Various - Traveler '03

Six Degrees Records: 2003

The only hope a label like Six Degrees Records could have at success is predicated upon a compilation series like their Travel CDs. Take a casual survey of their roster, and most likely you’ll draw a blank on seventy percent of them. I only familiarized myself with Six Degrees because Banco de Gaia found a new home there after his Planet Dog/Mammoth deal ended (prints going out of business will do that). And while I’ve since found a few interesting acts alongside him (dZihan & Kamien, DJ Cheb I Sabbah …The Orb!?), most draw a big ol’ blank from me. It’s my way-Western bias, see, forever limiting the sort of global exposure I could have at the tips of my earlobes. Names like Batidos, Niyaz, Issa Bagayogo, Cibelle, Ojos de Brujo, Bossacucanova, and Willy Porter are well outside my sphere of influence, and while Six Degrees’ manifesto is all about dropping some worldly musical knowledge on folks such as I, it’s all a bit much to take in for any but the most daring of global trekkers.

Hence the Travel series, a (mostly) annual compilation rounding up Six Degrees artists familiar and obscure as a showcase for the curious. Even a passing familiarity with the label should have folks weaned on the likes of Karsh Kale, MIDIval PunditZ, and Bob Holroyd, but who among thee know of Bobi Céspedes, Lumin, or Qwii Music Arts' Trust Khoi San Music? No, don’t lie, you’ve never heard that last one before, because this is the only place within Lord Discogs’ tome of knowledge it appears. Who even is Qwii Music Arts' Trust Khoi San Music? Fortunately, the inlay provides handy write-ups of the artists within. For this particular track of Xlao Tshao, we are told “These “Bushmen” of the Kalahari Desert and their music have evolved from 25,000 years of indigenous culture. They believe their music has the potential to heal their community through rhythm.” Well, that wasn’t much help at all. I could tell this was charming African-folk music just from hearing it, thank you very much.

That’s about the best way to take in Traveler ‘03 in, simply playing the CD back and hearing all the various cultures represented. And don’t worry about being too over-cultured, as Six Degrees’ main goal has always been about bridging these wide cultural gaps with easily-digested global grooves. Lots of downtempo dub, shufflin’ Afro-jazz, and even some braindancey breaks action care of Lumin’s Izgrala. MIDIval PunditZ’ Dark Escape has a brisk techno pulse going, while Ben Neill’s Bugfunk and Karsh Kale’s GK² isn’t a touch out of classic breaks, but with an ethnic twist.

And if all that isn’t enough of a bridge, there’s a bonus second CD with Traveler ‘03 of straight-up club remixes. Right, some of these are Latin clubs or jazz clubs, but house clubs too. Heck even Berghain jocks would rinse out that ultra-deep David Alvarado rub of Sylk 130’s Romeo’s Fate. How’d that get on here?

Feist - The Reminder

Arts & Crafts: 2007

I want to claim I heard of Feist before she got popular, but I’m not certain how accurate that is. Right, there’s almost no way I heard her before this album came out, though she wasn’t ultra-obscure by any means. Folks clued in with the Canadian indie rock scene would have likely had some contact with her contributions to Broken Social Scene, and her 2004 album Let It Die somehow did better overseas compared to her homeland, successful enough to warrant a remix album. None of which came within radar of my musical interests in the mid-‘00s, mind, but along came a noisy boyzie making a debut of his own that included a bonus remix of Feist’s latest single of My Moon My Man. Aww, yeah, I know you got that gnarly robot chorus in your head now. Go on, sing it: “My moon my man, my moon my man, my moon my man, my moon my man, yyeahyyeahyyeahyeahh!”

I didn’t hear that version until Boys Noize’s album came out later in 2007 though, and Feist’s The Reminder hit the streets earlier that year. Given this was the record that gave her all the plaudits, award nominations, sales, and newfound fans, that must mean I had to have come to the Feist train late. Yet her fame didn’t really take off until the follow-up single, 1234, came out, and paired with an iPod Nano commercial at that. Hoo boy, talk of a marketing coup, propelling her into the spotlight in one fell swoop. That ‘Colbert Bump’ the following year didn’t hurt either. But… when did the commercial come out? I don’t even remember it, though I tend to block out almost anything Apple ad related anyway. Too much manufactured hip for me, thanks. Besides, it’s I Feel It All that I swear had all the licensing offered, the tune ubiquitous everywhere I went the next couple years.

