Various - Techno Nights Ambient Dawn (2016 Update)

EMI: 1995

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.)

Easily the funniest thing about that old review is how much I'm dropping the acronym 'EDM' throughout, like it's become the acceptable alternative to the old catch-all term 'electronica'. Over a decade ago though, it really was, even if mostly limited to online discussion in web forums; a handy short-form since continuously typing 'electronic dance music' was much too cumbersome. How was anyone to know 'EDM' would not only enter the public lexicon, but turn out even more reviled a catch-all than 'electronica' or 'techno'? Surely not I in the year 2005, making it hilarious seeing it used so innocently back then. It does make me wonder what might replace ‘EDM’ as “WORST. CATCH-ALL. EVER.” for fans of electronic music. Oh, it will happen. Ten, maybe twenty years from now, when ‘EDM’ is a long, faded memory of a fad, something will come along as a new hotness, turning scenesters of old (re: the current kids) irate over a silly little word.

Speaking of passing time, holy cow does Techno Nights – Ambient Dawn grow more exceptional as the years tick off. Not so much for the music, though there are quite a few great tracks throughout (and that god awful Winter (Armani Mix) from Dave Clarke). Some cuts are showing their age (The Grid’s Texas Cowboy, Shamen’s Destination Eschaton (Hardfloor Vocal Mix), The Prodigy’s Weather Experience, Orbital’s Lush), but most remain as vital as the day they were crafted.

But putting together an ace assortment of tracks isn’t that big a deal, especially in this day of building your own playlists on streaming services. No, what astounds me about this compilation now is that it was even made at all. To be blunt, licensing is a bitch, and the thirty-seven tracks that makes up Techno Nights – Ambient Dawn come from all over the place. EMI’s clout is big, no doubt, and probably could have convinced the independent labels like Warp, XL Recordings, One Little Indian, Mute, Kickin’, and others for contributions to this project. The fact they also got all their major competitors – BMG, Virgin, Sony, WEA, MCA, Polygram – in on this is nothing short of remarkable. I can’t imagine something similar being put together these days, not without all manner of licensing hassle as labels continue consolidating their assets ever more protectively.

And even if they did manage a compromise, the result wouldn’t be anything like the track list we have here. I can’t think of any other commercial compilation where you’d find The Chemical Brothers, DJ Hell, Eon, The Beloved, and Plastikman rubbing shoulders with Philip Glass, Yello, Vangelis, and Brian Eno. Where big hits like Enigma’s Age Of Loneliness and 808 State’s Pacific 707 hang out with utter unknowns like Jam & Spoon’s Hispanos In Space and The Black Dog’s Raxmus. What would a comparable compilation even look like in today’s scene? It wouldn’t. I truly believe no one could pull off a sequel to Techno Nights – Ambient Dawn. I’d love to see an attempt though.

ACE TRACKS: February 2013

And I’m finally done getting through albums starting with some form of “sound” at the start of its title. Who’d have thought so many musicians would associated their music with sounds, eh? And yet, even after going through a dozen of them, that’s still but a blip in the behemoth that is all of ‘S’ – we’re a long ways before getting out of this letter, my friends.

Speaking of lengthy runs of letters, anyone remember ‘E’? Man, that was a beast too, eating up nearly two month’s worth of reviews way back when. I also feel February 2013 was something of a turning point for this blog. It marked the half-year point, plus the 100th review too (what am I at now, 750?), convincing myself I could keep going at the clip I was without serious fatigue or disinterest creeping in. More importantly though, it got a lot of big albums from Very Important Artists into the archives, including BT, Prodigy, Underworld, Moby, and Madonna. Also, remarkably, this month was the first point of entry for two names that would come to fill many a month with their releases: Neil Young and Wu-Tang Clan. Wouldn’t surprise me if folks thought I got all my rock and hip-hop fixes from Pink Floyd and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony prior to that.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Various - Evolution Of New Sounds
Various - Euro Dance Pool, Volume 1
Various - Euro Dance Pool, Volume 2
BT - ECSM
Erol Alkan - One Louder

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 33%
Percentage Of Rock: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: Busta Rhymes featuring Mystikal - Iz They Wildin Wit Us & Getting Rowdy Wit Us (because like Hell you’ll keep up with the words they spittin’)

BT’s ECSM is not on Spotify. How is BT’s ECSM not on Spotify? Every other BT album is on Spotify. Okay, neither is that drone ambient neo-classical album Nuovo Morceau Subrosa, but that always struck me as a pure pet project, not intended for major commercial release. Then again, neither is This Binary Universe, another arty album but far better regarded than nearly anything Mr. Transeau’s done in fifteen years. So his super-serious music doesn’t get on Spotify, is that it? Still doesn’t explain ECSM’s absence though. Get with the program, Perfecto!

Not much else to say about this Playlist. As the opening number of tracks indicate, it’s a very ‘90s assortment of tunes, but then the ‘90s has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to electronic music. Yes, including the overplayed tunes that you just can’t get out of your head, even while transcending to outta’ space. (can you find another place?)

Tiga - Non Stop

Different: 2012

Hard to believe it was a full decade before Tiga released another standalone mix CD onto the market. After a trio of solid sets on his own label Turbo, and a stellar offering to DJ-Kicks, the Montreal native seemed primed to become one of the top jocks on the market. Then he discovered an innate talent at producing pseudo-pop music for a savvy clubbing audience, and he's hardly looked back since. He still did the DJ circuit, but it wasn't where his hype focused on, letting his artist albums do the talking for him instead. Thus, the only mix CD to his name between DJ-Kicks and this is a double-disc joint effort with Adrian Thomas called inthemix.05, which I assume is associated with the Australian website of the same name? Doesn't matter, since it's essentially a forgotten set compared to American Gigolo and Montreal Mix Sessions, and way overshadowed by all the quirky singles he was putting out during the mid-'00s.

Back to the heavyweight CD-mix jam we've ended up though, which can only signify one thing for Mr. Sontag: career reinvention! C'mon, it's how this story always goes. Trendy tastemaker makes mark on club scene with definitive DJ mixes, sustains a lengthy career with the sound, sound falls out of favor, jump on a fresher sound to stay relevant. Or, if incredibly uncanny, manages to create a new sound all on his/her own, but I doubt even Tiga could do that. Nay, he's instead fallen in with some of the biggest festival headliners around these last few years, like Boys Noize and the Mad Decent posse. Wait... he already was pals with them, back when he was the star and they were getting their breaks. Okay, never mind, this theory's the bunk.

