push it further: more tension, more space, more of that 3 AM clarity when the dancefloor becomes a collective organism.
If Mantix ever reads this: thank you for the inspiration. The track deserved this treatment.
Collective intelligence and collaboration
The response to “Ain’t No Sunshine” went beyond all my expectations. Everyone who shared it, commented, bought it, or just wrote back—you reminded me why I do this. Turns out screaming into the void is way more fun when the void occasionally screams back!
This remix went through 7 versions before I could let it go. The same constraints applied: self-imposed deadlines, trusted ears, and the occasional “just fucking finish it” from friends.
Special thanks to Timm Völkner for the artwork once again—somehow still patient with my indecisiveness.
Shoutout to the usual suspects (you know who you are) for feedback, late-night voice notes, and reality checks.
Mastering by DAVE N.A., who continues to make my mess sound intentional.
What’s Next
More tracks coming. Next one in roughly 6 weeks.
Reply if you want. Tell me about the last time a track made you forget you have knees.
Thanks for your support and thanks for being here!
Your Humble Servant of Noise
Francesco Papaleo