Children rolling around supermarkets and shopping precincts on wheeled shoes, Vinnie Jones’ successful foray into Hollywood, World War I and the rise of the Internet can all be tagged in one vast, flippant sweep under the modern philosophical Theory of Black Swan Events – ie. The event is a surprise (to the observer) and has a major impact. After the fact, the event is rationalized by hindsight. So to clarify, a Black Swan event is a term modern philosophers use to describe anomalies that not even that miserable doom-monger Nostradamus would have predicted but are now here, happening and seem entirely normal and are unquestioningly accepted without so much as a raised eyebrow. Say for example, oh I don’t know – ‘90’s euro-dance popster Haddaway featuring on a Permanent Vacation record. Yeah, we all saw that coming, right?

The man behind the snazzy remix of this mind-bending collab is Warsaw-based wunderkind Max Skiba, a man with his finger in many a musical pie, and it was with much delight that I discovered that he is the chuckling puppeteer behind a generous handful of my favourite funk-dipped disco from last year. Not least the track jostling for a place on the podium in my top 3 tracks from 2010, the stunning low slung swag-a-thon High Wire released last summer on Gomma under the alias of The KDMS, Max’s collaboration with vocalist Kathy Diamond which I have filed securely under the title of future classic/lifejam.

The aforementioned mind-bender in question sees Skiba frolic with Gomma labelmate Wolfram, aka Diskokaine or Marflow. Alongside his KDMS dabblings, Max is also part of King of Kong, who last year remixed Diskokaine’s excellent Hall of Shame.  I could delve further into this brilliantly perplexing family tree but I shall resist, lest I melt thy brains – we just need to know that the incestuous cross pollination occurring here and any resulting sonic offspring can only produce a genetically exceptional super-race to potentially rule over us pathetic underlings with valour and panache.  Exhibit A – his remix of A Thing Called Love (featuring Haddway. Haddaway!) and Exhibit B – One To Pray To, a jaunty duo of of soulful, sunshine-soaked funk providing a solid introduction for you to get au fait with Max’s trademark handclap fiestas and sparky riffs. I’ve also included High Wire here to complete a hat trick of Skiba wonderments because I can, and because it is amazing.

Now we’re fully prepared for any further curve balls today’s dynamic music scene may throw suddenly and aggressively at our faces, who knows – you may well find me writing enthusiastically about a logic-defying 10 minute long piece of experimental minimal techno mashed up with live farmyard animal samples and a Bieber vocal next week – though if Mr Maximillian Skiba has anything to do with it, chances are it would be pretty sweet anyway. We’ll just rationalize it in hindsight.

Stream: [wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12066362/A%20Thing%20Called%20Love%20%28Maximilian%20Skib.mp3″ text=”Marflow ft Haddaway – A Thing Called Love (Maximilian Skiba remix)” dl=”0″]

Stream: [wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12066362/One%20To%20Pray%20To%20(feat.%20Snax).mp3″ text=”Maximilian Skiba feat. Snax – One To Pray To” dl=”0″]

Stream: [wpaudio url=”http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12066362/01%20High%20Wire%20%28original%20mix%29.mp3″ text=”The KDMS – High Wire” dl=”0″]

Support

A Thing Called Love will be released on Marflow’s self-titled album on Permanent Vacation on March 11th.
High Wire and One To Pray To are available to buy now on Juno.