“I've always been down to commercially release a DJ mix CD but now the time was right,” says Ultra. “The package for the Alchemy release was a great way to introduce that aspect to my fans who may not be aware that I play as well.”

It was also a chance to reinvigorate the legacy of Grime, Silk & Thunder, last year’s unmitigated success story from Ultra. Her first album since 2001’s Stranger than Fiction, Grime… was also her first release on her own Blufire record label. Though it gave total creative freedom, it was also a great risk.

But the move paid off. To date, Grime, Silk & Thunder has yielded three of Ultra’s biggest hits of all time: “Love’s the Only Drug” (#2 Billboard Club Play), “Automatic” (#1) and “Give it All You Got (#1).

While those tracks have been banging everyone’s eardrums over the last year, G.S.T. Reloaded allows Ultra to share some of the previously unreleased, high energy remixes that came out of the project.

“I had a lot of great remixes still in my arsenal that needed to be heard,” she says. And while most artists might rush to release remixes, quick to make a buck, Ultra wanted to wait until the legacy of her most recent album would allow fans to enjoy the new sounds with an unadulterated ear.

“I felt the people now had more of a relationship with the songs from GST and would really be able to appreciate this fresh perspective on it,” says Ultra of the appropriate timing.

But to celebrate the release of the album, Ultra is reaching back even farther into her catalogue: the first single, “Twisted,” is a re-tooled version of a track from her 2001 disc Stranger Than Fiction. The single is already available, and Ultra recently shot a Karl Giant (“Automatic,” “Give it All You Got”) music video that should be hitting soon.

Burt most importantly, Alchemy / G.S.T. Reloaded, like the original Grime album is an exercise in musical diversity: “I wouldn’t be happy in a structured, regimented genre like R&B,” Ultra says. Instead, she prefers dance music’s ability to encompass a wide field of artistic choice: “Rock, gospel, R&B… in the dance genre I can do ALL of those things. I can have tracks that lean towards all those various styles, because I love and appreciate all those styles. You’ll hear rock leaning stuff, pop, dance, jazz, neo-soul… elements of all of that.”

And now, fans will finally be able to hear Ultra’s diverse skill set in addition to her diverse sounds. With Alchemy / G.S.T. Reloaded introducing the previously uninitiated to her DJ skills, Ultra marks another major transformation in her career.

And that, in a word, is alchemy.

TRIVIA:

Alchemy / G.S.T. reloaded includes will include remixes from Craig C., Thommy Davis, Ferry Corsten, Funky Junction… and our own APRIL ’08 DIVO, Quentin Harris.

The current promo photos of Ultra are lifted from the “Twisted” video shot with photographer/director Karl Giant. Ultra says of the video: “Karl comes up with great and sometimes crazy concepts and ideas...I'm just zany enough to love them. He had a whole futuristic doll theme in his head.”

Fans excited for entirely new material from Ultra, take heart: she confirms to DIVA DIVO that she is working on a new album as we speak, on her own Blufire label.

Ultra has started a second label, Deep Sugar, backed by ‘90s powerhouse Strictly Rhythm. Sybil, Jada and Lisa Mack are a few of the artists seeing releases soonfrom the label.

Zut alors! Ultra has a weekly Friday night mix show in France. You can hear it state side on Friday at 3 p.m. EST on radiofg.com

Thanks to Karl Giant for Ultra Naté photos.