SHARAM
When Sharam Tayebi started work on his recent single, The Rain, he immediately knew that one version of the song was not going to be enough.
“The original song had a kind of New York vibe,” he explains, “but as I was mixing down, I started to imagine all these other different remixes. I could hear Detroit basslines and catchy London melodies. At first, I started looking around for some remix names, but then I thought, ‘I’m already beginning to build these different versions in my head… why don’t I do the remixes myself’.”
The result is three very distinct and delicately balanced takes on The Rain, each one tipping its hat to cities that have played a part in Tayebi’s musical history – New York, Detroit and London.
Tayebi is, of course, instantly recognisable as one-half of the Iranian-born/Washington DC-based duo, Deep Dish – both Tayebi and his DD partner, Ali ‘Dubfire’ Shirazinia, were born in Tehran and later moved to the US. The Deep Dish remix CV is extensive, featuring everyone from Madonna and Dido to David Guetta and Depeche Mode. The Madonna remix was Grammy-nominated; the Dido remix was a Grammy-winner. And let’s not forget the massive 1995 remix of De’Lacy’s Hideaway, which recently charted in Mixmag’s Top 30 Best Vocal House Anthems Ever.
They didn’t do too bad with their own tunes, either. , and all charted in the US and UK. The first of those singles came from their 1998 debut album, , which, over 20 years later, still sounds like nothing else out there. Experimental, yet catchy. Beautiful club tunes sitting next to jazz-tinged appeals for religious tolerance. Ambience and drum ’n’ bassesque breaks. At a time when dance albums often played it safe – the singles and some songs that sound like the singles – painted a brave, broad brush stroke that swept across the whole club spectrum.
