Various - Chilled Kutz IV

(~): 2003

Track List:
1. Jam & Spoon - Garden Of Eden
2. Swayzak - Illegal
3. Kitaro - Silver Moon
4. The KLF - Chill Out
5. The Future Sound Of London - Amoeba
6. The Future Sound Of London - A Study Of Six Guitars


If anyone wonders where the f' The KLF's Chill Out is in my collection, th'ar she be, lodged among a pile of unrelated tunes. I wanted the seminal piece of plunderphonic ambient, but good luck finding a copy of the CD while living in the hinterlands of Canada. I actually came across it at a university kiosk once, back when it wasn't so highly sought, but passed due to a lack of cash-money on my person at the time. Good thing those P2Ps can find rare stuff, and Chill Out wasn't hard either. Now looky here, someone ripped the full album as one, singular track, which makes sense as the whole thing mostly plays out as a long singular track, capturing the vibe of a long, singular trip on a long, singular train-track. Or driving by one.

What else can even be said about this record? While the notion of a 'chill room' in rave circles did exist, it wasn't until The KLF put a prominent stamp on it that chill-out as a genre properly took hold. Of course, they called it 'ambient house' then, because everything was either house, techno, or ambient at the time. Some freestyle too.

What set Chill Out apart from all the stodgy Eno clones or Berlin-School synth wizards was how grounded everything was, meditation music for the common man and mentally gassed raver. Not just New Agey calm pads and pastoral field recordings, but slide guitar blues and entrancing throat singers. Radio DJs getting you hype, but as heard from somewhere else, a memory of before the party started. Bill and Jimmy were crystal clear in their manifesto with Chill Out, the perfect sonic soother for your sketchy Sunday needs. Skychurch music for the loved up generation.

Naturally, all the other tracks I smashed into this Chilled Kutz look woefully out of place. Well, not so fast. While Kitaro and Swayzak have no place here, that Garden Of Eden from Jam & Spoon ain't so bad, very much on a '70s space rock vibe (are we sure they didn't sample Pink Floyd?), and a nice prelude to Chill Out. Meanwhile, Amoeba from FSOL segues remarkably well from The KLF, its sputtering choir pads and hazy drum loops maintaining the come-down mood. I suppose Study Of Six Guitars is fine as a closer, but I've heard it utilized better elsewhere.

Oh, I guess this explains why I never got ISDN either. Yeah, I only grabbed a few tracks off that album and scattered them about my burned CDs, and felt it enough a representation of the FSOL record to not bother buying a proper copy. I really should rectify that. It's certainly much cheaper than Chill Out these days.

Various - Chilled Kutz III

(~): 2002

Track List:
1. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Secret Location
2. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Conoid Tone (Reformed by Autechre)
3. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Intruder Detector!
4. Bill Laswell - Maps Of Impossible Worlds
5. Dub Squad - The Lost Mountain
6. Bill Laswell - Babylon Ghost
7. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Hubble (Reformed By The Irresistible Force)
8. The Higher Intelligence Agency - Selinite
9. Wally Lopez & Dr. Kucho - Sheperd Divine Street
10. Waveform - Slumberland


Yep, that's another mislabel at the end there. Well, a couple of the HIA tracks too, neglecting to include Pete Namlook's name with them, but that's kinda' expected. Even in our modern times, digital file labelling really, truly hates that '&'.

I knew the compilation Slumberland from Waveform Records existed, and was curious of what it might sound like. Without a clue of what artists or songs might be on it though, I had little hope in finding it on AudioGalaxy, right? Or maybe not, if I punch in the correct search query. How about “Waveform Slumberland” then? And wouldn't you know it, a seed popped up with exactly that! I naturally grabbed it, played it, and gosh, is this ever a blissy, chill bit of ambience with some prog guitar jamming along. I'm almost positive this is a track from the CD, but which one? The Golden Needle from A Produce, for the record, but I wouldn't confirm it until I got the dang compilation proper-like many years later, so I left the mislabel as was.

Welp, that's a bunch of words burned on yet another tale of wacky MP3 downloading. No blame though, as I unfortunately burned through a bunch of potential talking points this past year when I finally picked up the releases a bunch of those HIA tracks were featured on (Preform, Reform, S.H.A.D.O). Isn't that crazy? Had I somehow gotten to these Chilled Kutz but two years ago, I'd have had plenty to talk about, but now? At least I put Secret Location at it's natural spot, at the start of the CD, rather than its oddly placed second position on S.H.A.D.O.

More Bill Laswell, then? Maps Of Impossible Worlds was actually a Buckethead collab', under the name Death Cube K, though this cut coming from Laswell's Ambient Compendium. And I've talked Babylon Ghost plenty times elsewhere, though this version does sound a little more vibrant with extra instruments. Meanwhile, The Lost Mountain from Japanese group Dub Squad is an outlier, sounding more on that Tosca vibe, and probably nabbed based on a Muzik Magazine recommendation.

If you want a real outlier though, here's Sheperd Divine Street from Wally Lopez & Dr. Kucho. Almost certainly another Muzik Mag' grab, the orchestral deep house cut is at total odds with all the surrounding bleep techno and ambient dub. Think I just liked the feel of something more uptempo to take the CD out on.

Various - Chilled Kutz II

(~): 2002

Track List:
1. Bill Laswell - Cybotron
2. Banco de Gaia - Alpha (Waves in My Brain)
3. Deep Forest - Sweet Lullaby (Natural Trance Mix)
4. Deep Forest & Enigma - Rain Song
5. Audio Science - 2.5 Orbits Later
6. Banco de Gaia - 887 (Darkside Return)
7. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - The Challenge (Part 1) / Linkage / The Tides (They Turn)


Straight up, Track 4 is a mislabel, a quirky relic of the dodgy MP3 downloading era. Come to think of it, I'm astounded my AudioGalaxy and WinMX days yielded so few of them. Or maybe it did, but upon realizing I didn't have the actual track I wanted, would delete them. Only had a couple gigabytes of harddrive space to hold MP3s, y'see, and couldn't be fussed with wrong tunes. Still, good luck finding out what Track 4 actually is. After all these years, I still haven't a clue, and it's not like y'all can hear it to maybe I.D. it for me. I guess the 'proper' thing to do would give it an I.D. - I.D. tag, but it feels nostalgic keeping it mislabelled as I found it. Besides, it kinda' does sound like what an early '90s collab' between Deep Forest and Enigma.