In reality, Non Stop is nothing less than a statement on where Tiga's musical influences currently resides. Not a terribly adventurous concept then, but considering it's been such a long time since he gave us anything in a physical form, I'll take it. Like many of his sets from the past, Mr. Sontag is fearless in throwing various genres and styles into his mix, often using transitional snippets and blending tracks together for mash-ups ranging from cheeky to thrilling. Past attempts were often rather rough though, vinyl technology just not up to snuff in providing studio-perfect blends. Not so with Non Stop, every mix and layering sounding effortless and smooth – thanks, studio hands! Some might quibble it detracts from the sort of spontaneous, on-the-fly set Tiga's been known for, but I contend such tinkering only perfects the musical journey he's always taken folks on.

The music itself runs the gamut from warped AFX acid to bumpin’ Adam Marshall tech-house to tribal Lula Circus funk to thumpin’ Blawan techno, and proto-trance Homeboy-Hippie-FunkiDredd old-school rave. Yes, in that order, with all the gradual changes in tempo and genres that comes with it. Non Stop is a fun mix, all said, but then you’d expect nothing less from Tiga.

The Shamen - Boss Drum

Epic: 1992

Nope, I still don't get it. Okay, there's songcraft on display with this album, and I cannot deny a few of these tunes getting my head bobble on. Other tracks though, they just sound undercooked, rote rave filler even for the year 1992. I appreciate The Shamen may not have been at the top of their game with Boss Drum, the tragic drowning of bandmate Will Sinnott deflating some of their creative spark. With an LP that turned out as commercially successful as this one did though, I expected more, something richer than a smattering of catchy tunes rounded out with stock UK acid house rhythms. It makes what The Prodigy were up to the same year all the more dynamic, corny chipmunk vocals and all – to say nothing of proper underground acts and burgeoning ‘intelligent techno’ sorts.

But first, how did we get here? What was it that made The Shamen so darned popular that their acid albums could reach platinum sales, urging similar 'indie rock goes rave' acts like Primal Scream, EMF, and Jesus Jones to have a go? Truly it t’was a sign of the times, a youth movement within the UK seldom seen anymore, where sheer scene popularity could propel any act to the top of the charts, radio play be damned. Of course, it didn’t hurt The Shamen were chummy with credible names like Oakenfold, Orbital, and Mixmaster Morris, very soon getting plenty other up-and-coming cool producers in on their singles for remix action. They may have had the chart success, but kept a foot in the warehouse parties and illegal raves just the same. Then it all went tits up, the group becoming too successful with obvious chart chasers while the second Summer Of Love ground to a sudden and crushing halt. Almost overnight, The Shamen came off a relic of an innocent time, where silly tunes like Ebeneezer Goode could pass off as convincing. No, time for rave music to get serious, dark, gritty, and strictly for the underground.

Its remarkable how much of a flash-point Boss Drum comes off like now, the last big hurrah of UK acid house. There’s still a pile of chipper, lovey-dovey feel good vibes oozing from tracks like Space Time, Phorever People, and chill-out cut Scientas, as though The Shamen believed the party would never end. On the other hand, tracks like goofball ragga-house Comin’ On and throwback rave cut Livrae Solidi Denari (I see what you did there, har har) suggest they were running thin on fresh ideas too. Also, I can’t decide if Re:Evolution is brilliant on the production front (that slow build!), or utterly naff due to Terence McKenna’s ongoing hippie-drippy monologue.

One thing I must give The Shamen credit for though is the titular cut of Boss Drum, one of the earliest examples of the emergent dark, chugging genre of progressive house. Not that I figure they intended it to be held up with the likes of Leftfield, but props for that, eh?

ACE TRACKS: February 2015

Oh man, did I just wake up from the most epic of naps after work. You go down, thinking “One hour should suffice.” Then you wake up three or four hours later, and realize your evening is shot, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then it’s midnight, and you realize you have to work at six in the morning, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then you wake up at two in the morning, and you realize you can sleep a little longer, so you shuffle over and sleep a little longer. Then your alarm goes off, and you realize you’ve slept for EVER, and you shuffle over and OH WAIT, I GOTTA’ GET THIS PLAYLIST UPLOADED THIS MORNING! Here we go then, ACE TRACKS of February 2015.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Radikal Techno
Various - Radikal Techno: Too Radikal

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 12%
Most “WTF?” Track: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - T-Bone (how is this song still going!?)

I should mention that, technically Rave-Trance 2001 isn’t on Spotify, but one of the CDs it was ripped from, This Is Dream Trance Anthems Vol. 2, is available. So if you want to know how that one sounds like, yay for you! But yeah, no surprise those old Quality compilations aren’t about, and of course I’d go and give ACE TRACK status to hard-to-find remixes.

Multi-disc compilations and general distractions didn’t leave me as much time for music listening and reviewing this past February, giving us a shorter Playlist than usual. There’s some Ultimae (and Altar!), there’s some trance, there’s some downtempo-dub, and there’s a couple outlier oddities. A few new musics, a few old musics, and a lot of in between. Nothing too off the beaten path where my general tastes are concerned, then.

Various - Radikal Techno - Too Radikal (Original TC Review)

Quality Music: 1993

(2015 Update:
I still can't believe this CD turned up as a Random Review less than a year after I wrote about the first Radikal Techno. Makes me wonder, had I stuck to doing occasional reviews by random selection, would the third, fourth, or even multi-CD box set have come up. Not sure how that'd be possible, as I only have two Radikal Technos, but those Digital Disc Imps, they're a tricky bunch. Always moving your music out of place, somehow shuffling CDs out of sight even as you diligently scan spine by spine looking for that one album you just gotta' pull out to show off to house guests. Ahem, what I mean is, I wouldn't put it past those Imps to add something too. For reals, where'd this dusty garage rock demo suddenly come from?

You know what else surprised me? Discovering Radikal Records is still in operation, now a full-on festival house and brostep outlet. Wait, that's not surprising at all, the label's choice in music output always skewing towards the commercially friendly side of the dancefloor - of course they'd jump on the latest hot bandwagon. Still, maybe they should have rebranded their name as well. Calling yourself 'radikal' is just too damn '90s, man.)

IN BRIEF: Not as good as the first.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Yes, I know I have a fair deal of old dance CDs in my music collection, but it can’t make up more than 5% of everything I own. Yet, these Random Reviews have seen an inordinate amount of them crop up. Club Europa, The Movement, Scooter’s Age Of Love, Maxx’ No More, Snap!’s Welcome To Tomorrow, the first Radikal Techno… What’s next, Euro Dance Pool, Club Cutz, or Ice MC’s album? (2015 note: it came true! …kinda’) Why can’t I ever pull one of my many Moonshine Records discs? A classic trance compilation? Hell, even a Turbo Recordings choice again – I haven’t picked one since the very first Random. I suppose the good news here is that I have to eventually run out of these.

