From the Playa at Burning Man to the mountains, deserts, and jungles of world’s most iconic festivals, the seminal duo of Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe, more widely known as their long-standing alias Desert Dwellers, are known across the globe for their ability to craft lush, worldly soundscapes and renegade dancefloor vibes.
If the wait to see the Boulder-based Desert Dwellers live at the Mishawaka Amphitheatre on July 17 proves too long to bear, feel comforted that the freshly-released third installment of their Night Vision series can tide you over until then.
Night Visions 3 delves into the duo’s ever-changing interpretation of global music through eight re-imaginings from the electronic underworld. This 8-track release via their Desert Trax Label features remixes of original compositions by Hibernation, Poranguí, Uone & Western, Bluetech, Perfect Stranger, Gaudi, and Banco De Gaia.
This collection combines the essence of tribal tech, deep bass, progressive techno, and psychedelic dub into a quintessential journey of the Desert Dwellers’ signature style. Night Visions 3 draws upon the duo’s long history of production and performance, offering a doorway to a realm where boundaries between genres disappear.
For instance, the duo’s remix of Poranguí’s “Stardust” kicks off with worldly percussion, lush melodic layers, and an overdub about the complexities of the universe, seamlessly evolving into a calmed uptempo exploration of Desert Dwellers’ classic sound. Comparably, on the remix of Bluetech’s “Dawn Ascent,” Treavor and Amani build up to a progressive house groove that feels more at home at a renegade stage than in a club environment.
Bookending the album are two downtempo remixes: “Familiar Stars” by Hibernation and “All Sleeping” by Banco De Gaia. “Familiar Stars” starts things off with low-end-friendly psychedelic dub, dense with sparkling melodies and washed out vocal droning. Capping things off is the “All Sleeping” remix, dense with tribal percussion from the jump, culminating in a glitched-out, ever-changing bass heavy tune that doesn’t stray from the thoughtful musicality present on the rest of the album.
