INTELLIGENT DANCE MUSIC TIMES GET DOWN VOLUME TWO WORD UP ISSUE THREE ALL THAT
It's been a while since I have preached unto the perverted, but yea
verily I have a few new goodies in my satchel, so let's get down to
it, rockers...
DJ Food: Jazz Brakes Vol 4
NinjaTune ZEN CD4
100 5:04 Funkativity
92 5:31 A Nice Blunt
95 3:40 Stop Fink
1:37 Sexy Bits
84 4:42 Mumble
100 4:05 Dark Lady
90 3:45 Living Beats
69 6:01 Sunvibes
90 4:42 Feeling Chilly
80 3:34 Bocata de Bonita
125 1:49 Juice
123 5:20 Mambo Jack
125 3:10 Fickle
130 3:19 Let The Good Shine
130 4:12 Uptight
115 3:20 I'm The Food
91 5:13 L3 Skank
108 3:29 Do We
105 2:18 Popnotised
136 3:57 Thermo Nuclear Tax
Oh my god, get down get funky cos this is Tha Shit. Phat phunky
phresh and allathat... If you're looking for credentials, Coldcut
produced this, and they are the past masters of the funky groove. As
the title may indicate, this is intended as a breakbeat record but
many of the breaks are developed into complete songs. Anyway, "Jazz
Brakes" is an inadequate title because there's lots of funk and hip
hop mixed in with the jazz as well. Definitely one for you DJs to
sink your teeth into. Yummy food.
California Dreamin'
FFRR 697 124 002-2
103 6:49 Tranquility Bass: Cantamilla
135 12:02 Elements Of Trance: A Taste Of Your Own Medicine (The Midi-Evil Mix)
126 8:24 Hawke: 3 Nudes Having Sax On Acid
132 5:28 Island Universe: Energize
135 5:00 Aquatherium: Feelin' Real Good (Aqua's Trance Mix)
96 9:41 Single Cell Orchestra: Transmit Liberation
125 6:14 Young American Primitive: The Reality Of Nature
134 7:35 Up Above The World: Straight Up Caffeine
126 8:38 Daisy Glow: Theme From Daisy Glow
124 5:28 The Ultraviolet Catastrophe: Funk You Very Much (Hydroponic At Dawn)
Finally, the West Coast techno scene gets the recognition it deserves
via a major label compilation release. I can't possibly be objective
about this since I know most of the people involved with this disc and
regularly hang out and get high with some of them. I will say that
looking at it as dispassionately as possible, this is a really good
compilation. My favorite tracks are: Tranquility Bass (slowed down
achingly beautiful stoned ambience), Elements Of Trance (european
dance 2 trance), Island Universe (SF-style funky techno), Single Cell
Orchestra (slow, epic electro monster), Young American Primitive
(surprisingly dark dancefloor material) and of course The Ultraviolet
Catastrophe (spliff-tokin' funked out weirdness). On the down side:
completely lame-ass cover art and highly inaccurate liner notes, but
if you want the real story, just drop me a line...
The New Alternative (Instinct/Sonic Records Artist Profile)
Instinct/Sonic SPIN 093-2 (Promo Only)
120 7:41 Cabaret Voltaire: Deep Time
125 5:51 Genetic: Trancemission
133 3:37 X-Statik: Rapture (radio edit)
113 5:10 Human Mesh Dance: Sunflower
137 5:10 Church Of Extacy: Devil Beats (sonic temple mix)
157 5:28 Lisa Carbon & Friends: The Only Virtual Computer Jazz
7:49 The Irresistible Force: Spiritual High
152 4:48 Evolve Now: Blue
94 5:20 Moby: My Beautiful Blue Sky
133 6:03 Cosmic Baby: Heaven's Tears
145 6:35 Prototype 909: Empty Space
135 6:02 Omicron: Whaler (strobe mix)
A real mixed bag here, but that's to be expected, as this is nothing
but a "look what cool stuff we've got coming in the next few months."
I really like the Genetic and Lisa Carbon tracks, but other than that,
this is just a rehash of old familiar items with nothing special to
recommend it. More worryingly, it points out Instinct's tendency to
merely seize trends without any thought to building an overall label
strategy, but I never suspected them of having any other goals in
mind. Oh well.
Harthouse: The Point Of No Return Chapter 1
American Recordings 9 45470-2
122 3:28 Spicelab: Quicksand
138 6:42 Metal Master: Spectrum
142 6:32 Marco Zaffarano: MZ 5
125 8:59 Hardfloor: Acperience 1
129 6:41 Overboust: Tribal Groovy Hartbeat
150 5:28 Arpeggiators: Freedom Of Expression
138 6:30 Spicelab: Spice Cowboy
150 5:40 Pulsation: It's So Simple To Do
130 5:46 Futurhythm: Butoh
150 6:08 Spicelab: Amorph
145 5:12 Arpeggiators: Xenophobe
142 3:32 Marco Zaffarano: MZ 2
4:06 Pulsation: Pulsar
Yes, the best of european hard trance is available for all mall rats,
packed in a crappy digipak and on sale everywhere thanks to American
(formerly Def American) Records. I suppose we should thank labels
like American for making distribution deals with Eye Q and Harthouse
and distributing the product unchanged except for the sweeter price,
but somehow I just can't bring myself to admit that this is a Good
Thing. For starters, this compilation is already Really Old. And
second, does this sort of compilation really need to *exist*? I'm
sure Pete Ashdown would argue otherwise, but this is such pure dance
floor stuff that just listening to it seems really pointless. I mean,
I like having "Acperience 1" on CD just as much as the next guy but
only because it reminds me of how orgasmic it is when you hear it on a
Real System. All the other tracks (none of which I've ever heard in
an actual club/rave environment) sound rather thin and pointless.
Pound pound pound bleep bleep squelch... yawn.