Former The Witzard Interview Subject Stephan Szillus Recruits German & Austrian Producers for Hip-Hop/Electronic-influenced "Paternoster Remixes & Versions" (Heart Working Class)

"Remixes & Versions is a very personal project to me. I come from a school of sampling and beat-digging and remixing this long-lost classic just brings it back to life. It's like when I first heard Madlib use some old Krautrock stuff; I loved Madlib's Hip-Hop beats and I was brought up on Krautrock, so this connection just spoke to me. When I listened to the Paternoster album that Madlib's manager Eothen [Egon] Alapatt sent to me, I was drawn to its Psychedelic textures and heavy drum breaks," my one-time interview subject and friend Stephan Szillus wrote within a recent email. He's in fact, releasing a remix album of the very band whose music our interview was centered around; Now-Again Reserve: Paternoster, on which Stephan Szillus acted as Egon's "cultural and business liaison" and maybe most importantly, personal German-English translator. "I immediately thought about what might happen, if some Hip-Hop or Electronic music producers sampled that stuff. As I do know a couple of heavyweight beat-makers from Germany and Paternoster's home country Austria, I sent them the master files and asked them to play around with it. All of the producers involved–except for one or two surprise [additions]–are friends of mine, people I've known for years and whose work I admire. Eight of them came back with some really good music, in very different styles. To me, that connection just made sense and I'm pretty proud of the outcome," Szillus exuberantly continued.


It appears as though almost all of the eight tracks from Paternoster's 1972 self-titled genre-shaping gem were sampled throughout Paternoster Remixes & Versions (excluding "Blind Children" and "Old Danube") by German and Austrian producers Afromaniac, Dexter, Ghanaian Stallion, Kabuki, Brenk Sinatra, B-side, Disco Rigido, and Badan. I've known about it for a few months now, but Paternoster Remixes & Versions really shouldn't come as a surprise for anyone who read my February 2016 interview with Stephan Szillus, who vaguely alluded to its sampling capabilities: "I think the music on [Paternoster] is simply mind-blowing. Franz Wippel himself thinks it could have sounded better with the right engineer. But people like Eothen or myself just love the way it turned out. It cries out to be sampled by beat-makers, but at the same time, it's excellent music to listen to: Psychedelic, melancholic, and trippy. Something that A$AP Rocky and his producers might use, as well as people like Madlib or Flying Lotus. For an album recorded in 1972, it's totally ahead of its time!" Paternoster Remixes & Versions, a quasi-follow-up to their lone 1972 album, is currently available for purchase on Stephan Szillus own Heart Working Class imprint in conjunction with Berlin-based online clothing and record store, HHV.DE. It's really one Hell of a listen, for anyone who's interested in exploring either 70's Prog-Rock or "World" Hip-Hop; those of you who still aren't 100% sold, can currently stream Brenk Sinatra's "Push It" (Realization x Mammoth Opus O) and Afromaniac's just-released "Paternoster" within this very write-up.