Van She Tech just shared a remix for the incomparable Ajax, and it's real special

In a musical debate, we'd be the first people to jump up and say the mid-2000s was a peak period form music, and a lot of the reason for that is thanks to what the Australian electronic scene was pumping out at the time. It's something we've covered too many times to count in the past, and there's a good reason for that: when it comes down to it, the electronic music of the mid-2000s defined a lot of the stuff we listen to today, whether it be strictly in electronica through acts that remain such as The Presets and Bag Raiders, or through the neverending list of artists influenced by this time.

One of the big forces behind all of it was Van She Tech, the pairing of Nicky Night Time and Touch Sensitive that back in the day, were a formidable name of Australia's dance world. As we said, "if you see 'Van She Tech Remix' attached to a single, you know it’s going to be good," and we haven't found a single fault to this, whether it be through long-time favourite remixes of New Young Pony Club and Feist or through others for The Presets, Tiga and Strange Talk; the two heavyweights leaving an imprint on everything they touched.

Another person that helped drive this movement - if not the person who was steering the entire ship - was Ajax. The late DJ was a founding member of the Bang Gang collective, a group that really doubled down on Australia's then-upcoming electronic musicians and elevated them in every way Ajax could, whether it be through festival programming or radio slots or god knows what else. Sweat It Out - the label which unearthed and gave us RÜFÜS DU SOL, Yolanda Be Cool, What So Not and so on - was launched by Ajax five years prior to his death, being another example of his long-lasting imprint into Australian dance culture.

Today, worlds collide for a moment worth celebrating, with Van She Tech reuniting to remix Ajax's single I'm Hot, a song released back in 2018 to commemorate his life, the legacy of Sweat It Out launched ten years prior, and the five year anniversary of his death. The remix - which joins others from musicians either prevalent through this time or heavily inspired by the era: Crookers, Sneaky Sound System, K.I.M (of The Presets), and Sinden - being an opportunity to go back to the time where pingers were cheap and shutter glasses were in fashion, when it wasn't just Kanye West wearing them.

The remix is brilliant, and holds a really personal touch for the Van She Tech collaborators as they both have lasting careers thanks to Ajax's work. "Ajax, besides being Ajax, was to us almost a spiritual guru, a guided and sometimes misguided light to many of us in the scene," Touch Sensitive explains. "He had impeccable taste and timing, and was someone who we were always bouncing stuff off for an opinion. When we started Van She, the only one who played our music was AJAX on FBi Radio, which eventually led to our signing with Modular Records.

"The remix came about after one night out. We went back to Michael's place, where he was staying in LA in the hills, and pumped out an emotional tribute to our friend featuring a snippet of him slagging us off (in a loving manner) in an interview. Hopefully he’d approve. Jax forever."

Take a dive into it below:

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