Anyhow, The Reminder introduced many folks to Feist’s singer-songwriting stylee, giving us a smorgasbord of her various muses. There’s wispy acoustic-folkie material (So Sorry, The Park, Intuition), peppy big-band pop (My Moon My Man, 1234, Sealion), jangly indie rock (I Feel It All, Past In Present) and a bunch of other stuff I’m having difficulty easily stuffing into tidy pigeon-holes. The Limit To Your Love sounds like jazz-blues, Brandy Alexander coffee-shop R&B, and Honey Honey… shoegaze ethereal baroque? Cool, is what it is. Let’s go with that.

All the dynamic genre hopping would amount to mud if Feist didn’t have such a unique voice though. Many scribes of the indie world have given better (and tediously exhaustive) descriptors of how she can sound at once pronounced and strong, yet frail and broken. Her popularity was also helped along by a Canadian media that, like its rappers, must always have exactly One (1) homegrown female singer-songwriter to rave about - Joni Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, etc. – and the opening was there for Feist to take the reins. Or it was just one big coincidence.

Laurent Garnier - Tales Of A Kleptomaniac (Original TC Review)

[PIAS] Recordings: 2009

(2016 Update:
You just had to make another dig at minimal, didn't you, 2009 Sykonee? Boy, does that quip ever date this review now - like, who gives a rat's poop about Luciano anymore? Meanwhile, Garnier's still here, doing his thing as he's always done, even releasing another album this past year. This reads a bit gushy to my current eyes, but its no less reverent than any number of fans and journo-folks who've put hundreds to thousands of words detailing the Frenchman's career and class.

Unfortunately for this album though, it hasn't gotten any easier of a listen as time's worn on. For all the care and skill Mr. Garnier put into these tracks, they create such an erratic listen with a traditional playthrough that it's difficult for anything to stick to the ol' memory membranes. Funny enough, Laurent mentioned shortly after releasing Tales Of A Kleptomaniac that he couldn't even stand listening to these tracks anymore, having spent so much time on them and all. Man, I know what that's like with some of my own writing, but I can definitely hear how some of this music's been micro-managed almost to a fault. Gotta' keep that muse fresh with new ideas, yo'.)


IN BRIEF: Does Garnier have anything left to prove?

No, don’t actually answer that rhetorical question; just ponder it for a moment. Then, once you’ve finished pondering, keep those thoughts to yourself. If you do that, then you might be able to dive into his new album, Tales Of A Kleptomaniac, without any of the ungodly expectations the Frenchman has become saddled with. Just accept the fact he likes to make music, and feel fortunate enough he’s successful enough to share that over-indulgent muse of his with you.

The simple fact of the matter is Garnier has established himself as the music-fan’s producer and DJ, thus has earned all the plaudits that comes with such respect; however, this also leaves his body of work incredibly daunting for the uninitiated, with very few clear-cut crossover singles to his name (The Man With The Red Face being the most obvious exception, especially recently). With a discography that is far from newbie-friendly, Garnier has been kept somewhat on the outskirts of top acts, even though he is a recognizable name. This new album isn’t likely to change that, which will probably suit his fanbse just fine. But, y’know, it’d be nice of him to, like, get the same kind of praise the Luciano Villalawtins of the world do, just once in a while, hm? Ah well.

So now that we’ve effectively frightened away the uninitiated, is there anything of interest for the Garnier connoisseur? You bet! In fact, there’s almost too much here. In being such a hoarder of musical styles, ol’ Laurent has assembled an incredibly eclectic collection of songs, such that I can’t see folks getting their vibe on to every track.

