COMPILATIONSREVIEWS
8.0
Apollonia Fabric 70 Fabric Dionysian house from the French masters
Once clustered around Dan Ghenacia’s defunct (and missed) Freak ‘n’ Chic imprint, Parisians Shonky, Dyed Soundorom and Ghenacia have consummated their long-standing friendship with Apollonia, forming the label/collective/excuse for a knees-up in 2012. They use their Fabric outing to delve deep, both in terms of the sound — washes of lower-your-eyelids- beautiful pads and pillow-soft kicks are key — and concept. While pitted with ‘90s deep house cuts including the seminal ‘Ohh’ by Mood II Swing and Callisto’s ‘Need Your Love’, this isn’t about dredging up nostalgia. Instead, the effect is of plunging into one of their lengthy sets, where organic, reflexive connections are made between old and new (of the new, The Mole’s exquisite ‘Bleep Blop Robot’ is a highlight). The effect is one of renewal, of vitality, of fun. Well, what d’you expect from a project named after Prince’s girlfriend in Purple Rain?Louise Brailey
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Get Lost VI Crosstown Rebels
8.0 Rebel with a cause
ON paper Crosstown Rebels and TEED (Orlando Higginbottom) aren’t obviously suited. The first, an outlet for brilliantly dark, avant-garde-tinged tech house, usually geared to the dancefloor; the second, the creator of skewed electro-pop paeans and bright bassy tunes you’d more likely hear on the radio than in a club (as on his album ‘Trouble’). But look a little closer, and the similarities become apparent. Both label and artist have a certain dedication to subverting notions of pop, with tunes by the likes of Deniz Kurtel and Amirali filled with catchy hooks, and TEED’s deep appreciation for dance in all its forms emerging in his airplay-friendly tunes. He’s actually a perfect choice to mix the latest in Crosstown’s compilation series. It’s ostensibly a mix of house and techno, though Orlando’s personality and diverse taste bleed through all of the beats. After all, this is the guy who played a flawlessly- mixed, completely underground jungle
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set for Boiler Room, confounding expectations. That secret knowledge of dance history is here too, in the wicked bleep techno of LFO’s ‘Track 4’ and Richard H. Kirk’s ‘I Want More’, the obscure Italian hardcore of Visnadi’s breakbeat-powered ‘Hunt’s Up’ and Separate Minds’ hands-aloft piano house pounder ‘Troubled World’. The genius is how he alternates the old cuts with modern tunes, connecting the dots and pointing out the similar sonorities in today’s deep house and bass music. Pitto’s ‘Mono Desire’ and Future Four’s ‘Into Orbit’ are modern takes on Chicago house, while tunes from Gold Panda and Asa-Chang & Junray point to his love of esoteric melody. The second disc is geared more to the floor, with the hypnotic machinations of Trus’ Me’s ‘It’s Slow’ and the crepuscular bass of Breach & Dark Sky’s ‘The Click’ particularly potent. In skilful hands, you can bring fresh ideas and still make the house
quake.Ben Murphy
Gary Beck Soma 21 Soma So far Soma good
Now into its 22nd year, you can excuse influential label Soma another retrospective pat on the back. This time it comes in the form of a mix compilation by Gary Beck who looks back over the label’s 2012 highlights. You could argue one of those highlights was his own album, ‘Bring A Friend’, and the Glaswegian must agree, as he includes a full-throttle track from it, ‘Algoreal’, along with similar fare from other label stalwarts Pig & Dan, Silicone Soul and Funk D’Void into a nicely arcing mix that reminds you Soma is about more than just techno. Sure, it does that well — look no further than the paranoid urgency of Heiko Laux & Steve Rachmad’s ‘The Viking’ — but just as standout in this mix are Claude VonStroke’s remix of Scott Grooves feat Parliament-Funkadelic and the sublimely dubbed-out opener from DeepChord. Kristan J Caryl
7.0 7.0
Various Pacha Ibiza 40 Years 1973-2013 New State Music Two cherries, four decades
Blimey. Glam clubbing hotspot Pacha Ibiza is forty. That’s older than most of the DJs that play there. This mammoth four-disc celebration is a comprehensive and thought-out affair, split into: current, ‘90s, ‘80s, and classics that influenced the vibe. Obligatory superclub sounds — Guetta, Deadmau5, SHM — rub shoulders with edgier names like Breach and Silicone Soul on disc one, and disc two’s ‘90s nod selects the decade’s classier club antics. The ‘80s effort is pure, irresistible nostalgia — ‘Inner City’, ‘Move Your Body’ — while the ‘influences’ mix is essentially a disco workout saluting the Daft Punk hype, but it’s a joyous journey. Chic and Moroder are there, of course, but so are Diana Ross and Herbie Hancock. Disc one is a nice indicator of where Pacha is right now, but it’s the clubbing history lesson that proves even more fun. Tristan Parker
6.0
Various Southern Fried and Tested Vol. 4 Southern Fried Records Oil be back
Like Damien Hirst or Tony Blair, Fatboy Slim seems to have become someone loads of people thought were cool in the late ‘90s, but now seem slightly embarrassed about liking. Which is flagrantly unfair, given that his Southern Fried Records label is a much better legacy than interchangeable spot paintings or a warzone in Iraq. He’s also inspired DJ Doorly, who mixes this latest Southern Fried round-up, although on the second ‘Sunset Terrace’ CD he sounds more in tune with the deep house ilk of Waze & Odyssey than any big beat bangers. The ‘Boom Boom Boom’ CD could be Fatboy in full flight, though, as he pounds through re-edits of Southern Fried classics from Mighty Dub Katz and Scanty Sandwich alongside tunes from newer signings like The 2 Bears on a mix to be played as loud as one of Doorly’s mentor’s shirts. Paul Clarke
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