I’ll be honest with you. The trouble is, unlike the first Radikal Techno, there isn’t much to say about Too Radikal. The first one had enough quirky things about it that the compilation actually makes for an interesting Random: remixes that are rather rare, well-known producers cutting their teeth with early works, plus a scrappy attitude that went part-and-parcel with the ’92 rave scene. The sequel, however, lacks any of this. If anything, Too Radikal shows how, within a year, the commercial dance business had cleaned itself up from its grubby rave days and present itself with a far more slick sheen that would go on to define euro dance of the mid-‘90s. Even the cover, despite the somewhat goa attributes, comes across squeaky clean in comparison.

Fourteen tracks are to be had here, but nearly all of them could also easily be had on several other compilations, making this far from unique or necessary. The music, for the most part though, isn’t bad. Mostly, you have ‘underground’ versions of big euro-hits, which is just another way of saying trancey mixes. A few cuts have held up remarkably well: Te Quiero’s almost-psy leanings is still an infectious tune; with moody acid burbling about, Joey Beltram’s Old School Dub Mix of Open Your Mind is quite good, if somewhat simplistic; and the Abfarht team struck gold once again with Wanna Feel The Music as Public Art. Meanwhile, euro dance fluff from A.B. Free (who’d go on to bigger things as DJ Company), Apotheosis (completely abandoning their original rave sound), Afrika Bambaata (yes, that Bambaata, now hanging out with Italian producers for some reason), Dance 2 Trance, Love 4 Sale, and Ramirez are all agreeable, though dated. For instance, the backing pads in Do You Feel So Right are pure trance bliss, but the rest of the track is quite muffled; Go Deeper’s production is so hilariously flat, you’d think it was an ‘80s tune; and what the hell is with those chicken noises in El Gallinero?

On the other hand, little holds up in the offerings from R.T.Z., 2 Unlimited, Deadly Sins, and Mars Plastic, coming off like knock-offs of better productions of the time. In The Name Of Love has some decent beats, but that looping hook will quickly irritate; We Are Going On Down is silly with those rollercoaster samples and ‘whooaAAAAooohhh’ chants; not the best version of No Limit here; Find The Way is generic garage house from that time. Oh, and then there’s the hopelessly corny It’s A Feeling, which rips off the marching rhythms of The Good Men’s Give It Up, and throws in sappy happy hardcore sentiments. I cringed with this one even back in the day.

Y’ah, see how fast I wrapped this one up? There’s just not much else to talk about here. I suppose you could be wondering why I’d even still have a compilation like Too Radikal if it’s this generic. Well, I have to admit there are quite a few personally nostalgic reasons. If the first Radikal Techno was my second CD, this was something like my fifth, so obviously I’d end up replaying it often. I certainly do have amusing memories of Te Quiero (oh my god, that woman’s having an orgasm!) and We Are Going On Down (are they saying ‘funky town’ or ‘fucking town’?); and although there really isn’t much on here that’d be true-blue trance, there was enough trancey attributes here to undoubtedly make an influence on my early music tastes (even if I wouldn’t take the full proper plunge for another couple years down the road).

I dunno. If you see this around and don’t have any of these tracks… ah, you might still be better off just downloading the good ones. Like I said, this isn’t a bad compilation, just really unnecessary to have. Do what you like if you see it lying in a used shop.

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

Various - Radikal Techno (Original TC Review)

Quality Music: 1992

(2015 Update:
"Objective straight-faced criticism"? What does that even mean? And, oh-ho-ho, shame on you, 2008 Sykonee, for even suggesting every review you wrote was truly objective. I'd tried toeing the 'hard but fair' line most of the time, but there were plenty instances of throwing any supposed objectivity out the window in favor of a long-winded rant or gush. Ah well, at least I get to wear all my biases in plain view for this blog, and not rely on lengthy opening paragraphs explaining away such changes in writing tone.

There's two things I neglected mentioning regarding the Radikal Techno series that I may as well bring up now. 1. The name comes from the record label that released most of these tunes, Radikal Records, a New Jersey print that specialized in commercial dance singles from Europe - Quality Music handled their Canadian distribution, hence why I've so many of their CDs. 2. Radikal Techno actually lasted for a good decade, reaching a sixth edition featuring the likes of ATB, Cosmic Gate, and Brooklyn Bounce. Of course, by that time, Quality Music had long-since folded, so it was a case of Radikal Records using the name of a compilation series promoting their material created by another label. And I've gone cross-eyed.)

IN BRIEF: They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

I tried. Really, I did. As much as I’d love to dive into this Random Review with all the objective straight-faced criticism I approach any other release, the history I personally have with this compilation makes it incredibly difficult. You see, my friends, this simple little release titled Radikal Techno is the second CD I ever owned. It’s survived accidents, theft during parties, drunken vandalism during parties, transportation from a number of different homes, and desperate pawn-shop plundering during periods of destitution, yet has remained in remarkable condition during it all.

“So what?” you say. “It’s just an old CD with a bunch of early 90s techno on it; not like it’s some rare original 7" Cybotron record.” True, but as anyone who has had a habit of coddling their music for years can attest to, such nurturing inhibits objective perspectives of the actual material on display.

Fact is, I still enjoy Radikal Techno. Yes, some of the production is hopelessly dated (there are frequent uses of the oh-so cutting edge Stereo-Pan Effect). Yes, some of the crappier trends in techno of the early ‘90s are present. And yes, I completely agree my continued enjoyment of this CD could simply be attributed to fuzzy warm nostalgia. Yet nor could I pass this off to an associate of mine to get their objective opinions of it because pretty much everyone I know quite enjoys the old school. And shouldn’t that be enough to convince you, the reader, that Radikal Techno has more going for it than starry-eyed trips down memory lane? Just look at some of these cuts!

For sure, there are overly familiar names here: 2 Unlimited, Age Of Love, Human Resource, Joey Beltram... and that’s just what anyone with basic background of electronic music should recognize. However, with the exception of Age Of Love, where Jam & Spoon’s remix would go on to see endless compilation duty in the years to come (I don’t think anyone in ‘92 could have predicted that), Radikal Techno offers some true rarities from them. The Two Little Boys remix of Twilight Zone plays around with those famous hooks, providing a funkier spin for the underground to appreciate. Rush To The Rhythm, a track featuring super-fast breaks, raps, and cut’n’paste production, is one of Beltram’s more obscure releases. And Glitch’s long-forgotten remix of Dominator is stellar, bringing blistering techno beats to this hoover anthem, spiking it with intensity benefitting of thrash metal throughout.