For instance, you may be totally down for more of his jazz-fusion techno-stomp, supplied here in the form of Gnanmankuodjii; but are you willing to go even deeper down the jazz tunnel, into an acid lounge with Garnier himself providing spoken dialogue in Dealing With The Man? Or perhaps you’re looking forward to some vintage dark trance vibes with Desirless that ol’ Laurent was known for way back in the day. That may sound good, but perhaps not the two hip-hop cuts - one with French lyrics, no less - if that isn’t your thing. Or maybe the thought of him doing dub reggae with Food For Thought makes you all giddy (*cough*); might you have the opposite reaction to Bourre Pif, a dabbling into drum’n’bass? Wait, what? That last one doesn’t make any sense. How could someone like one rhythm-heavy form of music but not another? Never mind that last one.

Getting back to the album, the point is there be a lot of musical variety on here, some of which may not be your cup of brie. However, it is all finely produced and enjoyable to those with at least a broad sense of taste -allow me to provide an example. Although I know it can be musical journalistic suicide to openly admit to not knowing much about a particular genre, I think you can all forgive me saying that I am quite clueless when it comes to French hip-hop - I've heard no more than half-a-dozen tunes in my life. Yet, despite not getting much out of Freeverse (Part 1) on an intellectual level, I still enjoy it on a ‘dumb’ level; that is, purely on what the music on hand offers. You get that sense of musical competence from Garnier on every cut here, and though you may not be compelled to suddenly start checking hundreds of French hip-hop acts out there, Garnier at least provides you with something that won’t have you quickly reaching for the skip button.

That said, there isn’t much on here that would convince one to check out these musical genres further either. Food For Thought is a great dub tune …for being on a Laurent Garnier album; fans of jazz-fusion, techno, and, yes, even French hip-hop would probably say similar things.

Tales Of A Kleptomaniac is another solid outing from Garnier, and the music’s far too good to give it anything lower than an 8. However, in allowing his muse to rob the kitchen of everything but the plumbing, it unfortunately lacks an elevating, crossover classic. The veteran Frenchman remains as daunting for the newbie as ever.

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

Various - DJ-Kicks: Brandt Brauer Frick

Studio !K7: 2014

Though DJ-Kicks has spotlighted DJs and producers somewhat off the beaten path, it's seldom that I draw a total blank on who's commanding the consoles. Even if they aren't immediately familiar, a quick Discogian search will reveal some information that sparks the memory synapses (oh yeah, Andrea Parker was on Mo Wax!). Such is not the case with this trio of dapper, fuzzy-faced German gents, Brandt Brauer Frick. I'm getting nothing on these guys, no appearances on familiar compilations, no namedrops from similar sounding artists, not even a whiff of recognition from locals who are all up in that European tech-haus scene. As far as my far-flung Canadian perspective goes, these guys are completely home-grown and insulated within Studio !K7's Berlin base, seldom exported beyond the eastern shores of the Atlantic. Or I could just be way out of the loop on this one. I mean, the trio have released three albums in the past half-decade, a tidy sum for any artist, and surely having generated some success as a result. Then again, considering this CD’s but a year old and already in among the discount options, just how popular can they be?

Whatever the case, I suspected I was in for something wildly eclectic upon checking out the track list (no blind leaps on this one, yo’). Twenty-eight tracks, a few familiar faces like Theo Parrish, Galaxy 2 Galaxy, Fantastic Man, and Machinedrum, plus a whole pile of new names to boot. Wee, just like the DJs themselves! As this is a three-piece group, I suspected Daniel, Jan, and Paul would go the tag-team route, showing off their various tastes of tech-haus, funky jazz, and other assorted trendy genre gobbledegook blends you’d hear out at Watergate. Hm, not so eclectic as I was led to believe, and sadly not for the better.

Despite having sections of sorts, Brandt Brauer Frick’s contribution to DJ-Kicks comes off disjointed and all over the place, and not in any esoteric mixtape sense either. The early portions go for their jazzy sound, but tracks come and go so quickly, with such jarring transitions of tempo and tone, little ever sinks in or flows. If you want to show off these cool, obscure tunes, let them breathe, got’dang it. This isn’t even a case of ancient vinyl being difficult to mix with current cuts, as nearly every track on here is from within the last few years.

