Tuesday 17 May 2011

CD reviews #s 1 & 2

Been meaning to review #1 for a while and #2 dropped onto my doormat yesterday...

#1


Fabric's line of mixes has seen rising popularity since its conception, and thats no surprising thing given the popularity of the club itself.  To me their choices are sublime for mixing the CDs, the end results are however another matter, some are destined for the passenger door pocket which means that they get regular plays, others are destined for the CD box in my brothers house...  

This mix comes from Agoria, the small man from France with jazzy influences (you'll probably read that on every review so thought i'd mention it here too).  With tracks like 'Speechless', 'Baboul Hair Cuttin' and 'Les Violons Ivres' in his production repertoire I was expecting long drawn out mixing verging into techno.  I was half right - the long mixing is there but I was blown away by the track choice - it is sublime, from the spaced bliss of SDC - Mercurial Attraction to the frankly banging 'Treehouse' from Lil Tony.  

This is a mix that climbs out of your CD player, envelopes you in a world of emotion and depth of colour and retreats leaving you wanting more.  Right from the word go there is the throbbing deepness that rises until the beat kicks in and from there is it a lesson in house that many could take note of.  Highlights include the vocal of Ella Fitzgerald over Moritz Von Oswald - Ole and Jerome Sydenham & Joe Claussel - Rhythm before it is fully released it all its glory later on. 

Put simply this is one of the few CDs I can listen to all the way through - and thats saying something - It will be staying in the passenger door pocket.

4.5/5

#2


With preferences lying in house music, my views on the Fabriclive series are mixed, some are genuinely great - naming the Pearson Sound/DJ Yoda ones for example, they get regular plays from me and are great examples of genre crossing mixes that are entertaining.  There have been a couple of stinkers however that won't be gracing my CD player at all...

Jackmaster is a name I have only come across recently and have not heard live or even any mixes so this is a first introduction to me - I am presuming that by getting a CD deal from Fabric he must be fairly established if they are throwing their weight behind him.  

Turning over the CD box reveals an interesting tracklisting - my curiousity is piqued - classic house, techno, electro, dubstep (the best kind), and even moody indie rock all one tracklisting?  I'm never one to write anyone off early and as the person responsible for some very strange tracklists indeed I was eager to see what he could produce.

After the first listen I felt let down - the way the mix is arranged is disappointing and a bit strange - some of the transitions between tracks are very well thought out - eg from Gieom > Doug Willis, others aren't - eg Sia > CLS.  There does not seem to be any structured purpose to the mix - theres no sensation of a journey, more of a sensation of being thrown from from era and genre to another with no real link between each...  Some tracks are in for 5+ mins such as The Sun Can't Compare while others are thrown in and discarded before given a chance to shine.  It just feels a bit like Jackmaster tried too hard to show what he could do and his depth of knowledge, for a young guy that has captured interest there is plenty of time for him to do that through live sets, it does not have to be captured all on one CD at the start of his career...

Might keep it in the car for my girlfriend to judge but definitely not a classic mix...

2.5/5



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