Elsewhere on this tracklist are a bunch of tunes that were quite popular ‘back in the day’ and, although mostly forgotten now, hold up remarkably well. Everyone knows Apotheosis’ O Fortuna, but the follow-up Obumbratta was just as good. Here we have their Dynamic Techno Remix featuring proto-gabber beats and production quality that is leaps and bounds above nearly everything else on Radikal Techno - it really does sound like the apocalypse is nigh as the Gates Of Hell are opened. WestBam’s Mayday Anthem, a track written for the Mayday party, is a fun piece of riff-tastic techno, while Razormaid adds sinister grumbling basslines to Die Schwarze Zone from LDC, an EBM-inspired project from euro-house legend Torsten Fenslau. And speaking of old house legends and rumbling basslines, StoneBridge shows up to remix the oldie house-gem Take Me Higher from Hysteria. Quite possibly amongst the oddest tracks is Ave Maria from the anonymous Noys, whom sampled the climax of Strauss’ Blue Danube, looped it, added some beats, and then dive off into a nifty piece of techno in its own right (that bassline... damn, but are there ever some kick-ass basslines on this compilation!); it screams one-off novelty, yet somehow works in spite of itself.

Unfortunately, Radikal Techno also finds one of the more abysmal novelty trends to be found in early ‘90s rave, the cringe-worthy ‘toytown’ phase. Here, we have Raving On Sesame Street, which is so hopelessly lame, this was about the only place you could find the track (according to Discogs, anyway). Thankfully, it’s placed at the end of the CD, and can simply be forgotten it even exists.

The remaining tracks mostly amount to rip-offs (Dance Your Ass Off is practically James Brown Is Dead) or style-biting (big-riff techno in the case of Stylophonia, hoover-house in the case of Life At Wunderbar, and anthemic hip-house with The Nervous Zone). None of them are essential but they do help round out the compilation with filler that won’t have you reaching for the skip button.

As an interesting aside, Canadian DJ Chris Sheppard helped compile this release; however, this is in his pre-fame days when he was just starting to expose all that crazy rave music from Europe to Canadians. As such, he only has a token “Compiled by” credit near the copyright alongside Quality’s frequent dance compiler Markus Klinke. As evidenced by his track selection here, Sheppard definitely had an ear for the underground, and this release confirms it was a shame Shep’ was lost to the mainstream soon after.

Anyhow, Radikal Techno is the kind of compilation that you just might find sitting in a used shop (probably Canadian). Considering the quality and scarcity of a number of these tracks and remixes, it makes this CD quite the bargain for anyone who fancies the old school. Don’t miss out.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved

Psykosonik - Psykosonik

Wax Trax! Records: 1993

Dammit, modern electronic music is so confusing. Everyone’s mixing and mashing genres into incomprehensible collages, and don’t get me started on the gratuitous mislabeling going on at retail outlets. Why can’t things be like it was back in the day, where divisions were clear and music tidily organized into distinct, identifiable traits? All you had to do was drop into the shop, and see your preferences in the designated ‘Techno’ section, or ‘House’ bin, or ‘Industrial’ shelf wedged between the ‘Metal’ racks and ‘Dance’ corner. Sure, there’d be a few odd mix-ups – like finding ICE MC and B.G. The Prince Of Rap in the ‘Hip-Hop’ bunker – but by and large, if I bought a techno album, I knew it was a techno album.

Like this Psykosonik album, titled Psykosonik. Hear those punchy hoover riffs and rave rhythms? That’s totally old school techno – specifically of the Belgian variant, but techno just the same. Except… what’s it doing on TVT Records? After the smash success of Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine, the label started gobbling up all sorts of industrial acts: KMFDM, Sister Machine Gun, Coil, Ministry, Front 242, Cyberaktif, to name a few. True, some came part of their Wax Trax! Records purchase, but TVT had successfully rebranded itself as an industrial force, and a goofy rave outfit just wouldn’t fit with them.

Just as well, then, that Psykosonik is industrial as well. There’s snarling singing and crunchy guitar licks to go with the rave riffs, with topics of cyberpunk (Welcome To My Mind, Silicon Jesus), anti-fascism (Teknojihad, Down On The Ground, I Am God), and fetishism (Shock On The Wire, Acid Hammer) covered throughout. This was almost solely the domain of industrial – or its clubbier off-shoot, EBM – in the early ‘90s, ravey techno far more interested in simply ‘avin’ it for all-nighters. The act of political righteousness was in the participation of the party alone, with no need for clumsy things like lyrics getting in the way.

But wait, there’s more! The hooks on some of these tracks, hot damn are they ever catchy - like, The Shamen or The Prodigy catchy! Unfortunately, Psykosonik came out in 1993, which was a bit late in finding a foot in the UK charts as a rave, industrial Belgian Beat something-or-other act. Had this come out just a couple years earlier though, I could see tracks like Welcome To My Mind or Teknojihad making a dent there.

So what exactly is this album then? It’s like a manbearpig of early ‘90s ‘techno’: half Belgian rave, half EBM industrial, and half chart-hitting dance (even if the songs never did much damage in that area). And no, this doesn’t mean it’s a third of each - Psykosonik honestly sounds like three halves, where you only hear two of each, depending on the perspective you approach it with. You know what it’s one-hundred percent of though? Awesome! *crickets chirp* *uncomfortable cough*

Seriously though, if you like early ‘90s rave, Psykonsonik’s self-titled debut’s good fun. Teknojihad!

Scuba - Personality

Hotflush Recordings: 2012

Did anyone honestly figure Personality a sell-out? I know the move away from dubstep on Scuba's part would have alienated the hardest of his core followers of the time, but surely not the scene at large, primarily hearing of Mr. Rose only as another hyped named from the super-trendy Hotflush Recordings print. Not a terrible distinction, but if he was to extend his career beyond the rigid, insular fandom that dubstep had cultivated, he’d have to abandon it altogether. Fortunately, his style was already drifting down a different path anyway – heck, his ‘dubstep by way of Detroit’ music was what stood him out in the first place. So bemoan if you must that he never took ‘post-future-garage-step’ any further before being seduced by tech-house, but take heart that all DJs end up playing house eventually.

Personality isn’t a house record (shock!), but it isn’t a gritty techno one either. Rather, it’s a throwback to the earliest days of techno, when the Belleview Three and their immediate successors pictured the future as a funky, fun, and wondrous place rather than a bleak, dystopian one. There’s no hiding Scuba’s inspiration on this album, as anyone with elementary knowledge of the genre’s history shouldn’t have much difficulty in spotting the influences and nods to the forefathers (Hints? Well, Action sounds quite a bit like- hm, no, I don’t think I’ll ruin your trainspotting fun after all).

The good news is Scuba capably keeps his music sounding about as contemporary as ‘80s Detroit techno through UK-bass lenses can, working in bits and pieces of future garage’s stylistic markers. There’s crackly vinyl effects (Underbelly, Gekko), singing soul sista’s floating on past memories (Dsy Chn, Tulips), and even a ‘proper’ dubstep cut in Cognitive Dissonance for your half-step, wobble-bassline fix. It’s not all Detroit either, July coming on more like a Herbie Hancock cut than anything from Metroplex; elsewhere, NE1BUTU falls deep into the raver’s unabashed anthem E-hole, replete with rolling piano licks and sweet-smelling vocal Vicks (??). Nothing gets lost in nostalgia glaze or respectful homage either, the production cutting edge and crisp.