Things don’t improve much once in the clubbier portion of this mix, where even a steady rhythm is denied by jumps and detours into broken beat jazz-house, quirky acid electro, and k-holed techno. There are a few clever blends and contrasts, but it doesn’t do the mix favours when the fading croon of Dean Blunt’s Galice at the end is the most memorable moments of the whole CD, only because everything prior has retreated to the cobwebbed back-corners of my cranium. Probably a better option with the vinyl sampler pack, this edition of DJ-Kicks is.

Various - Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café III

Wagram Music: 2003

Shortly after I finished writing a review for the first Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café, I found the third in the series while browsing a used shop. That… can’t be a coincidence! Either the Music Gods guided me to this encounter, or the Collector Deities blessed me on that day - depends which faith you follow. Or you don’t believe is such things, and it really was just dumb circumstance that this occurred.

Hell, despite their dwindling numbers, I wager the same thing could happen if I went to almost any ol’ used CD shop. The Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café series strikes me as the sort of compilations that are almost always the first to go when folks cull their CDs. An initial purchase made because the cover seemed hip and cool, and turns out the music is hip and cool, but as you age, you grow less hip and cool, and the need to have hip and cool music playing to appear hip and cool grows less of a concern; so, you sell off your hip and cool CDs for some cool, hard cash. Or maybe you really do enjoy jazzy, lounge music with an ‘electro’ bent, but then you’d probably keep such CDs anyway.

If you don’t know what’s up with the Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café, a handy review exists less than four months back detailing such trivia. And truthfully, not much has changed in the series two years between the first and third. There’s still a wide variety of nu-jazz sounds, from the sort of café music you’d expect to hear, to fusions with nearby genre cousins like trip-hop and acid jazz, plus a little sprinkling of ‘as real as real jazz can get in urban locales’ sort of tunes. Of course all these saxophones, pianos, trumpets, standing basses, drums, and singin’ soul sistas come coupled with a fair share of trippy synth sounds, squelchy acid stabs, and occasional sequenced rhythm sections, but more often than not the line is blurred between the natural and synthetic, you can’t tell whether that snare fill is programmed, sampled, or played live in the studio. Okay, the big giveaway is most of the acts in this compilation are solo artists, but man do they ever often sound like a five piece jazz band once a tune gets going.

Probably one of Saint-Germain-Des-Prés Café’s greatest strengths as a series was their ability to keep the artist rotation fresh for much of its existence. You’d seldom see a repeat name with each volume, all the while mixing well known acts with relative obscure ones. Only De-Phazz makes a return for SGdPC3, offering something on the cinematic side of jazz with Downtown Tazacorte. Other names here I’m familiar with are DJ Cam, Patchworks, Tek 9 (aka: 4 Hero), and Moloko, who ends the CD with a Sing it Back. No, not the version you’re thinking of, but a totally swingin’ piano version care of Can 7, sounding lifted straight from a ‘30s speak-easy. Well, murder, little tomato cat!

Todd Terje - It's Album Time

Olsen: 2014

I feel like a right idiot for not diving into Todd Terje sooner. Certainly I'd seen his name around, often paired up with Prins Thomas and Lindstrøm, fanciful phrases like 'nu-disco' and 'cosmic house' floating between them to describe their sound. What I failed to realize is these were just trendy buzzwords to describe something that was already rather old but often forgotten: space synth. However, unlike contemporary purists who simply ape the works of old, these guys approached the genre with a jazzy house vibe, not to mention a few influences from the French disco-pop scene of the same yesteryears. Or maybe it's a Scandinavian thing, finding those impeccable ear-wormy bits of musical gold in some of the hokiest music around.

Mr. Terje though, there's another reason I hesitated in seeing what his discography held beyond a few arpy dance tunes: the long delay in tackling the LP format. His first single, Eurodans, came out a full decade past, and he’s stayed within the EP realm for much of that time since (a DJ mix titled Remaster Of The Universe aside - show your ‘80s love a little more, Todd?). There was some good stuff in those records, but as I’ve stuck with CD as my preferred format, it’s primarily limited me to album buying. O’ forlorn t’was my dilemma, denying myself the sexy fun times of Mr. Terje’s output. But lo’, a Christmas miracle t’was afoot, for the Todd-One heard my wails of plight, and saw fit to satisfy my selfish needs for music consumed in hour length chunkettes. Thus, with a bit of a euro-sigh, he committed to the necessity of all aspiring musicians, album time.

