Showing posts with label James Zabiela. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Zabiela. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Various - Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 15 - James Zabiela

Renaissance: 2010

Maybe I should just go back to the beginning, those early seminal mixes that elevated James Zabiela into the progressive elite. Yet would I be let down by those too? There’s so much hype for Utilities, Sound In Motion and ALiVE, their legacy as essential contributions to progressive house/breaks/tech, I fear they can’t help but not live up to their praise. Were they just good for the time, or had ol’ Zabs’ earned enough good will with live shows and Sasha nods that they forgave whatever faults those CDs might have. They certainly can’t have that same sense of missed opportunities as his contributions to Renaissance’s Master Series have.

Let me repeat his CD1 mix from Part 12 remains a great collection of tunes, arranged with wonderful narrative flow; however, the whole package is undone by the hopelessly dated, drab techno of CD2. Part 15 is another double-disc set that would have benefitted from reducing it to one. In this case though, we’re dealing with two half-good mixes rather than one ace and one bunk.

Make no mistake, I was looking forward to hearing this one based on the tracklist alone. So many artists I enjoy, plus others I deeply respect despite not indulging their material as often. Like who, asks you, before knowing the imminent namedrop shall commence. There’s Gui Boratto, Robert Babicz, Guy J, Hardfloor, Spooky, Josh Wink, Kaito, Jori Hulkkanen, Siriusmo, Ellen Allien, Boys Noize, ASC, plus a chap by the name of Peter Benisch I’ve gushed all too often about. Part of what intrigued me about Part 15 was how Zabiela would arrange all these artists into a cohesive DJ set, and the answer is he barely does at all, mostly opting for the mixtape treatment of tracks instead. Okay, cool, I’m sure Zabiela’s got some great selections to showcase throughout the course of these runtimes. Ehh…

CD1, subtitled A Life Less Ordinary, suffers most from this, never gaining any traction until well over the half-way mark with a comfortable groove. Before that though, we run through dubby downbeat (Nosaj Thing’s Fog), clicky chill (Zabiela’s Burnt Bridges), shoegazey electro (R3volve’s Bootpacker Alpha), microfunk (ASC’s Porcelain), and acid-ragga breaks (Ruxpin’s A Sunrise). All cool music, but little connection between any of it beyond tunes Zabiela’s fond of, and the distracting, injected dialog snippets don’t help matter either (shame, because such recordings were also a plus in Part 12’s favor). Still, a strong finish for this disc, even if it’s thanks to Benisch’s Skymning pulling it forward (no bias!).

CD2, subtitled Afterlife, almost has a good start with some melodic Detroit techno (Vince Watson’s Long Way From Home, but is followed upon deep tech-house that has all the substance of a rice cracker. At least it isn’t plodding, and once Zabiela gets out of the fussy bloopiness of it all, he settles into an enjoyable proggy outing with a little acid funk thrown in. There, that wasn’t so hard. Why you no do that from the start?

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Various - Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 12 - James Zabiela (Original TC Review)

Renaissance: 2009

(2015 Update:
Oh yeah, I called it for sure. CD1 still sounds great, timeless, and class; CD2 is aging so poorly it hurts. Dear God, I didn't give that 'Reconstruction' of
Energy Flash enough shit. What the Hell are Huggy & Newton even doing with the acid? It sounds like a sick duck quacking. And shame on you, James, for including such a crap cover in your mix. Stick to the original, mate, always. MAOR field recordings too!

Ol' Zabs returned to
The Masters Series for its 15th edition, which I haven't heard. However, seeing as how he has Boys Noize follow Peter Benisch in that mix, tickle me intrigued. He's since drifted away from the commercial DJ mix market, offering up several free MP3 mixes online instead, including a running series called Paradigm Shift. While I don't doubt it's provided him a greater sense of creative freedom, it'd be nice to see him return to the mix CD scene too. Come on, Balance, grease him palms a little...)


IN BRIEF: Almost there.