In fact, I think he goes too far in the mastering department. This is one loud album – not in a brick-walled manner as so much pop music goes, but in how much punch it carries. Even with headphones, you feel the weight of these beats, and though Scuba provides plenty of sonic separation with his samples and synths, it’s all front-and-center, directly in your audio face. Imagine watching a High Definition version of O.G. Robocop at a wide-screen theatre in neck breaking middle-seats of Row 2. It looks awesome, but is a bit much to take in at that range.

If that’s the only major gripe against Personality, however, then who gives a flip? The only other complaint I can think of is if you’re dead against anything Scuba makes that isn’t dubstep. Hey, at least you get broken-beats on this album. You sure ain’t hearing that from his sets anymore.

The Prodigy - One Love

XL Recordings: 1993

Wow, October's turning into “Transitional Album/EP” month, isn't it. Aphex Twin's On marked a transition in his sound, Neil Young's On The Beach found him transitioning into the thematic ditch, One + One saw Zabiela and Fanciulli attempt a transition into a superstar DJ duo, and One A.D. was the start of my transition into underground electronic chill-out. Yeah, I'm stretching, but here we are with The Prodigy's One Love, their first single following the post-Experience afterglow/backlash, and a sign of things to come for Howlett's group of rave hoodlums.

Ol' Liam knew he had to change things up, was practically forced into it if he wanted any credibility retained. Jettisoning all the goofy chipmunk vocals and novelty children samples was a good start, but could he do more in getting that critical respect back? Well, there was that whole “ethnic sampling” thing going on in trendy genres like progressive house and downtempo dub music. Surely it'd be simple enough to dump one overtop another thumping rave anthem, and watch the plaudits come barrelling in. Oh, and make sure to use some cutting edge 3D computer animation for the video, since everyone's praising The Future Sound Of London for doing the same. Instant success, amirite?

Well, maybe not, folks and Mixmag pundits eternally bitter over Charly. Just to test the waters, Howlett released One Love as a white label and under the pseudonym Earthbound. It proved to be a success, the single quickly becoming a favourite with underground rave DJs. Imagine their surprise when it was revealed the same guy they’d slated was responsible for their new anthem. Damn, that’d be like Skrillex releasing jungle without anyone realizing.

As for One Love, it’s got peppy organ stabs, didgeridoos, and a chant borrowed from Magi & Emanation’s Everybody Say Love (whom Howlett remixed). It’s also ridiculously dated sounding, especially compared to the music that would end up on Music For The Jilted Generation. Really, the history behind its release is far more interesting than the end result, especially compared to the other tracks on the single. Full Throttle’s fierce attack, which also ended up on the album in a slightly edited form (where’s Luke Skywalker, mang?), was more indicative of where The Prodigy were headed while retaining the tribal rhythms Howlett seemed set on utilizing.

All well and good, but let’s face it: the better ‘transition’ track found on this single is Rhythm Of Life. It’s got a pile of old school tropes, including the overused Native yelps that were oh-so tired by 1993. This is one nasty piece of rave business though, Howlett giving us a taste of the techno thrash that’d he’d make his distinctive sound. By comparison, the trancey-techno Johnny L Remix of One Love comes off unremarkable and bland. Why you no jungle the track up, Johnny?

Whatever. Get this single for Rhythm Of Life, and nothing else. One Love was a worthy step for Howlett, but a dead-end style of music where The Prodigy’s legacy’s concerned.

The Prodigy - No Good (Start The Dance)

XL Recordings: 1994

If any single perfectly encapsulated The Prodigy's transition from fun-time hardcore rave act to gritty thrash-dance heroes, it would have to be No Good. Following the commercial success (and critical backlash) of Experience, Liam Howlett saw it necessary for a change of direction, keeping five steps ahead of the imitators that had sprung up. One Love was the first step, mostly abandoning spastic breakbeats and chipmunk vocals in favour of serious shit like ethnic chants and didgeridoos. Um, more on that one at a later date.

Before all the fierce punk attitudes that defined Music For The Jilted Generation’s legacy came into being, Mr. Howlett still had regular ravey tunes on the mind, including big riffs and poppy vocal samples. Using the same Kelly Charles hook that Hithouse did was far from a unique idea, and Liam later expressed his early doubts over it, already being such a played out vocal. A testament to his brilliant song-writing, then, that he not only kept the You’re No Good For Me line, but made it his own in the process, retaining the underground cred’ he was hard at work re-establish for The Prodigy. Hell, it sure convinced me: my first exposure to it was Jack To The Sound Of Underground, yet every time I hear Ms. Charles now, it’s No Good that fires off in my memory banks.

The synth riffs are punchy and not all that dissimilar to typical 'techno' tearing up charts of the time, but there an air of menace to them; the happy days are over, yo'. And those rhythms, mang! Liam already had a knack for killer beat-craft, yet his Experience stuff was looser, often frenetic for frenzy’s sake. The beats in No Good, however, feel tighter and more propulsive than anything Liam had made before. It’s dance music with purpose and intent, from which much of Jilted Generation’s style took cues from.

Completing the ‘transformative’ act was the video. Early Prodigy videos were goofy and wacky, which suited the music Howlett was producing at the time fine. If he was taking his work back underground though, he needed a visual accompaniment that reflected his manifesto. Thus, what better setting for a proper illegal than an abandoned warehouse, complete with enthusiastic dancers (Flint and Thornhill included) and freaks of society (um, Flint again) inhabiting the place? Shot in black and white (sans some yellow in Maxim’s cat iris contact lenses), the strobe effects greatly enhance an already rough rave setting, the sort of party that continues to get romanticized as how the scene should be maintained. That said, I’ve no idea what the point of Howlett’s ‘Prodge Smash!’ bit at the end’s all about.

The Bad For You Mix is essentially the same song taken down typical techno-rave roads, while CJ Bolland’s Museum Mix digs deep into the 4am acid hole. Both are worthy rubs of the original, but not as memorable. Admit it, No Good’s been playing in your head the moment you saw the title.

Various - FabricLive.43: Switch & Sinden Present Get Familiar

Fabric: 2008

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “Random Crap Smashed On People's Faces” period*

What? No. No! I'm on vacation, damn it. Leave me alone, Fabric On A Budget project. I'll deal with you when I get back in a week. What do you mean I always intended to carry on with this while away from home? Okay, sure, I brought the music with me, but that doesn't mean I'd write reviews for it – keep myself familiarized with the CDs while I was away, that's all. But there's only two left, an end goal in sight, easily attainable, not worth leaving hanging and forceably getting excited for upon my return. This year's Fabric excursion has turned into a slog after all – more good mixes than bad, absolutely, but dealing with the same topic over and over and over drains the creative synapses something dreadful. Maybe I should...