[EDIT: After I finished writing this, I noticed Last.fm had scrobbled the track as by Chorus Of Tribes. I checked the Discogs entry, and lo', there's comments re-iterating my tale above! I'm keeping the paragraph though, as I find it hilarious this mystery was so easily solved after all]

So Chilled Kutz II has half the tracks as the first, due to the fact the last two tracks run over twenty minutes apiece. They're also redundant to my music collection, 887 (Darkside Return) re-emerging with the 4-CD re-issue of Last Train To Lhasa. Honestly though, it's not a good extended take on the track, at least compared to what Toby accomplished with Kincajou. Only reason I got it was because I could, those extended versions quite rare indeed back in ye' olden days. PWoG CDs were also rather difficult to come by, so imagine my glee in finding such a long cut of theirs. It was only labelled as The Challenge, but is clearly the multi-part outing that opens Ov Biospheres And Sacred Grooves. Also, Bill Laswell's Cybotron (from Dub Chamber 3) is here, because I had more Laswell and figured a 'darker' chill-out compilation was a good fit for it.

What's left, then? A true rarity in Banco de Gaia's Alpha, a track off the tape album Freeform Flutes & Fading Tibetans that never saw resuscitation. Doubt it ever will either, as it liberally samples Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World; the rest reminds me of an overtly chipper version of The Orb's O.O.B.E. The Audio Science track is a nice little moody ambient outing befitting a lonesome journey among space dust and rocks. I really should track down their album some day, considering how much I hype the group.

Various - Chilled Kutz I

(~): 2002

Track List:
1. Noiseshaper - The Only Redeemer (Cottenbelly Remix)
2. Bob Marley - Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) (Bill Laswell Ambient Dub Mix)
3. Groove Corporation - Giocoso, Gioioso
4. Bliss - Dunia
5. Sven van Hees - Jupiter's Quest
6. Sven van Hees - Tsunami (Inside My Soul)
7. Groove Corporation - Liberation Dub
8. Groove Corporation - Dub 3000
9. Sven van Hees - Gregorian Lust
10. Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry (Bill Laswell Ambient Dub Mix)
11. Bob Marley - Burnin' & Lootin' (Bill Laswell Ambient Dub Mix)
12. Kenji Kawai - Unnatural City
13. Sven van Hees - Breakfast With Abductees
14. Groove Corporation - A Voyage On The Marie Celestie
15. Rhythm & Sound - No Partial


Of course I'd make my own 'chill-out' series. Heck, it's surprising I didn't make more than four volumes, though I certainly could have. Truth is, most of the ambient techno, Ibizan downtempo, and ambient drone I had raided from AudioGalaxy were artist discographies, the bulk of which appeared on separate, exclusive discs. Almost all of those are long gone now, oxidized and covered with dust, made wholly redundant when I was able to actually buy the original albums that my younger, P2P-sharing ass pilfered from.

So it goes with this one as well. Groove Corporation? Got 'em. Those Dreams Of Freedom remixes? Have it. Even that one, lone Kenji composition, which totally throws the dubby Balearic vibe of this disc off? Yep, even found the Patlabor 2 soundtrack for that. What does that even leave me for the debut Chilled Kutz I?

Well, there's a lot of Sven van Hees, at least. I honestly can't remember how I fell into his stuff, another one of those mini AudioGalaxy raids that turned out a nifty amount of tunes. Though he started out in that R & S Records brand of trancey techno, he eventually migrated over to a Balearic chill vibe that was remarkably dubby as well. There's something about his music that perfectly captures the feeling of relaxing on Mediterranean shores, fancy drink in hand, contemplating existence. Dude's remained active to this day too. I should probably get some of his albums proper-like.

That leaves a couple outliers, most likely nabbed after a Muzik Magazine recommendation. Dunia from Bliss is more of a world beat thing, though remarkably smooth and graceful, almost befitting an aerial vista score. Is the rest of Bliss like this? *checks the Afterlife album* Well by jove. Maybe I'll scope out more from them as well. The Rhythm & Sound track is Basic Channel inching closer towards reggae dub, probably as near to the edge as their techno background would allow. Makes for a solid closer. Bassline gets my head-bobble on.

And there's nothing more I can say about this burned CD that I haven't elsewhere. But don't fret, folks, I've more interesting things to come in the following volumes of Chilled Kutz!

ACE TRACKS:
Bliss - Dunia
Sven van Hees - Jupiter's Quest
Groove Corporation - Dub 3000

Various - Breakz & Bass 2

(~): 2003

Track List:
1. Waveform - D-Tox
2. Banco de Gaia - How Much Reality Can You Take? (Jack Dangers Remix)
3. Waveform - Deep Dubz
4. Waveform - The Joint
5. Brainiac - Neuro
6. Polar - Out Of Range
7. MISTiCAL - Spiritual Thing
8. Waveform - Proteus 4
9. Waveform - Drifter
10. Waveform - New Frontier
11. The Youngsters - Slow

So I made a series centred around all the broken beats I'd been AudioGalaxy-ing. Somehow, this second volume survived, while whatever I had featured on the first has completely slipped from my memory, to say nothing of whatever stack of burned CDs I once had unlabeled and tossed in a dusty corner. Looking at this track list, clearly it wasn't a concept with much going for it, but it wasn't my fault. All those breaks and jungle recommendations in the back pages of Muzik Magazine were just so hard to find on the P2P services so many moons ago.

That can't be the whole story though; look at all those Waveform tracks! I must have heard one or two somewhere, and just had to hear more, is that it? Hah, no. I was looking for Waveform Records tracks, and the Mike James project was what happened to turn up with the highest results. I suppose it's a comprehensive summation of his nu-skool breaks side-project, nearly half of his lone album represented here (some obviously pilfered from DJ sets – oh God, that's Hybrid's Kill City coming in on Drifter, isn't it?), plus downright obscure Waveform joints like Proteus 4 and The Joint. Some of it is pretty good for the genre in its infancy, but you can also hear the telling signs of stagnation even this early on, tracks more fascinated with big bass sounds than anything else.

Elsewhere, breaks get extra representation with Brainiac's Neuro, which sounds like it barely missed the cut in the Wipeout: Fusion soundtrack. Also, there's that Jack Dangers rub on a Banco tune again. Hey, I had no idea if I'd ever find a version of it, so you can forgive a little underhanded gathering. Polar and MISTiCAL bring the d'n'b vibes in fine form, so not much else to add there. I'd forgotten Calibre-Intalex-ST Files project went this far back, much less that I'd raided a tune from their Mistical Dub EP

Then there's The Youngsters' Slow, initially the B-side to the Abusive Melody single, then the opening track to their debut Lemonorage album. And here I am using it as a closing track on a 'breaks and bass' compilation. What kind of track even is this? It's quirky for sure, with a hoppity-skippity rhythm and spritely, bubbly synths bouncing along as a backing pad gradually builds the tension. Almost sounds like something that could have come out on old Warp or Rephlex. It doesn't really fit with the overall vibe of this CD, but then isn't your closer supposed to be the last bit of indulgent leftfield music anyway?