So much for being ‘the next Sasha.’

Actually, that’s unfair. I doubt James Zabiela ever wanted such an association. Be that as it may though, it was a handle he earned very early in his career when he toured with the iconic British DJ, even teaching the old chap a few new tricks along the way. Then, when Zabiela paired off with Nic Fanciulli a few years back, promoters and paid journalists figured they had a new Sasha & Digweed in the making, and eagerly pushed them as such. Unfortunately, although their One + One release got reasonable reviews and the subsequent tours were generally successful, they were never able to build upon that momentum, and they’ve been in relative stasis since as hip upstarts took the limelight. Might all that early promise in Zab’s career be disappearing into unfulfilled hype?

That’s a stupid question (but oh such a tempting segue, eh?) –James’ skill as a DJ is just as competent as ever. What’s still up in the air, however, is whether he’ll ever release a mix CD that will attain the ‘classic’ status Papa Sasha has repeatedly done. On the twelfth edition of Renaissance’s Masters Series, Zabiela has come about as close to doing so as he ever has.

Being the ambitious technical geek that he is, James wasn’t satisfied in providing ‘just another mix’, and, as seems to be quite the trend of late, got his conceptual on. The gimmick is this: Zabiela took a mini-recorder around with him for a while and recorded various sounds and speeches to make use of; then, after much studio tinkering, crafted a true musical journey of a mix.

The CD starts on a mellow tip, which will be the general theme maintained for much of its running time. Yeah, as per the Down title, this is mostly a downtempo set. Fear not, though, as it neither rambles nor dawdles – in fact, despite obvious transitions and changes of tempo, Zabiela has crafted an incredibly engaging and evolving mix. Sets of chill music are at their best when it feels like you’re being taken on a sight-seeing tour of various moods, atmospheres and soundscapes, all the while always making progress on the trip. Not only has James accomplished this here, but by making use of his samples, he’s given his chosen songs stronger context in the sort of story he aims to tell. For instance, how about a bit of melancholy dialogue regarding losing our humanity as a bridge between the somber minimalist Pattern 4 from Cyan341 and the warm, fuzzy nostalgic tones of Boards Of Canada’s Amo Bishop Roden? There are plenty of lovely little bits like this scattered throughout the mix.

Towards the end, Zabs starts cranking the BPMs up a notch – several notches, actually. Esky’s Number Station establishes a fitting sci-fi setting before IDM-breaks mainstays Plaid are given a chance to take off, reminding us just how sublimely exhilarating these guys have been throughout their career. And while the ‘two-step prog-house’ of Quivver obviously can’t compare to Marry, John Graham’s offering still makes for a worthy contemporary set closer, with Departing Gates’s blissful piano tones providing a fitting coda to the CD.

Overall, I’d rate Zabiela’s set just as good as anything you’d have expected from the prog DJ legends of the 90s – yes, even Sasha’s sets from Northern Exposure. Don’t miss out on this excellent CD from The Masters Series!

Eh? You say there’s two CDs to talk about here? No there isn’t.

Okay, there is, but can’t we just ignore it? It’s not worth getting into. No, really, it’s not. *sigh*

CD2 is called Up, but Down is more up than this disc. The BPMs may be geared for the dancefloor, but there’s very little ‘up’ about these beats. For the most part, this is an ‘I are serious techno DJ’ set, with rhythms that plod along, atmosphere that remains in k-hole murk, and generally very little fun. Despite the sounds and effects never being outright awful, it’s just agonizingly dull to endure - especially so is Zabiela’s own Darkness.2, which is little more than an extended effects wank-a-thon. The set has an alright start with Paul Woolford’s Surrender, but forget about anything being built upon it. Komytea’s Professional Killers nearly rescues us from the middling affair - it at least has some decent groove - but is quickly undone when the track doesn’t really lead anywhere, and James falls back on boring techno-stomp right after. Of course, the pointless cover–sorry, ‘reconstruction’ of Energy Flash will get your attention, in that it’s such a recognizable anthem, but it isn’t until the tail end of Perseverance that things finally pick up. Love You All makes a valiant effort to bring some proper fun back into the mix, but Luomo and Apparat’s track is far too little too late. Even Zabiela doesn’t seem too fussed with this set, as he only adds his walkabout samples at the bookends, not bothering to create the same kind of concept that worked excellently on CD1.