Don’t be taken in by that facade. Even if It’s Album Time presents itself with the flair of a lackadaisical lounge lizard forced to diddle away at a piano for sixty year old European tourists, the music within is anything but. Well, okay, it sort of sounds like that too, but good! Obviously I find favour in the out-and-out space synthy cuts like Delorean Dynamite, Swing Star, Oh Joy, and Inspector Norse (dressed in house’s groove). Elsewhere though, Mr. Terje unleashes the cinematic sap in Leisure Suit Preben, down-low disco funk with Preben Goes To Acapulco, sunny italo-house in Strandbar, and general chintzy Latin oddities with Alfonso Muskedunder and Svensk Sås - Señor Coconut, much? Ol’ Todd also offers a lounge ballad with Bryan Ferry in Johnny And Mary, originally a peppy synth-pop tune by Robert Palmer. Hey, if you play the part on the cover, you gotta’ deliver within.

It’s Album Time finally commits the best facet of any album: flowing like an actual album! Even with a few older tunes sprinkled in, this LP is far from an odd-n-sods collection of singles. Todd Terje promised us a proper album experience in the title, and by gum he’s given it to us. Worth your ears’ attention if you’ve the slightest glow for synthy space disco in a modern setting.

Various - Motion 2: A Six Degrees Dance Collection

Six Degrees Records: 2002

This alphabetical stipulation is a burden sometimes. Its fine when I enter a CD series that has some prestige behind it - Global Underground, Fabric, Fahrenheit Project (!) - but what of the obscure ones? I can't imagine folks were waiting with bated breath as I went through four volumes of Elemental Chill last year, and Lord knows I was running on fumes by the end of but two mega-volumes of Goa Trance: Psychedelic Flashbacks. Now we have Motion where despite containing another round of classy tracks, is likely destined to languish in the back corners of this blog once disappearing from front page rotation.

Trouble is there's so little to talk about these CDs beyond the nuts and bolts review fodder. I'm not versed enough in Six Degrees that I can provide a grand perspective on Motion 2's standing with the rest of the label, much less proper world beat at large (dear Lord, those New Sounds Of Brazil CDs look scary). And while I hope whatever readership I gain is open-minded enough about this music to not dismiss it out of hand, I suspect this is entirely too niche for all but the truly musically adventurous out there. Perhaps Six Degrees realized this, hence one of their ongoing slogans being “Everything Is Closer Than You Think”, hoping an occasional curious listenership found unsuspecting kinship with arts and culture seemingly so wildly distant.

That said, Six Degrees Records probably overshot their estimation of how many folks out there were gonna' dig their stylee. Motion only lasted two volumes, the remix culture none too interested in dance floor weapons from a deep world beat label. Heck, I only picked this one up out of a sense of completion when I saw it sitting in a used shop. Oh, alright, I also wanted a proper copy of that Jack Dangers Mix of Banco de Gaia’s How Much Reality Can You Take?. Don’t look at me like that, this remix is some skilled big beat action!

The rest of Motion 2 features more mint examples of house and breaks, though isn’t as dynamic as the first one. Good example is another remix of Bob Holroyd’s Drumming Up A Storm, this time handled by Bob himself. His go treads blissy nu-jazz vibes, which is fine for this sort of thing, but compared to the exhilarating tribal workout of Romanthony’s remix, it’s just not as fun. Of familiar names recognizable by even the most layman of clubbers, Chicago house don Ron Trent indulges himself in some Latin shuffle in Batidos’ Tengo Sed, and Josh Wink does the minimal techno thing on Tweaker’s Linoleum (the good kind!).

