Who is, again? Only one of the most respected producers and remixers to have ever slunk out of a New York City studio. Whether as an electro pioneer with MC Tee in his group Mantronix, or as the architect of a slew of massive dancefloor hits in the second half of the '80s, Kurtis has always been a visionary. Just Ice's torrential "Cold Gettin' Dumb" and Joyce Sims' classic "Come Into My Life" still sound fresh, despite the old analogue technology. So where's he been? Has he joined some sort of reclusive mystical sect, or something? Not exactly. "I hate to say this, but I suffered a mild form of burn out," he admits. "I'd been working for Sleeping Bag Records as an in-house producer since my late teens, day in, day out with little rest. And the fact that I was doing R&B, electro and all sorts of things didn't help. I tried to cover too many bases." So what's he doing back with an EPMD remix done in the style of Jason Nevins? Nevins? Don't be cruel. Mantronik doesn't normally work on other people's projects, but did the mix of "Strictly Business" as a favour to a friend who acquired EPMD's back catalogue. "He conviced me to do it," he says. "I'm not normally associated with house or hard house." Pressed, he'll say he's back in the studio because: "Someone told me, 'Kurtis, you're being sampled to death'. And it's true. I was angry at first with all the sampling business because I put a lot of work into the original records and I wasn't getting my fair share." Then he decided to get even. "I had to join in. At least I don't have to sue myself." A soon-come solo LP "I Sing The Body Electro", true to his word, features Mantronik raiding his past to move forward, and one cut "Push Yer Hands Up" actually fuses two old Mantronix beats together. How does the former enfant terrible feel about current hip-hop? "I don't like most of it," he insists. "A lot of the rappers just talk over beats now. Back in the day technique was important and you were considered a wack MC if you couldn't rhyme on the beat. And I hate the talk of violence. Maybe I'm getting older, but hip-hop used to be about party jams." Perhaps Mantronik has mellowed a bit. His protégé, Just Ice, was after all a prototype gangsta rapper, even if his language wasn't as directly harsh or extreme in those pre-NWA days. Yet Trey Lou, the sparky woman rapper who guests on a few of his current tracks, is hardly shy and retiring either, even if her lyrics are more battle rhymes than threats of violence. And what of the rumoured return of the original Mantronix line-up? Kurtis hasn't decided yet. "I want to come up with a new form of R&B first," he says. "Something you haven't heard before. Then it'll be worth doing."