Oh, alright, I'm already bored out here in the Peace River region. Sometimes I forget just how hinter these hinterlands get.

Let's take a look at what's next, then. We're finally out of the 30s, and entering another weird, transitional period in electronic music's history. Dubstep was blowing up big, the nu-EDM was just around the corner, older forms of UK garage were finding fondness among young clubbers, and many producers of the old guard were scrambling to keep up with these shifting trends. The two cats with credits on the cover of FabricLive.43, Switch & Sinden, were riding this wave with some success, in part due to an occasional night at Fabric called Get Familiar. Don't care about the deep underground, simply having an urge to cut loose with fun-time club jams that even the most Axe-drenched bro can enjoy? These guys got you covered – or Sinden does anyway, since Switch wasn't the DJ.

More so, if you love the UK's various rave-garage aspects, you'll adore FabricLive.43. Speed garage! Throwback hardcore anthems! - no actual classics though. Grime-house! (!??) Dubstep! Bassline! (re: speed garage) No 2-step though, that stuff's strictly for the chicky-poos, mate. Only hard wobble dirt low-ends, and rot-snot. Bleh.

I know this stuff's pure heaven for its targeted scene, but my tolerance for hoodlum UK garage only lasts a few tracks before the novelty of shuffle rhythms and south London rappers wears itself out. I've never figured out how such nonsense bassline sounds are taken seriously, but then this is the same country that also gave us 'donk' music. Sinden's mixing doesn't do much to warm the music up either, always in a hurry to drop another track in a different style with no regard for set flow. Can't let the tunes linger too long, I guess, lest the listener realize how silly it all is and put on something with more substance instead.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I could have bought $5 beers at the nearby redneck bar playing bro-country, and it would have been a better bargain.

The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation

XL Recordings: 1994

Probably the most successful reboot of a musical act ever accomplished, at least within the world of electronic music. Several have tried re-invention or adopted alternate aliases to explore other genres, but The Prodigy's flip from chart-topping happy rave hardcore act to credible guardians of the underground party is nothing short of remarkable. Just a couple years prior, everyone associated them with fun goofball hits like Charly and Out Of Space. Then, seemingly overnight, they're confronting you with punk attitudes and music to match. The Prodigy never lost their hardcore, they snatched it back from those who'd turned it into a joke.

What’s amazing about Music For The Jilted Generation is, while clearly a ‘90s album, it somehow exists out of time too. You throw on Experience, and you instantly know it’s of the early ‘90s hardcore scene. Fat Of The Land is undeniably part of big beat’s major market push, and anything released post-Millennium sounds exactly like that. The music on this album, however, didn’t have a scene to itself, and never would because no one tried emulating Jilted Generation - with any success anyway.

I suppose you could mark some tunes like Their Law and Poison as proto-big-beat, but what of the other tracks? Liam Howlett’s still using high-energy breakbeats, but rather than coupling them with rolling pianos and chipmunk vocals, you get synths that snarl, guitars that thrash, and rhythms that’ll have you moshing just as much as flailing. Plus, Jilted Generation’s pacing is impeccable, great memorable tunes like Break & Enter and Voodoo People interspersed perfectly with uptempo filler techno. Believe me, I use the word ‘filler’ as a good thing here, Full Throttle, Speedway and The Heat (The Energy) the simplistic musical ebbs that propel No Good and Poison into the standouts they are within Jilted. It was bloody rare in ’94 for a ‘techno-rave’ album showing such consideration to tracklisting.

Then there’s the Narcotic Suite at the end, a thematic run of the ups and downs of drug indulgences. If, following the rest of Jilted Generation, there were still doubts that ol’ Liam was just a one-trick production pony, this trilogy firmly proved otherwise. The evening starts chill and relaxed with acid jazz vibes of 3 Kilos, then we’re flying high into blissy energy with Skylined. Oh dear, we took too much, feeling that Claustophobic Sting, twisted acid and sketchy paranoia setting in as “my mind is going”. Where the fuck is that sinister laughter coming from! When folks bemoan The Prodigy just aren’t as good as they used to be, the Narcotic Suite is always one such example why, Howlett never recreating something of this nature since.

The same can be said for Jilted Generation as a whole, the album a clear bridge from where The Prodigy started to the next stage of their act. It could have resulted in a messy, hodge-podge LP of uncertain genre tests. Instead, it’s some of the best work of their career.

The Movement - The Movement (Original TC Review)

Arista: 1992

(2014 Update:
When I wrote this, the notion of 'step' as a jokey descriptor was long thought dead, a relic of '90s drum 'n' bass genre splintering. Then dubstep started getting popular, and soon we saw 'step' for any damn variation of music adding a half-step beat. Chillstep, brostep, trancestep, psystep, popstep, drumstep, whalestep, and so on. I wonder if anyone is bold enough to try hipnostep.

This review was fun to write, though filled with a ton of awful grammar, some of which I've cleaned up for this posting. I think it captures the guiltless giddiness one can still experience when listening to old school rave music, no matter how absurd some of it came off. Jump! remains good stupid fun in a way that's rare in today's stupid-fun music. You're damn straight I'm wearing Nostalgia Headphones for this!)


IN BRIEF: Aaaaaarrrrreeee yyoooooooouuuuuuu reeeeaaaaaaadddddyyyyy!!??

You gotta love the cheekiness of some groups. Hardly content at being lumped into the same category of rave hardcore tearing up parties across the Atlantic, Los Angeles based act The Movement came forth with their own style. Comprised of the blistering beats and hoover-rific hooks of Belgian raves, and adding hip-hop influences from rhythms to MCing, this brand new form of techno would burst forth from the southern California scene as they promoted their own brand of L.A. P.L.U.R. And this new revolutionary genre’s name? Hipno!

Yes, you read that right. Hipno. Never heard of it? If so, don’t feel bad; you’re not alone in the confusion.

Hipno. It’s the kind of name folks bullshitting stupid genre names would come up with: like braindance, or progressive dub, or boomcore, or bassline-house, or speed speedcore, or chicstep, or indie techno, or vocal trance, or ‘rocktronica’, or no-step ambientcore, or hip-hop tripstep fallcore, or progressive stepcore, or anything with ‘progressive’, ‘step’, or ‘core’, or... well, you get the idea.

Yet, The Movement were so proud of their clever new genre name, they went and had it trademarked on their label, Sunshine Entertainment Corp. Yes, you read that right too. Trademarked! How, exactly, do you trademark a genre name?