Up just can’t compare to Down in any way. It lacks the first set’s finesse, creativity, spunk, emotion… Hell, anything. And as a standalone, forget it. With tech-plod sets of this sort all over the place, there’s nothing about it to recommend. I hope CD2 isn’t meant to be a representation of what Zabiela plays at the clubs – I’d be spending a very long time at the bar were I hearing this out live.

Masters Series 12 is totally schizophrenic. One half is brilliant, the other not; one half makes a strong argument that Zabiela deserves all the hype, the other makes a strong argument that good prog DJs are dull techno DJs; one half will get repeated plays, the other will collect dust. Mind you, this isn’t a 5/10 release by any stretch, but a mediocre CD2 makes paying a two-disc price for a great CD1 mighty painful.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2009. © All rights reserved

Saturday, October 4, 2014

James Zabiela & Nic Fanciulli - One + One (Original TC Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2007

(2014 Update:
AH HAHAHAHAHAAH!! HAHAAHAAH!! Man, all the music journalists that bought into the PR hype that James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli were going to be the next Sasha & Digweed deserves a punch in the dick. AH HAHAHAH!
*punches 2007 Sykonee in the dick* Ouch! Yeah, I kinda did too, but only as a review angle, I swear! Wait, why am I feeling that punch seven years later? Damn temporal paradoxes.

What I remember most about this DJ mix was how much it annoyed me. True, my initial thoughts were formed during a frustrated wander through a Surrey suburb (was kinda lost), but the various glitch-minimal wankey bits soured my impressions forever after. I hadn't listened to this since I reviewed it, and was struck dumb by not only hearing Rockers Hi-Fi's
Push Push here (by way of a M.A.N.D.Y. remix) but also deadmau5's Faxing Berlin - I totally don't remember hearing that track in this mix! Not that I would have immediately recognized it back then anyway, since One + One came out a few months before ol' Joel blew up big on Beatport. Guess I gotta give Zabs and Nic some credit in picking future 'classics' like that one, even if their team-up's barely remembered as a footnote in their respective careers now.)


IN BRIEF: The potential of youth.

Masters At Work; Grooverider and Fabio; Hawtin and Väth; Sasha & Digweed: DJing duos that made massive impacts on their scenes, raising standards to new highs with their unprecedented symmetry. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a breakout duo of similar ilk, but if the hype centered around this release is to be believed, we just may have it. And the names that will take DJing to a whole new level? James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli. For those still in the dark about these two, here’s a quick dosier.

More or less discovered by the now defunct Muzik Magazine, Zabiela built a larger DJing career from his Bedroom Bedlam momentum. On top of that, just as the era of digital DJing emerged, Zabs was among the first to not only support the technology, but show-off just how creative one could get with CDJs and Ableton Live. He was the new kid on the block teaching all the old timers how to use these new-fangled gizmos, impressing even the ‘Son Of God’ enough to tour with him. As for Nic... Well, he appears to be part of Renaissance’s ‘The Next Generation’, or something to that effect. He’s gotten plenty of praise from the progressive elite, but unless you follow that scene religiously his name may have passed you by. Until now, of course.

Bottom line is these two are members of the new breed of young DJs looking to shake things up in the realms of clubland. And although they both have differing approaches to the trade, Zabs & Nic discovered a strong synergy between them, making use of each other’s strengths while keeping their weaknesses in check. So of course, in an industry desperate for The Next Big Thing, it’s no wonder some music rags are jumping on their official pairing as something new, exciting, bold, visionary, and other typical journalistic hyperbole.

