COMPILATIONSREVIEWS 9.0
Ben UFO Fabric Live 67 Fabric Rare sighting
Various Channel Zoo Compilation 001
Channel Zoo 8.0 Project X
IF 2012 was the year that Ibiza’s Zoo Project stepped it up — a festival in a safari park in Kent bringing the world its first-ever full scale Zoo weekender — then 2013 is destined to be the year it ups the ante with Channel Zoo Recordings. Insert various zoo puns here.
The tail-end of last year saw its third release, featuring impressive cuts from Dana Ruh, Youandewan and Michael James, all of which are included here as part of Channel Zoo’s first full-length, ‘Compilation 001’. Members of the Zoo’s extended family – Fresh and Low, Traumprinz and Kerri Chandler – all make cameos alongside the likes of Axel Boman, Brawther and Eddie S for a Channel that’s starting to produce all the right stars.
Taken live from resident James’ set at the summer 2012 closing party, it’s a slow-burning mix with a light, languid vibe, characterized
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throughout by its chugging garage step. Following on from the recent EP release, it’s a blatant sign that the brand is coming of age. From a rowdy, slightly anarchic quasi- zoo on the White Isle to one of the most eye-catching underground promotions making waves all over Europe and beyond, things are clearly taking off for these cats as they stretch their legs and show their mettle.
Brewing its own associated sound, defined by its residents, this intoxicatingly heady deep house mix makes James’ – and in turn The Zoo’s – considered sonic agenda crystal clear.
King of the swingers; leaders of the pack – call them what you will – these guys ain’t monkeying around. They’re big cats feline the beat. Adam Saville
Patrick Adams Best Of P&P Records Neglected disco gold
Funny how some cats get all the credit while others never get their just props. Consider the case of Patrick Adams, the funky disco genius producer and guy behind P&P Records (with Peter Brown). Launching his career as a songwriter in the ‘60s, he ran great jazz funk label Perception before starting P&P. At the forefront as funk was morphing into the streamlined, dance-all-night style of disco, his hand is in an impossible profusion of underground disco hits. Sampled by Fatboy Slim, Todd Terry, Madlib, Sunburst Band and DJ Marky & S.P.Y, among many others, Adams’ grooves have been endlessly plundered. But if this compilation succeeds in its intent, he won’t be a best-kept-secret for much longer. A vital glimpse of disco’s heyday from one of its neglected kings. Ben Murphy
9.5
Various Year End Left’d Left’d behind?
Leftroom’s home for nascent talent, Left’d saw off 2012 with this collection of chunky-but-heady tech house. For some previously under-heralded names here — see Andrea Giudice, Jaimer Vincentie (among others) — it’s hard to imagine they’ll ever be so, judging by the flaccid efforts heard here. Those aside, promising moments come in the form of Antonio Del Prete & Alex Magno’s deep proggy stabs on ‘Dune’ and Pierre Codarin’s muscular work-out ‘Right Now’. Even more experienced players like No Dial Tone fall a little short, however — ‘Past Illusion’, while atmospheric, is unlikely to be used for anything else than as an interval to fill a DJ’s toilet break. Sam Russo, though, teaming up with Tom Webb, does salvage proceedings with some robust funk to close, ensuring there is something of worth here for DJs with a Leftroom flavour to dig through. Lisa Loveday
6.5
Ben ‘UFO’ Thompson has suggested this Fabric mix is a way to contextualize 2012’s impossibly sprawling output. And it does immediately make the year look more focused, ignoring the temptations of eclecticism favoured by cohorts Oneman and Jackmaster to focus fully on the ongoing embrace of dance music’s parent genres. With a penchant for ragged warehouse scabrousness, the Hessle Audio co-founder does a fine job of distilling outsider slants on house and techno to shape a supremely, spotlessly taut affair that should ironically further cement his ascent as an insider. Thompson churns through scenes and eras with a master’s ease, sustaining a dizzily muscular, pulsing restlessness with everything seemingly pitched up a notch to keep it permanently teetering on the edge. It achieves few strong peaks, but never lets up on the intensity either, offering little space for release. A high watermark. Sunil Chauhan
Various Pop Ambient 2013 Kompakt Improving with age
For the past 12 years, the New Year has been welcomely ushered in by Kompakt’s annual ‘Pop Ambient’ album, a beatless collection taking in compositions from the likes of Marsen Jules, Thomas Fehlmann, Superpitcher and Andrew Thomas, not to mention label co-founders Jurgen Pappe and Wolfgang Voigt, who compiles the series. This year, fellow co-founder Michael Mayer makes his ‘Pop Ambient’ debut with a new project, Terrapin, a collaboration with Matias Aguayo and Jörg Burger. The resultant ‘Cirrus Minor’ is a fluid Pink Floyd cover layered with sweeping textures and birdsong. ‘Jean Vigo’ by Triola (another project from Burger) is full and fabulous, while Anton Kubikov’s cinematic, haunting ‘Ambianopolis’ is a soundtrack to a lost classic. Leandro Fresco’s ‘El Cruce Imposible’ is all voluminous, Vangelis-esque lushness. Like a fine vintage, the ‘Pop Ambient’ series seems to age effortlessly, despite setting the bar perilously high each year. It is now a reassuring constant. Ben Arnold
8.5
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