Ah, it doesn’t matter. What does is whether The Movement’s sound was worth trademarking a name for it. In a nutshell, this is hipno: one part 2 Unlimited knock-off; one part ragga MCing ; one part hip-hop beat interludes; mixed in the L.A. rave scene’s jovial attitude.

And you know what? It actually works!

Lead track Jump! makes no bones about what it aims to do. The intro rhythms warm you up, then break down to let Hazze (the MC) give you a countdown. “5... 4... 3... You know the rest!” Then, boom! You’re right into the thick of it with thumping beats, shout-a-long “jump everybody jump”s, and vintage old school rave synths. While the riffs may sound stuck in 1992, the rhythms for Jump! still carry incredible weight to them even today. Eventually, the song calms down, hip-hop beats boppin’ about before picking the pace up again, head ing out for a big finish. Man, but is this track ever a lot of-

Eh? What’s that? Oh, I have them on right now? Sorry about that.

*Removes Nostalgia Headphones*

Okay, Jump! is fun, but that enjoyment is based on pure novelty: listen to it once in a sitting, get a silly grin on your face, go with the flow, and move on. Problem is, The Movement don’t. While some acts can milk a simple formula for an album’s worth of material, The Movement clearly lack that level of aptitude, and you quickly realize they’re a one-trick pony.

Aside from the ragga-influenced Tell Tú Mama (another fun track, true, but rather by the book), every other original track (and there’s only three) follows the exact same pattern as Jump!. Same beats, same MCing, same synths, hell even some of the same riffs! The only thing that really changes much is the topic of the track: instead of jumping, Shake That — encourages you to shake your ass; Don’t O.D. gives a quaint warning against overdosing on drugs, which I’m sure made BMG happier about signing a rave act; B.I.N.G.O.... um, you remember the song with the dog, right? There’s bits of charm at some points (I’m still a sucker for the ‘aah’ pads in Don’t O.D., even without Nostalgia Headphones) but equally annoying things too. Let’s just say I wasn’t sad to see whistles fall out of popular favor in rave music.

So, what about all those mixes in the second half of the album? Do they tamper with the formula much? Not really, as all but one are done by The Movement anyway. The Funky Hipno Remix of Jump! relies the hip-hop beats rather pumping rave ones, and the Tribal Mix of B.I.N.G.O. settles for brisk, unremarkable rhythms. The other two may as well be extended mixes.

The one non-Movement remix comes of something of a surprise when you look at the production credits: Holographic Jump! is a remix by none other than Jam el Mar. And, while not the most brilliant remix Jam’s ever done, it’s certainly a nice change of sound on the release. Sure enough, he does the old school trance thing with Jump!, as loops layer over each other with spacey pads and simple rhythms. Sounding more like a Dance 2 Trance production than a Jam & Spoon one, the main riff he uses is quite raw, but then what hasn’t on here?

In the end, hipno died before it ever got off the ground, after which The Movement went onto other things, some with better success (Richard “Humpty” Vission has had a decent run as a house DJ since). Because this ‘revolutionary’ genre is hardly revolutionary at all, this album isn’t even worth picking up as a historical artifact of failed genres: it bears far too much similarity to regular old school rave music to be treated as anything but.

However, there is still some fun to be had with this. The lead single Jump! was probably one of the better hits of this kind of music, and although there isn’t much else to be had here, the unapologetic silliness of some of these tracks is good for a laugh if you’re just chilling out with friends. If you ever see this in a bargain bin or used shop, and can’t get enough of that old school sound, you could do worse.

(Special thanks to the folks at Discogs for some of those genre names)

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!

The Shamen - LSI (Love Sex Intelligence)

Epic: 1992

The Shamen were a pretty big deal in the UK, one of those seminal bands of the British acid house wave that many talk of reverentially. For the longest time though, I couldn't understand why – Hell, I still struggle with it. Maybe it's just bad luck on my part, my first exposure to them primarily the chart action goofy shit like Ebeneezer Goode and Destination Eschaton; it'd be like only knowing The Beatles by Yellow Submarine and Ob La Di, Ob La Da. This here LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) single sure didn't help convince me of The Shamen's legacy, plucked from a used store shelf in the hope of learning what the big deal was.

The lead single off Boss Drum, them boys of The Shamen have a message here, yo'. Sex, it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, mang, 'cause everybody be gettin' AIDS an' shit (...wait, wrong decade). So be smart about your hook-ups – even better, hook-up for love, not party-induced lustiness. It'll be better for the heart and soul in the long outlook, isn't that right? Yeah... yeah. Or, I dunno, I barely pay attention to the lyrics, as redundantly repetitive as they are. Maybe they were pressured into doing a 'positive sex education' single, to show that they weren't all about mashy rave bedlam as the press would have you believe. And when the UK media still wasn't buying it, go all in with Ebeneezer Goode.

Okay, good message, but oddly dated to the early ‘90s despite, for all intents, it should be timeless. Maybe it’s just the delivery, or because the smash-hit sex education single of that time, Salt-N-Pepa’s Let’s Talk About Sex, draws every similar tune into its sphere of association.

Enough words, let’s get into the music proper. The original is UK acid house, including little trance-voice plucks for a hook and a chuggy rhythm. Erm, not progressive house though, as it’s too brief and clearly aimed at the charts. Maybe one of the remixes would tap that genre, but if it did, the US version never got it. Instead we get the requisite House Remix (done by The Beatmasters, of course), another House Remix care of E-Smoove (a bit more garage on this one), the requisite Techno Remix provided by Ed Richards, and the requisite Rave Remix by Frank De Wulf. Yep, I believe that’s all the markets covered, at least where America was concerned. Maybe the Germans got a Trance Remix on their copies. They’re all functional tools for the time, and I can’t see anyone needing them in their arsenal these days, beyond a “hey, remember The Shamen?” moment in a set. And even then, LSI is one of the last tracks I can think of getting such a rinse-out.

The Shamen put out quite a few clever productions in their time. Sadly, LSI isn’t one of them, and figures I’d end up with a dull collection of remixes at that. The search continued...

Moby - Last Night (Original TC Review)

Mute: 2008

(2013 Update:
Not much to add to this review, as it holds up just as fine as it did when it first came out, though calling it "his most accomplished album since Everything Is Wrong" is a bit of a stretch on my part. Kind of a shame this was just a one-off return to early club music on Moby's part, but it was only ever intended to be as such. I wonder if we might see another one though, what with classic house again back in vogue after a couple-year gap of not. Man, was 2008 ever a weird year for house music.)


IN BRIEF: The Moby ravers enjoyed returns.

I don’t think anyone expected Moby returning to dance music in such a fashion, if at all. Granted, he tested the waters a few years back with a Voodoo Child album, but for the most part everyone figured Mr. Hall’s most recognizable project had forever gone the way of quaint bittersweet pop-rock. Still, it’s not like the mainstream readily accepted Moby. Although they enjoyed the music off Play (if anything because you couldn’t escape it) and the odd tune here and there if it fit the times, Moby remained the butt-end of numerous jokes, an all-too easy target of ridicule.