Bill Laswell - Bill Laswell

(~): 2002

Track List:

1. Psychonavigation - Black Dawn
2. Divination - Descent
3. Above The Earth
4. Bob Marley - The Heathen (Bill Laswell Ambient Dub Mix)
5. Sacred System - Babylon Ghost
6. Commander Guevara
7. Sacred System - Galactic Zone
8. White Arc Spiral
9. Bonus: Brian Eno - 1/1

Not as redundant a burned disc as you'd expect, but yeah, I've gathered a few of these on their proper albums now (Sacred System's Book Of Entrance and that Bob Marley remix project). Still, that's another handful of Bill Laswell jams I haven't gotten either, hence why this old personal compilation has remained with me all this time. I had to do something with all those Laswell tracks I nabbed off AudioGalaxy, see, put some order into that bundle of discographical chaos. Oh, how little did I know I was just barely scratching the surface of how deep it went. Ah well, it's a pretty tidy little summation of his '90s work, mostly on that ambient jazz-dub tip.

Like, I didn't even realize I'd gotten one of the Psychonavigation cuts, though listening to Black Dawn, and those distinct Pete Namlook synths in play, the similarities to those sessions is very apparent. I probably didn't clue in though, since this is a shorter version of the track, whereas the original was over a dozen minutes long. Apparently this cut comes from a double-disc compendium of Laswell music called, um, Ambient Compendium. Also from this compilation is Descent, which originally appeared in longer form on the third Divination album, Akasha. It's along the same lines as the minimalist stuff that project offered.

The other three tracks come from a pair of Bill's regular albums – yes, he even released under his own name too! Above The Earth is more typical of his heavy bass-dub ethnic music, though with the added 'gimmick' of some spoken word stuff too. Meanwhile, Commander Guevara and White Arc Spiral come from Invisible Design, which features different bass tones compared to his vintage low, grumbly style. These are mellow, soft, almost in the range of treble, and played far jazzier than his other stuff I've covered. I'm sure bass guitar experts could fill you in the precise details, but I honestly can't be bothered to do the research. If Laswell's guttural bass tone isn't to your liking though, maybe this one would do you better.

Well, that was a fun little dive into more Bill Laswell, but what's this at the end? A Brian Eno track? And not just any Brian Eno track, but the first track from his first ambient album, Music For Airports (aka: the piano one). What's that doing here?

Ah, see, it comes back to that whole 'raiding AudioGalaxy' thing. Naturally I'd have searched out some Eno, since it was Very Important to ambient as a whole and all that. I saw I had some space left on my disc, and had 1/1 in my folder, so figured may as well stick it on here. I really ought to get Music For Airports proper-like at some point though.

Astral Projection - Astral Projection

(~): 2002

Track List:
1. Liquid Sun
2. Astral Projection vs Trilithon - Burning Up (Psychedelic Burn Out Remix)
3. Searching For UFO's
4. People Can Fly!
5. Let There Be Light
6. SFX - We Are Controlling Transmission
7. Anything Is Possible
8. Aurora Borealis

If some of y'all have wondered why goa trance legends Astral Projection have been conspicuously absent from my music collection, this is why. Absolutely I knew of them, and when cruising the AudioGalaxys and MP3.coms of the web two decades past, they were among the first names to crop up when my inquiries of 'goa trance' and 'psychedelic trance' were sent into the ether. And wouldn't you look at that, plenty of seeds for quick downloads! Absolutely I'll nab myself a bunch of those, thanks. Eventually I had enough cool tunes for a burned disc of strictly Astral Projection music, the result of which being this myself-titled compilation. Simple enough explanation, right? Oh, not so fast, I'm afraid.

Truth is, I did this with a lot of artists, including such names like Juno Reactor, Spicelab, Aphex Twin, and Biosphere. Some of those early discs simply deteriorated, but as I found myself more gainfully employed and with easier access to the CDs I wanted, I went out of my way to actually buy the albums proper-like. Who wants to settle for crummy MP3 rips on burned CDs when you can have the real deal, right? Only... I never did the deed with Astral Projection. I've forever kept this lone disc as all that I need from the famed Israeli duo, and honestly don't have much inclination to rectify that. I like the A.P. stylee, just not enough to spring for their albums. Frankly, I feel like I've heard about all there is to them with the selection of tracks I did settle with for this compilation. Sans Mahadeva, of course.

I'm sure their REAL fans could create a more authentic CD, but considering I didn't know much about them at the time, I'd say I did pretty well assembling these tunes. There's two from Trust In Trance, two from Dancing Galaxy, one from Another World, one from (then current) Amen, plus some assorted compilation-only goodies. Oh, and the Astral Projection tune that's technically not an Astral Projection tune, We Are Controlling Transmission, released just prior to them adopting their lasting alias. It certainly is more indebted to German trance than anything from the shores of Goa, and is honestly my favourite cut of the lot here.

And that's the crux of what's prevented me from diving any deeper into their discography, a sense that there really isn't much more to their sound that what's here. For sure there's differences between tracks, but when an older tune leaps out as more distinct than all that followed, I reckon there's a minor issue in your songcraft. Still, folks enjoy Astral Projection for a dependable, spacey goa trance vibe, so all the more power to them in delivering it time and again.

MUX - 2005 Live-PA Demo

promo: 2005

I wonder how many of these exist out there. Like, even from my tiny, backwater home-town, I've come across a number of them. Hell, I technically made one, when a couple buddies and I borrowed our fathers' music gear and started jamming out some really, really, really amateurish Primus-inspired nonsense. We recorded our efforts to a few tapes, but fool ye' be should thou seek to purchase a demo of The Festering Rat-Heads. Point is, music demos are everywhere, made by many who had an early itch to produce something, anything, but go no further than that. Maybe they found a musical calling elsewhere, or other life commitments prevented them from following through. Whatever the case, it seems no matter the level of talent involved, only one out of thousands of demos blossom into an actual career with signed records distributed through a label, even if but a short one.

MUX though, I always felt he coulda' been a contender, making live acid techno at a time when the genre was pretty much a forgotten relic of the '90s. Yeah, the Stay Up Forever posse were still kicking out the jams with regularity (they never go to sleep, see), but they had that legacy momentum going for them. Ain't no where else on the globe peddling that stuff in the mid-'00s, much less the West Coast Of Canada. So you gotta' give it to MUX (Drew Smith to the Pacific Naval Patrol) for sticking to the sound he loved best: 4am bangin' acid techno.