There’s more, but I sadly suspect my words would fall on dead eyes. Names like Faze Action, Q-Burns Abstract Message, and 95 North do command respect within their respective scenes, but something tells me their fans aren’t about to scope out a Six Degrees Records compilation with names like Euphoria, Hawke, and Monica Ramos on it.

Various - Motion: A Six Degrees Dance Collection

Six Degrees Records: 2001

I'd probably have never given Six Degrees Records much thought if Toby Marks hadn't joined them for State-side distribution. When I dug a bit further into Six Degrees' manifesto, however, I found the cut of their jib most intriguing. Electronic dance music fused with world beats and culturally-inclined jazz-folk; yet of a classier, underground sort, not that cheesy New Age stuff Deep Forest inspired. As it turned out, Six Degrees lured in plenty of significant names of this scene (Karsh Kale, State Of Bengal, Cheb I Sabbah, etc.), plus a number of breaks and house outliers who had similar interests (DJ Cam, King Britt, DJ Spooky).

To accommodate their growing roster and interests of dance music, Six Degrees started a few compilation series for promotion. Traveller was their main one with a focus on label exclusives, but as any good label knows, you need that remix series too. Enter Motion.

I better admit here that I’ve only gone ankle-deep into the Six Degrees waters. Maybe it was the shock of Cheb I Sabbah’s La Kahena’s pure traditionalism, as this is a label you don’t beat around the bush with. If you’re a house or breaks enthusiast, some acts are familiar enough in style that a few releases would sit nicely with well known names. Below that surface though, chances are you’ll continually be confounded by forms of world music you did not know exist, much less find the time to explore all their nuances. I’m sure there’s much rich diversity to discover with Six Degrees, but I simply haven’t dedicated any time towards doing so, content with Banco de Gaia’s content and whatever associated music he happens to drag along with.

Speaking of, here’s Motion, about as friendly an introduction to the label as any house head could hope for. A couple names should already be familiar to those well-versed in that scene, including Sylk 130 (a King Britt alias) and dZihan & Kamien. Some may remember the duo who were part of the early ‘00s resurgence of European flavoured deep house, yet weren’t of Nordic descent; instead, they lent an Eastern bit of flair to their sound, and thus were quite chummy with Kruder & Dorfmeister sorts. dZ&K also get the lone non-remixed tune on Motion, the exclusive B Movie which is all kinds of groovy shuffle and floaty bliss. Elesewhere, DJ Cam re-rubs his own DJ Cam Soundsystem into a disco dubby cut that DJ Sneak would nod approvingly for.

In the back end of Motion, things go more prog-house with The Light and PFN’s remix of Banco de Gaia’s Obsidian, while harpist Monica Ramos has her upbeat Ocean re-arranged for Balearic DJs, and Garry Hughes almost goes proper psy-dub with his take on Euphoria’s Delirium (no, not Delerium’s Euphoria - that’s something else).

Despite this CD’s age (geez, a decade-plus!), it remains a solid collection of Six Degrees sounds and an easy primer. Or a good collection of ethnically-tinged house music. Your choice.

Various - Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked

Verve Records: 2005

It’s been one year since I started this blog up again, and I've ducked, dodged, and weaved away from this beast of a genre. Now, I must deal with one of the most daunting scenes of music for any rookie to delve into: jazz. Not acid jazz or dance-jazz or nu-jazz or sampled-jazz; no, nothing so easily tied to the forms of music I'm most familiar with. This is full-blooded, one-hundred percent, straight from the smokey recesses of inner-city habitats jazz. John Coltrane's here! Dizzy Gillespe's here! Chico Hamilton's here! Pharoa Sanders is here! Archie Shepp's here! Still with me on this? 'Cause I'm already lost on some of these names.

I don't mind jazz, but I can't claim to knowing more than the cliff's notes version of its long, long, long history. It's a scene where you're either all-in, or barely dipping your toes. To do that, I'd have to become a Jazz Guy, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. I'd have to dress different, act different (all other music's inferior); I'd have to grow a moustache and get all kinds of fedoras and wines. I'd have to get new furniture and 'art' for the walls and mood lighting. I'd have to get new friends, new Jazz Friends. No, I'm not ready for it.