I suppose you’re wondering whether all this early hype is warranted. Well, no. It almost never is, to be honest, but even then this pairing has come very early in Zabs’ and Nic’s career (by comparison, Sasha & Diggers had been at the game for quite a long while before they ever hooked up). There are sections of this mix where the over-exuberance of snickering youth does get the better of them, and despite Nic’s steadying presence, Zabiela still has a tendency to get too indulgent with playing with his laptop, if you catch my euphemism. Mind, this doesn’t mean One + One isn’t without merit; just don’t go into it thinking this is Northern Exposure for the modern clubber.

Still, the first disc follows in much of the same vein as that seminal series. As the chiller of the two CDs, it is quite laid back in delivery, mostly content to cruise along at a casual pace. Interestingly, rather than the more traditional ‘slow breaks to house grooves’ sets of this nature build to, Zabs and Nic go in reverse. Deep house vibes open the show, soon sliding into dubby tunes, synthy atmospherics, and even electro breaks. Of course, with IDM production so very hip now, we get a slight detour of mild offerings around the middle of this set. As far as experimenting soundscapes go, these tunes are intriguing enough but it is nice to return to the more melodic nature of chill sets in due time. Be warned though: the glitchy clicky nature of digital DJing rears its head quite a bit in the final stretch (especially in Zab’s own offering of Human, unsurprisingly), so it does make for a rather... unique listen compared to more typical sets. It’s also amusing hearing a knowing wink from him in the form of Furry Phreaks’ Soothe; James is apparently quite aware of the comparisons he and Nic have been getting lately.

And so, we come to disc number two, which usually means the party is ready to get under way with some bumpin’ rhythms and energetic hooks. Er... that’s not quite what happens here. If the ‘Ableton House’ bits of the first CD didn’t do much for you, you’ll probably want to sit out the first half of the second one. Certainly, there are some nifty tracks used here, but this set has a hell of a time getting anywhere; there are just too many “check out THIS trick!” moments to build any decent momentum. And whether it’s Zabs and Nic doing it or the original tracks are produced this way, you end up feeling like you’re stuck in Laptop Land. It also doesn’t help that this section isn’t terribly energetic in the rhythm department and something resembling a good tune remains sparse, but I suppose that makes it easier to tinker with. Yeah, I’m sure there are legions of Ableton acolytes out there who’ll eat this up, but unless you know the tracks and hardware intimately, it’ll probably just come across as either fluff or aggravating noise. Over-indulgent IDM lives on in house music, it would seem.

Things get better when DJ Dan makes an appearance by way of his Electroliners collaboration with Jim Hopkins, bringing us into some good ol’ breaks action - finally it begins to sound like this set is going somewhere. Its short lived though, as the final stretch brings us into simple techno territory ...of the unfortunate meandering kind. There are brief moments where things perk up – the always classic Wiggin’ by Derrick May’s Mayday alias the obvious example - but a lot of it relies on basic loops and soft beats. Hardly exciting stuff - perhaps Zabs and Nic didn’t want their single No Pressure to be overshadowed? As for No Pressure, it’s a nice closer that fits with the second disc’s simpler nature, summing up some of the themes touched upon. Personally, I found the pleasant opener Rover on disc one the better cut but your mileage may vary depending on what you get out of these sets.

To be honest, this isn’t the easiest DJ mix to get into. Your expectations will be challenged because this duo isn’t afraid to tinker with convention. All fine and good: it’s interesting to hear new ideas when they are executed well (and they mostly are). But at the same time, there isn’t as much tinkering as you’d expect. They have some tracks they want to play, they have some effects they want to play with, they mixed them altogether, and we have One + One as a result. The trouble is there aren’t that many standout tracks beyond the timeworn classics we hear, and the sets play in musical chunks rather than a flow. As such, if you still haven’t bought into the fizzle hiss-hiss crrzzkkzz hiss pop nature of these kinds of sets, this won’t do much to change your mind without the Big Moments that have made some of the sets of those other famous duos so legendary.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

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