Four tracks long, this live-PA outing picks up right where the London Acid Techno crew have remained for two decades. Okay, it's not pure TB-303 action in play, as authentic machines are limited and difficult to come by, but the essence and soul of acid remains. For folks starved for the stuff in a region completely devoid of it, MUX's stuff is the right stuff indeed. It's got the thumping beats, the looping vocals ripped from sci-fi movies (I'm not inconsistent, you are inconsistent, dammit), the tweaky acid builds, and... um, okay, that's about all there. It's acid freakin' techno, exactly what you'd expect, delivered as well as you could hope from someone not within the Stay Up Forever inner circle.

Though he probably could have sent some music to the London Acid Techno Crew for consideration, MUX recorded little else after this. He still keeps semi-active in the Vancouver scene though, a prominent promoter for the long-running, bi-annual live-PA showcase Sequential Circus, even occasionally breaking out his old gear for another live acid rinsing. Mostly though, Mr. Smith's found his true calling gallivanting across the Pacific shores in his own sail boat. I'm serious! Like, if there's ever a reason to not follow through on a career in techno, that's good enough for me. Maybe I can hire him sometime in the future for an expedition to Kerguelen Island, have an acid techno party on the loneliest place on the map.

Various - (~)

(~): 2000

TRACK LIST:
1. Delerium - Heaven's Earth
2. S.E.T.I. - Mare Crisium
3. One Dove - Transient Truth
4. Bindu - Light At Heart
5. Deep Forest - Twosome
6. Influx - Dreamscape
7. Lore Carson & Graeme Revell - Fall In The Light
8. Banco de Gaia - Touching The Void
9. Banco de Gaia - 144K?
10. Rhythm Method - Goa: Season Of The Monsoon
11. Young American Primitive - Expanding
12. Pentatonik - Movements: Part 2

This was my first attempt at an actual DJ mix CD, and boy howdy did I ever go gonzo with its presentation. Fancy fonts, super-slick paper, pretentious liner notes, plus multiple copies to hand out to friends and family. For I had a tool in my (roommate's) possession that would allow me to craft a collection of music on par with the Northern Exposures and Global Undergrounds of the world: a cracked copy of ProTools! Of course, I didn't know much about the software to do a whole heck of a lot with it, but it was enough to make long, lengthy mixes such as I'd never been capable of in my way early efforts with live CD mixing (before turntable mimicking jog wheels were much of a thing).

As I've not become some expert, famed creator of globally recognized mix CDs, this obviously didn't turn out as I'd envisioned. A glance at the track list is a good indication why. The idea was to tell a story, with each track a distinct chapter, alternating between uplifting and melancholic moods. In trying to appeal to two audiences (friends and family), however, I left both confused and uninterested with my effort.

The obscure, underground ambient techno sounds from S.E.T.I., One Dove, Influx, and Young American Primitive was too unfamiliar for the family folk, while my peers were disappointed by the inclusion of so many 'poppy' offerings from Delerium, Deep Forest, Lore Carson, and Bindu. Maybe it wasn't such a hot idea to sequence them in an “up-down-up-down” fashion. Maybe it would have worked if I'd had a larger library of music at my disposal. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

So while some choices are naff (really, Year 2000 Sykonee, two songs in a row from The Magical Sounds Of Banco de Gaia?), there are a couple clever moments too. I'll defend the mix between Twosome and Dreamscape to the day I die, plus that hard cut from Goa: Season Of The Monsoon into Expanding works great after teasing the YAP cut throughout Rhythm Method's build. And since my copy of the Strange Days soundtrack was lost in the Great Pawning Of 2002, this remains my only outlet in hearing that lovely tune Fall In The Light that closed the movie out. Holy cow, was that ever a great soundtrack. I should buy it again. Can't be more than a couple dimes on the used market these days.

DJ Moe Sticky - RnB State Of Mind 33

promo: 2015

Of course, another reason I had no problem parting with some American paper for two promotional CDs of DJ Moe Sticky is I knew I could get some mileage out of them. No, obviously not on the home front as those street hustlers promised ...well, maybe I could, if I was the sort of douche who'd invite club girls over with this pre-playing in the background. My game's so weak though, that I'd probably talk about how trap has its roots in Miami Bass music, or that RnB was better in the New Jack Swing era. Like, are we gonna' do it or not?

Not in this review, baby! I've got some things to say about the state of RnB, yo'. For instance, it's no secret that EDM and southern beats crept into the genre in recent years, but even after hearing two mixes worth of it, I'm still kinda' flabbergasted by the development. RnB, and by extension the urban scene in general, had almost nothing to do with dance music's environment, the two repelling each other like two negative electrons (g'ah, so dorky!). One had their thing, the other hand their thing, and though they shared some loose lineage in utilizing drum kits, studio synths, and the like, by no means would their scenes cross, RnB a world apart from where I stood. A few tunes would catch my ear, but so much of it sounded the same to me, even with occasional evolutions of the sound (we go reggaeton!). Which is fine – I needn’t follow every electronic genre under the sun, especially ones I don’t relate to.

That all said, I find all these trap influences none too obnoxious at all. Make no mistake, the RnB that DJ Moe Sticky’s promoting here has little to do with RnB of old, or even the soulful crooning stuff that most critics will praise. The Brooklyn native is strictly all about that strip club bounce and cruddy crew come-ons; much less ‘rhythm and blues’ and tons of ‘raunch and bass’.

The only thing keeping this in the realm of RnB is the reliance on singing rather than rap, and even that’s suspect in this case. Well over half these names (T-Pain, Fetty Wap, Lil’ Wayne, Tyga, Kid Ink, and a ton more you’ve probably never heard of) rely on digital manipulations of their voices to carry a tune, which undoubtedly pisses off purists to no end. Me though, I dig it - at least when they don’t sound like they’re singing through their nostrils. Most times it sounds natural (!) with all the booming bass, synth stabs, snare and hi-hat rolls, and trap-chants (which remind me of the “Hey! Hey!”s from Boney M’s Rasputin for some silly reason). There are enough familiar electronic sounds that I enjoy from genres of old that there’s no good reason for me to hate this, even to the point of enjoying it in drunken spurts.

Mr. Sticky’s annoying cut-off ‘mixing’, on the other hand...

DJ Moe Sticky - RnB State Of Mind 32

promo: 2015

Well, if this doesn't look all kinds of sketchy, ghetto, amateur, and scrub. Folks, you don't know the half of it. That's the only piece of art I got with this, and it's on nothing more than a piece of scissor-cut paper, printed with an ink jet. The accompanying burned CD itself is completely blank, not even a single scribble of a felt marker telling you what's on the disc. And a proper jewel case or cardboard digi-sleeve to hold it in? Oh, that's cute. All you get is a small plastic slip, though mine does have my name scribbled on it by a felt marker. Personalization, yo'! Gads, even the mix CDs I made back in the day had more effort put into them than this.