Fortunately, we have handy bluffer’s compilations to get a taste of that action without going all the way in. This here Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked is one such collection, several contemporary electronic acts having their chance at remixing classic cuts from the groundbreaking label, Impulse! Records. Establishing itself in the early ‘60s, and with John Coltrane leading the charge, it was instrumental in popularizing the free jazz movement from which I shall stop talking about its history because I really, really don’t know more than what Wikipedia tells me nor do I care and is this freeform method writing cool-daddy enough for ya’? Argh, all this jazz, man, it gets in the head.

So we have Kid Koala, Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, RZA, and others giving modern takes on classic urban stylee jazz numbers. For the most part, it puts the music closer to the acid jazz camp clubbers will be familiar with. Others go more for the hip-hop flavour (Prefuse 73’s go on Gabor Szabo’s Mizrab is almost glitch) and Teflon Tel-Aviv turn Oliver Nelson’s Stolen Moments into something out of a Hybrid interlude. A solid gathering of reworkings all round, and perfectly safe listening for those who feel Ninja Tune’s the extent they’re willing to indulge jazz music in.

But, if you’re feeling more daring, this here 2CD copy has the original cuts on the second disc, all in the same order as their remixed counterparts on disc one. Now you can compare and see if these updates do the classics justice. Let’s hear how first track, George Russell’s A Helluva Town, sounded. *couple minutes pass* Oh my God, that drum solo! That’s awesome! No, must... resist... becoming... Jazz... Guy...

Various - Elemental Chill Vol. 1: Fire

Kriztal Entertainment: 2002

I feel fortunate I haven’t covered a lengthy DJ Mix/compilation series yet. It grows tiresome finding fresh things to talk about when there isn’t much difference from CD to CD, the most popular ones typically sticking to successful formulas (note: DJ-Kicks is an exception because, hot damn, is it ever all over the place!). Imagine if I’d kept all those euro dance discs from the 90s: Dance Mix, Club Cutz, DJ Line… we might still be stuck in the ‘D’s. Fortunately, most of those found new homes in used shops or met their demise in microwaves (always a fun party trick).

There are a few series I’ve collected many, if not all, editions of, this here Elemental Chill being one such. I actually hadn’t planned on it, figuring to buy just one when I saw them sitting in a CD Universe mall outlet but unsure which one to go for. The shop gal suggested getting them all, as she’d then give me a bulk discount on the package (like HMV’s old ‘buy ten, get one free’ deal). Sure, why not, these look decent enough that I can splurge on the whole set.

All four editions of Elemental Chill were released at the same time, which isn’t a bad idea when you’re launching a label as Kriztal was here. Chill music was quite popular at the turn of the century, so there were plenty of established labels already cornering the market, but these had enough of a gimmick to grab attention - jazzy, Latin-flavored, downtempo tunes, each CD centered on an elemental theme.

First in the series is Fire. As far as I can tell, this means jazzy, Latin-flavored, downtempo tunes that tend to urge a bit of hip shaking action. Not that chill, come to think of it, but whatever; a series needs some diversity throughout. Examples: Mikael Delta brings a little deep Balearic house vibe with Diving; something that could loosely be described as ‘salsa d’n’b’ comes care of Brazilian trio DJ Marky, DJ Patife & ESOM; Herbaliser does his smokey acid jazz thing in a remix of Jaffa’s Elevator.

So some nice tunes all around, but there’s a glaring problem here, and it’s unfortunately one throughout the series: they’re presented as DJ mixes that are horribly wonky. DJ DRM (Aaron Schultz) was given the duty, and whether he was forced into using tracks that simply didn’t work together or didn’t have the time to make the mixes better, I don’t know. Occasionally a string of tunes hint at proper set momentum, but most transitions are abrupt, styles clashing as flow is flung out the window over and over. If you can’t get all your selected tunes to mix smoothy, don’t bloody force it. How can I expect to get my chill on if I’m constantly turning heads and raising eyebrows over the DJing? Oh well, maybe it was just a flub in the first inning. Will it get better in later editions? (spoiler: eh…)