Of course, this is the sort of thing one expects from demos handed out at parties by desperate DJs looking to make their mark. Sometimes you get a burned disc with more care and attention given to it, but since these are freebies anyway, you typically overlook whatever faults the packaging may have. Except this wasn't free. I paid ten dollars for this. And for a second one. Twenty bones on cheap-as-fuck demos. How could I have been so stupid and careless with my money, you ask? Oh, don't worry, there's a tale I must tell. The actual music critiquing of these RnB State Of Mind discs can wait for the next review.

I don't doubt for a second I looked like an easy mark wandering the Vegas Strip, but frugal spending and marketing cynicism kept my wallet deep in my pocket. Besides, what do I care for passes to casinos I'll never attend, or burlesque clubs I couldn’t properly tip at, or- wait, these two black dudes are selling some music? Tell me more!

Were they ever hustlin', telling me how the DJ – one Brooklyn native Moe Sticky – was set to blow up huge in the world of rap and RnB. Since they were also shilling for a strip club, they insisted these two discs would get any woman within hearing distance naked, horny, droppin’ drawers, etc. They talked a good game, and while there was zero chance of me playing this back at the Hard Rock Hotel while entertaining eager ho's (“sorry, Dad, you'll have to hang at the casino tonight”), I enjoyed the game they were playing enough to drop a Jackson into their palms. Look, I've paid far more dollars on old Namlook CDs, so it's not that big an investment where I'm standing from.

Naturally, with my wallet currently out, their wingman swooped in looking to hawk a DVD accompaniment to these promo CDs. Seeing as how it'd cost me an additional twenty, forget that noise. He was persistent though, selling how the whole combo was essential to get ladies wet or some-such. Then he reached towards my wallet to extract a twenty, at which point I Noped!, and strolled off, counting my bills just in case.

Various - Mixed Goods XVI

(~): 2003

TRACK LIST:
1. Radar - Flying
2. Heller & Farlay - Deep Sensation (Peace Division Mix)
3. Holden & Thomposn - Nothing (Vocal Mix)
4. Golden Girls - Kinetic 2001 (Vincent de Moor Mix)
5. Blaze featuring Palmer Brown - Do You Remember House? (Bob Sinclar Mix)
6. Luomo - Tessio (Moonbootica Remix)
7. The Future Sound Of London - Slider
8. Future Prophecies - Stalker
9. Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (Jam & Spoon Hi N-R-G Mix)
10. Holden & Thompson - Nothing (93 Returning Mix)

I've been too hard on commercial compilations in the past. Reliving these Mixed Goods of mine, I realize its bloody difficult maintaining a consistent theme when there's limited choices for track lists. At the start, I had plenty to work with, my initial downloading spree spoiling me for ideas on each CD. Here, however, at the end, all I've left are a couple new tunes I could snag, and a bunch of scraps. Mixed Goods XVI may have solid songs on it, but as a listening experience, it's a total mess (yes, even worse than Mixed Goods IV).

That Holden & Thompson classic is the obvious standout here, though I had no idea that the 93 Returning Mix would become the anthem it did. Heck, does anyone even remember the original version (mistitled Vocal Mix here)? The whole chopped vocals gimmick was just that, a quirky effect that turned decent lyrics into something quite unique for the time (and endlessly copied thereafter), and still holds up a decade on. It’s completely understandable why so many Holden fans are, erm, beholden to him, longing for a ‘03 returning stylee.

Hellar & Farlay bring the final 'dark prog' track to the series (more of a tribal outing this time), Future Prophecies the final d'n'b cut, Vincent de Moor’s mix of the classic Kinetic a final bit of trancecracker trance, Radar one more old-school trance tune, and the Bob Sinclar Mix of Do You Remember House? for the last true bit of house (Luomo's track is kind of electro-house though). Meanwhile, a pair of totally random songs in Slider and Relax round things out. I simply had nowhere else to put them until now (then). Huh, quite a coincidence to end Mixed Goods with such a summation; funny how it turned out that way.

That’s finally over though. Thanks for putting up with this nostalgic excursion into my year of personal CD burning. I was leery about this stretch, knowing full well it’d be almost nothing but anecdotes, which I prefer avoiding when possible. Still, maybe younger readers gleaned some interesting insight into that brief era of AudioGalaxy’s glorious heyday.

Okay, I’ve a huge pile of alphabetical backlog to get through now, on account I picked up another CD tower from a friend, under the condition I relieve him of his CD collection as well. Some of the releases and artists coming up, I thought I’d never review. This… is gonna be fun.

Various - Mixed Goods XV

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Intro
2. Fred Everything - Let You Down
3. Blakstone - One Thing
4. Blaze featuring Palmer Brown - Do You Remember House?
5. Fred Everything - Universal Mind
6. Fred Everything - Another Soul
7. Barrington Levy - Under Mi Sensi
8. Fred Everything - Under The Sun
9. Fred Everything - Derby
10. Blaze featuring Palmer Brown - Do You Remember House? (Azzido da Bass Tech Drops)
11. Fred Everything - Without
12. Fred Everything - Revolution

Lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy. Did I not care about these anymore? Eh, not really. WinMX continued to suck balls as an AudioGalaxy replacement, and all the other suggested replacements were too sketchy for my liking. Also, I was employed again. And had real money again. And lived close enough to Vancouver that I could visit awesome music stores when I felt the urge to check new music! Downloading felt horribly unnecessary and so not worth my while any longer. I mean, just look at that track list up there! It's basically Fred Everything's album Under The Sun, with a few smatterings of other tunes. Why didn't I just buy Mr. Everything's album proper-like instead? Gathering MP3s was kinda fun at first, hunting about for music you knew was difficult to find at that day in age. Then, it became tedious, a chore for diminishing returns. Hell, I didn't even care enough to find a spiffy cover for this fifteenth volume of Mixed Goods, going with a rather generic 3D spheres thing.

I’ve really backed myself into a corner here with so much Fred Everything. I could tell you a bunch about his career, and his style of summery, loopy deep house (some people call this ‘liquid tech’ now, for some stupid reason). If I did that though, I’d have nothing to say when I do get around to reviewing Under The Sun (like, probably over a year from now). Well, okay, I’ll let you know that Derby is dubbed-out bliss, but that’s all.

The Blaze tune was a minor hit when it came out, even if it deals in a house trope that’s almost as old as the house ol’ Palmer’s reminiscing about: the ‘back in the day’ monolog. Still, Blaze has never made a bad track in their career (if they have, please don’t tell me – I cherish the ignorance), and Do You Remember House? is no exception, perfectly capturing vintage house vibes without coming off retro. Learn from these guys, o’ ye House Revivalists of our modern times.

Blakstone provides my obligatory ‘dark prog’ cut, and I’ve no clue which ragga version of Under Mi Sensi that is up there; it was all I could find when I initially searched for the original. With that, I’ve said all I’m willing to with Mixed Goods XV. Tunes are fine, but are hopelessly redundant within my collection. Meh, why couldn’t Mixed Goods XII have survived instead? That one was great! Ah well, one more to go.

Various - Mixed Goods X

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Aqualite - The Outback (DJ Taucher Remix)
2. O.T. Quartet - Hold That Sucker Down (Aquagen Remix)
3. DJ Kayos - Acid Vibes
4. Reverse Pulse - Flexible
5. Tom Wax - Amphetamine
6. Sunbeam - Solar Surfing
7. Stimulant DJs - Stop The Groove
8. Komakino - Dynacore
9. Spicelab - We Got Spice (Humate Remix)
10. Spicelab - Bad Rabbit
11. Sunbeam - Dreams
12. Shorty Bone - Dream Phase

My memory's hazy on this one. I distinctly recall seeing the image in an online gallery and thinking, “That's what I want for Mixed Goods X! It'll make for a wicked X-Files rip-off!” I'm pretty sure I'd also escaped interior-BC purgatory by this point, so my thoughts would have been on developing covers, including ones for future use since I had access to a printer again. Pity not the ink jet that handled this one, my friends, for it was a noble death.

The track list, however, has me wondering otherwise, as it's full of acts that don't make sense for the time. Komakino, Spicelab, Sunbeam, and such almost certainly would have been prioritized when I made my first searches in the world of P2Ps. Yet here they are instead, almost a good year after getting involved with AudioGalaxy. Perhaps after making the switch to WinMX, I tried my luck again to see if any new results came about? A smattering of leftovers I was saving for a theme-appropriate Mixed Goods? Or maybe it was that interactive Flash thingy I'd stumbled upon that pointed out tracks of ye' olden days, inspiring me to dig a little further again (Enlil's Tour Of Digital Rhythm, Melody & Harmony, or something).

I’m not sure what else to say about this one. As a collection of old school German trance, it’s alright, but I’d already put the best stuff on that Hypnotic: Electronic Purity CD, plus most of the other Spicelab material on its own disc (long since demised). The Aquagen Remix of Hold That Sucker Down pales compared to the classic Builds Like A Skyscraper Mix, and of all the leftover Komakino I’d yet to get, it’s an old, hard techno tune that makes the cut here. Still, gotta love Shorty Bone’s free-wheeling hard acid trance. So raw, so fun.

The outliers on Mixed Goods X aren’t much cop either. I have no clue why I got an NRG track in Stop The Groove, as I had but a passing tolerance of the stuff most of the time. Then again, when you’re growing desperate for any tune out of Muzik Magazine’s back pages, you’ll settle for Stimulant DJ’s. And Reverse Pulse’s cover of Depeche Mode’s Flexible barely sounds like the original at all – more like a left over German trance track the Pulsers had, and dumped some distorted vocals on top. Why do I have a feeling of déjà-vu talking about that one?

Various - Mixed Goods IX

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Jondi & Spesh - Creep Phase (Dub)
2. Chiller Twist - Strings Ultd (Shelly Mix)
3. Futurecast - The Future (Is Now)
4. Powerplant - With Or Without You (Blackwatch Mix)
5. DJ Gollum & DJ Yanny - Watch Out (Mellow Trax vs Lars Palmas Remix)
6. Dirty Vegas - Days Go By (Galastasory Mix)
7. Jay-J & Chris Lum - Freaks Like Us
8. Walley Lopez & Dr. Kucho - Acid Journey
9. Jondi & Spesh - Creep Phase (Original)

This might as well be Dark Prog 2, even though the music here isn't as endlessly plodding as some of the stuff on that disc. It is a consistent theme on Mixed Goods IX though, and also having the dubious distinction of the volume I always forget is on it.

Yes, even the Dirty Vegas hit Days Go By. I remember that I did nab that track almost immediately after seeing that Mitsubishi car ad like everyone else (so cool, so class, so vibe), but not where I put it. In fact, even going back to this CD just now, I was surprised to find Days Go By on here. Incidentally, this “Galastasory Mix” credit must be mislabeled, as Lord Discogs has no return for such a name. It just sounds like an 'extended mix' anyway, and for all I know, it's the proper original version (I don't have their album, nor do I care to get it). I'm only keeping it titled up there thusly as a testament to the wilderness that was post-AudioGalaxy P2P hunting of the early '00s, where mislabels were common. Many times you thought you'd stumbled upon a new, unique tune or remix, only to find it horribly, incorrectly titled (remember, kids, properly label your rips), or deliberately misleading to give the uploader undeserved fame (oh hi, DJ Mystik). At least this MP3 of Days Go By wasn't credited to Paul Oakenfold with a Digweed remix.

*whew* Was that paragraph ever long. What sort of specific tracks are we dealing with on Mixed Goods IX, then? There's some deep, dubby stuff here from Jondi & Spesh – mm, like dub techno, but with warmth. Chiller Twist's Strings Ultz was a minor, melodic hit back in the day, while Walley Lopez & Dr. Kucho bring a proggy bit of acid to the table. Even hard dance mongers DJ Gollum & DJ Yanny get a classy acid-prog (!!?) rub for Watch Out. Also, why is nearly every artist and remix on here a duo? Even two of the aliases (Powerplant and Futurecast) are duos. I swear I didn't intend to piece together Mixed Goods IX as a showcase of that! Maybe prog was entering its “we cans Sasha & Digweed too” era with credits?

Despite always forgetting about this compilation, it's still a pleasant disc to hear whenever I do throw it on. Can't really say the same for the remaining Mixed Goods, but they're definitely memorable, if not for the best reasons.

Various - Mixed Goods VII

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Dido - Hunter (MJ Cole Mix)
2. Acquired Sound - Online
3. PPK - ResuRection
4. Jamie Anderson - Can't Stop
5. Chris Zander - Lord Of Sunshine (Christian Hornbostel Mix)
6. David James - A Permanent State (Superchumbo Mix)
7. Oliver Klein - Timeloop
8. Biosphere - Chromosphere
9. Justin Scott Dixon - Pure
10. Interflow - Storyreel (Extended Vox Dub)
11. Jamie Anderson - Black Sun (Total Eclipse Mix)

7? What happened to 6? Heck if I know. I can't even recall what was on it, made in an uncertain time where I still relied on P2P sources, but with diminishing returns. Shortly after this one, my financial situation hit an all-time low, and I was forced to pawn off my CD collection for ramen noodles just to get by. I wasn't too choked to see those discs go, but a few had assorted tracks I wanted to keep for future use in these compilations. And now they're lost as well, lost, lost...

Well, not quite. That Justin Scott Dixon track, Pure, ended up on a future Mixed Goods without me even realizing it, which is doubly-funny since I already had the track on Sasha & Digweed's Northern Exposure 3. In fact, I think this is an exact rip from that set. Why on Earth did I even want that track so much? Sure, it was one of the few tunes in the back pages of Muzik Magazine I could nab, but it's not that good out of context.

Ah, I'm sure most of ya'll haven't even noticed Pure in the track list above. Yes, that's ResuRection you see, and yes, I unashamedly adore that track! Overlong breakdown aside, it's such a deliciously old-school sounding tune, I was stunned it even became the hit it was. Maybe it would usher in a new dawn of classic trance, one no longer reliant on Dutch supersaws and- oh, you naive little darling, 2002 Sykonee!

Aside from MJ Cole’s remix of Dido’s Hunter (was curious to hear what the deal with MJ Cole was ...wasn’t impressed) and another classic Biosphere cut (please point me to affordable copies of his early albums!), Mixed Goods VII follows a similar structure to those that came before: mix of house, techno, and prog. This one’s mostly prog though, as it was often easiest to find on WinMX, what with all those prog DJ mixes coming out in 2002. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, that’s not psy-trance act Total Eclipse doing a rub on Jamie Anderson’s Black Sun; rather, a play on words for a darker version of the funky house original.

Mixed Goods VII is alright, but a cynical ear isn’t difficult to form playing this CD, much of it drab and plodding. For as much as I enjoyed ‘dark prog’, what came recommended and what I could find just wasn’t cutting it. Fortunately, things turned around by the time I got to gathering it again.

Various - Mixed Goods V

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Jacob London - Slom Time
2. D.A.V.E. The Drummer - Strictly Underground
3. D.A.V.E. The Drummer - Implant (Acid Techno Is Alive)
4. Brancaccio & Aisher - It’s Gonna Be… (A Lovely Day)
5. Ubu - Pixels
6. The Bangin’ Drummer - To The Underground (Vox Mix)
7. Danny Tenaglia vs X-Press 2 - Elements Vs Smoke Machine (Mayor’s Mix)
8. Derler & Kitzling - Nuclear Device
9. BPT - Moody (Future Shock Mix)
10. D.A.V.E. The Drummer - Evil Acid

When I initially made all these burned CDs, they’d all go into a simple, thin jewel case with hand-written tracks lists. It wasn't until I got the dodge out of interior British Columbia poverty and hands on a decent printer that I could do any spiffy labeling. Being endlessly nostalgic for early '90s CGI art, I scoured the interwebs for such examples. Every cover for Mixed Goods was culled from online galleries, and I kind of wish I'd kept the original artists' credits for them, as some of them are damned good, even making the discs aesthetically better than they really are.

Like Mixed Goods V!

I had ‘underground’ in the track list twice, plus all sorts of pummeling acid techno and chugging, basement tribal house (prog!), so I figured something appropriately properly reflecting that sound was required. I was also getting better at developing these covers, placing text, toying with fonts, and all that. Mixed Goods V may not have the best tunes out of my series, but as a complete package, I think its tops. Heck, even the CD label has unique charm.

Music wise, there aren’t that many surprises, as I was only just re-gathering up new material. Unfortunately for broke-as-fuck music enthusiasts, AudioGalaxy had just recently shut down, and most were left scrambling for alternatives. WinMX sufficed at the time, though was leagues behind in finding the specialist stuff. Suddenly all those wonderful MP3 rips of Muzik Magazine recommendations were gone, left with tons of D.A.V.E. The Drummer instead. Huh, okay.

Well, ol’ D.A.V.E. wasn’t too bad for acid techno (Implan still kicks), but I’m sure you’re all more interested in that Elements/Smoke Machine mash-up. Ah, it’s totally a bust, the entirety of Elements playing in whole, immediately followed by the entirety of Smoke Machine played in whole. Oh look, someone noticed Smoke Machine uses part of the vocal of Elements in its track. You so clever, bootlegger! Ah well, it makes for a nice companion piece in this CD, coming off the Tenaglia inspired (rip-off?) To The Underground from Bangin’ Drummer and into the anthem techno (!?) of Nuclear Device. Funky house jams from Jacob London and Branaccacio & Aisher, plus fine prog slices from Ubu and BPT (yes, this is the best remix of Moody), and you have a surprisingly well rounded CD of underground flavoured tunes. In fact, of the Mixed Goods I still have, V hits the peak.

Various - Mixed Goods IV

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. BPT - Moody (Pete Heller's 'Stylus' Vocal Mix)
2. Quirk - Soft Focus (Hyperion Mix)
3. Quirk - Yebo
4. Funk D'Void - Diabla
5. Chris Carter - Plex
6. Andy C & Shimon - Body Rock (Live)
7. Matrix & Fierce - Tearaway
8. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - Dust
9. Soul Grabber - Release
10. Plank 15 - Strings Of Life (Pete Heller's Strings Of Dub)
11. Kosheen vs. DJ Tiësto - Hidden Flight (Windsidor Bootleg Mix)

The title Mixed Goods truly is awful grammatically, though intentionally so. Something of an inside joke among my old 'Rupert Raver' crew, we (mostly two or three chaps not me) had a tendency to invent slang almost on a daily basis. It definitely started well before I joined up with them (I was a drifter before finding musically like-minded peers), and Lord help me, did I ever endlessly crack up to some of the nonsense that'd come from their mouths. Their slang war grew incredibly competitive, always attempting to outwit the last clever comeback, and ofttimes rendering simple discussion an impenetrable haze of jargon. As I still had close ties to that crew while I was making these CDs, some of the lingo remained a part of mine own, “goods” such an example. Yeah, it's not terribly difficult deciphering that one, but then I figured only they would ever see these anyway.

Okay, I’m honestly just burning word count here because Mixed Goods IV is quite a mess. By the time I got to making it, I was down to leftovers for MP3 choices, most of the best stuff already burned to personal compilation series (this one, Klassic Kickbacks, Breakz & Bass, Chilled Kutz ...ooh, mint material there!) or feature discs, typically of a specific genre or artist. I likely could have waited for more Muzik Magazine recommendations, but I needed hard-drive space for more music (my old-old computer only had 2.6 GB!). So onto Mixed Goods IV these oddities went.

There’s a fair bit of prog on here, though seeing Pete Heller’s name shouldn’t surprise of that. Perhaps more surprising is psy-trance act Quirk also getting in on that prog action; guess it was a bid to stay relevant, and ultimately failed since the duo folded shortly after these were released. A few excess cuts from my Breakz & Bass series also show up, though only Matrix & Fierce’s Tearaway is any good (and kinda’ stuck in post-Bad Company dark-neuro-step-funk-whatever sound). Chris Carter’s Plex is a weird nu-school breaks thing, and everyone knows Body Rock; all I could find was a crummy internet rip to sate my curiosity over the ‘clownstep classic’.

I guess the rest of these tracks were gathered to sate curiosity too; obviously so the Kosheen/Tiësto mashup, but also Funk D’Void’s nasty techno beast Diabla. Bet that track would scare the piss out of today’s festival circuit. Also, I really ought to hunt down proper copies of Pychick Warriors Ov Gaia’s music, shouldn’t I?

Various - Mixed Goods III

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Noiseshaper - The Only Redeemer (Flag Finger Mix)
2. Frankie Knuckles - Keep On Moving (The One Mix)
3. Sven Van Hees - Psychedelic Bellydancing
4. Wally Lopez & Dr. Kucho - Patricia Never Leaves The House
5. DJ GoGo - Sayna (Version 1)
6. Sven Van Hees - Serrano Anthem
7. Nigel Hayes - Que Pasa
8. Mateo Murphy - Love Express
9. Tom Wax & Jan Jacarta - Wormhole
10. Glenn Wilson - Release
11. Mateo Murphy - Impact
12. Tom Wax - …And Then It Hit Me

This was my stab at making a Balearic compilation. It didn’t quite work out, mainly because I ran out of Balearic music far too soon. It actually still makes for a decent ‘night out at Ibiza’ themed CD; at least I assume since I’ve never been to the tourist trap of an island. Laid back deep house to start, moving onto groovier, upbeat stuff like tech-house (no, it really was groovier back in the day!), some culturally tinged tunes as you wander the terrace to the next club, and finally settling on pummeling 4am techno to finish the night off.

If anyone’s paid attention to the previous burned CD’s I’ve ‘reviewed’, you’ll notice a couple familiar names already. Noiseshaper’s The Only Redeemer makes another appearance, a single that was heavily promoted during Quango Records’ re-launch in 2001. This Flag Finger mix, a short version of the reggae-dub house tune, doesn’t appear anywhere at Lord Discogs. Man, did P2P programs return some odd results back in the day. There’s also DJ GoGo’s Sayna again, though this version isn’t as mundane as the Dark Prog one – there’s an actual synth hook near the end, though minor. And here’s Sven van Hees, whom I raided quite a bit from Audio Galaxy for, almost entirely based on the cool track names. Most of the music I got from him went on chill-out CDs I made, Serrano Anthem is definitely in this vein (a mid-CD bliss-out moment), but Psychedelic Bellydance is… tribal-reggae techno? Awesome, is what it is; just awesome.

Nigel Hayes’ Que Pasa also has an upbeat, Balearic vibe going for it, though with a few jazzy guitar and saxophone licks thrown in. After that, techno, man, all techno. Well, not quite. Wormhole is definitely not techno, in fact rather out of place as a ’97 slice of trance surrounded by Mateo Murphy and Glenn Wilson tracks. I do recall stumbling across it when searching for Tom Wax’s …And Then It Hit Me, a tune I just had to hear after learning it was another ‘storytime techno’ tune (think The Horrorist’s One Night In N.Y.C.). Oh yeah, I’ve definitely been where this narrator’s been… once.

Listening back on this, Mixed Goods III has held up remarkably well, if I do say so myself. Shame hardly any of these tunes are available at Amazon’s MP3 store. Who knew this music would turn out so rare a decade on.

Various - Mixed Goods II

(~): 2002

TRACK LIST:
1. Space Frog - (X-Ray) Follow Me (Funky Mix)
2. Dance 2 Trance - Power Of American Natives ’98 (DJ Scot Project Remix)
3. Komakino - Man On Mars
4. Tilt featuring Maria Nayler - Headstrong (Blades G. Remix)
5. Jam & Spoon - Be Angeled (Paul van Dyk Club Mix)
6. Final Fantasy - Controlling Transmission 2001
7. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia - Exit (Drum Club Mix)
8. Biosphere - Novelty Waves
9. Slam - Alien Radio
10. Skylab 2000 - Higher
11. Space Frog - (X-Ray) Follow Me (Pants & Corset Remix)

No, really, I still had a touch of the trancecracker in me even by 2002. It was a very, very, very small amount lurking, probably hiding behind the spleen with any post-’96 euro-dance, hoping the invading electroclash couldn’t flush it out, but it was there. Well damn it, I had to purge it somehow, and if making my second volume of Mixed Goods a total cheese-trance fest was the only way to do it, so be it!

Okay, this isn’t that cheesy. I’d gathered an odd assortment of euro-trance though, and definitely knew I wanted some of the most shameless stuff on Mixed Goods II. Balancing it out at the other end were some ‘proper-trance’ tunes like Exit from PWoG (more of a dub tribal thing) and Biosphere’s classic bleep-techno tune Novelty Waves. Slam’s Alien Radio had more in common with techno (with spa-a-a-ace sounds!), but I liked the tune, so in it went as well. After that, Skylab2000…

Okay, anyone remember these guys? This track Higher is more of an old-school rave tune, and for the life of me I can’t recall where I got it from. My best guess is MP3.com, but I also recall some mass MP3 giveaway from a new electronic music magazine with a website tie in. Oh, early ‘00s, with your wacky internet gimmicks. I wish I could recall that one better.

Back to Mixed Goods II, the first half of this CD isn’t as corny as you might expect. Space Frog’s Follow Me was an undeniable hit in anthem loving circles, few able to resist that ‘call to arms’ vocal and stomping synth hook, and was regular weapon in Oakenfold’s Cream days. Naturally with any trance-associated hit, a pile of pointless remixes came out 2002, the Pants & Corset one the best of the lot; the Funky Mix is mislabeled, but I like it enough as an introduction to the forthcoming cheese. Amazingly, Scot Project’s remix of P.oA.N. is quite restrained from what you’d expect of the hard trance DJ – there’s pounding kicks and overlong builds, sure, but no blaring synths, my friends. As for a 2001 remix of Final Fantasy’s Controlling Transmission, well hey, it’s me. Not as good as the original though.

And that’s the end of this one. Honestly, about the only thing memorable about Mixed Goods II is the cover. I’d have bought more Trance Divas if they’d come packaged like that!