Perhaps it isn’t surprising, then, that as he nears mid-life, Moby has begun reflecting, recalling a time and place one was accepted no matter who you were or what you did. The second Summer Of Love certainly was such a time, and thanks to anthems such as Go and Next Is The E, Mr. Hall emerged as an underground darling of the early American rave scene. So if such fond thoughts have been on his mind lately, producing an album which captures those free-wheeling hedonistic years in sixty-five minutes is an intriguing idea; the fact this comes at a point when classic house music is seeing something of a revival just so happens to be a bonus for both parties.

Still, there have already been plenty of question marks, accusations and critical responses to such an endeavor. Cynically, you have to wonder why Moby would go back to a sound he hasn’t touched on in over a decade, especially when his last Best Of release ignored nearly all of his pre-Play output. Also, will his current fanbase even be willing to accept such blatant romanticizing of early ‘90s dance music when it hasn’t been in vogue since Madonna’s Vogue? And does Moby even have much chance of standing toe-to-toe with admittedly much trendier revivalists like Hercules & Love Affair or Dixon?

Last Night will probably fly right over your head if you’ve been fussing over such thoughts. On this new album, Moby doesn’t seem to care whether the popular press or the bloggers or even the current crop of EDM followers accept his retro-direction; it’s primarily the old-schoolers whom enjoyed his early output that will dig on this. As much as he says this is a love-letter to New York City of the late 80s, Last Night is equally a love-letter to all those fans that gave Mr. Hall his big break, with the giddy rave vibes oozing from every sonic corner.

Were I allowed to wear my Nostalgia Headphones while reviewing Last Night, it’d easily earn high marks. Even without them, though, there is some gosh-darned good music to be had on here. Take Everyday Is 1989: it’s an incredibly simple track on paper, consisting of rolling pianos, soul-sista’ samples, and string stabs looping over vintage house beats. It should sound old, it should sound dated, it should sound like a bygone relic. Yet every time those pianos emerge - and I do mean every time - my head can’t help but bobble along. There’s a groove to be had here, my friends, and it’s more infectious than most of what’s come out from the house camps in the last few years.

Much of Last Nights works in this regard. Moby keeps things simple and to the point, doesn’t get bogged down in fancy gimmicks or overproduction, and maintains the old-school uplifting spirit throughout much of the album. And while the house cuts like Everyday Is 1989, Disco Lies, and I’m In Love received most of the pre-album buzz, there’s plenty of other EDM genres dabbled in as well. The Stars and 257.Zero tackles the rave end of the spectrum, while I Love To Move In Here adds some hip-house flavor. The latter portion of the album provides an ambient-house touch; however, aside from Sweet Apocalypse, these offerings aren’t nearly as interesting as the rest of Last Night, coming off as mere sonic doodles compared to some of Moby’s more famous downtempo tunes.

For as much as Last Night honors his roots, though, Moby hasn’t completely neglected some of the fresher influences of his discography. Material like the titular track, Ooh Yeah, Live For Tomorrow, and Hyenas finds blending of melancholic pop and lounge, especially so with the hidden bit of jazz tagged on at the end of the finale. Trumping it all though - and even the retro stuff - is Alice, which melds a whole pile of Moby-isms into a single track: blues-shuffle rhythms, squawking guitar licks, guest raps from Nigerian based group 419 Squad, catchy pop hooks... Lodging it smack in the middle of the album definitely helps prevent the whole of it from sounding like too much of a nostalgia love-in.

Ultimately, Moby’s latest is quite probably his most accomplished album since Everything Is Wrong. He may not be doing anything new on here but that’s beside the point - Last Night is the sound of a musician finding himself quite comfortable with his roots again, and proving he is more than capable of producing a song that remains just as timeless as the era it draws influence from. The mainstream media may not understand it (but, oh, they certainly do when R.E.M. does the same thing); long-time fans of electronic dance music will.

Various - I Love 1992: Underground Anthems

Mixmag: 2001

More free music from a magazine, though this time care of Mixmag. I only bought the one issue, primarily to sate my curiosity over who’d earned the honors of their “Top 100 Tracks …Ever” vote (no, really, Energy 52’s Café Del Mar was deemed the best of all time – could it win such a poll today though?). Beyond that, the issue was crap, and I saw no reason to ever buy another again (I soon had Muzik for my Brit-biased journalism anyway). Still, if Mixmag included CDs as fun as this one, maybe I sold the magazine too short.

Promoted as a two-disc series celebrating the original peak of old school rave (where buying two issues was required, bastards), one disc featured the ‘very important’ tunes of ’92 dance, and the other highlighted underground anthems of the same year. In a way, it was just an excuse for them to jump on the “Hey, remember these classics?” market, though admittedly a profitable one with a decade’s worth of nostalgia finally creeping into the UK clubbing consciousness. Now that I think about it, why isn’t there much of the same thing going on right now for 2002? No ‘I love 2002’ retrospectives? ‘Best Of Dark Prog’? I guess UK Garage is kind of having a retro return, but that’s it. Funny how those genres don’t feel so comparatively old today as vintage ‘ardcore did when this CD came out.

And is there anything special about I Love 1992: Underground Anthems? Not particularly. The tracklist is obvious as fuck, featuring The Hypnotist (twice), Praga Khan, Human Resource, Blame, 2 Bad Mice, Origin Unknown, and Q Project, amongst others. If you don’t know which tunes by these acts were used, let me be the first to welcome you to this scene called raving (keep it tidy, please). It’s definitely a CD where the term “all the same tracks you got, in a different order” is apt, as I can’t think of any old school hardcore aficionado that wouldn’t already have these tracks in some fashion.

That said, I fucking love having all these tracks in this particular order! The opening salvo of The House Is Mine, Injected With A Poison, Hardcore You Know The Score, and Dominator is as perfect a rave anthem whore-out as you can get – hell, Adam Power’s mix of Injected’s so worth the price of admission, gloriously capturing every single old school cliché at their best (Pianos! Divas! Hoovers! Samples! Breaks! ‘hoo-hoo’s?). From there, we take a journey into the dark side of hardcore, a pile of proto-jungle tunes offering glimpses of how quickly that scene would take over. The transition to Valley Of The Shadows is rather sudden, mind, but considering this is just a freebie from Mixmag, that’s a pointless quibble, especially when the rest of the CD’s been so much fun.

Since the tracklist’s hardly unique, I wouldn’t recommend seeking this disc out for more than a dollar. At that price though, it’s a bargain!

2 Unlimited - Hits Unlimited

Popular Records: 1995

The only 2 Unlimited collection you need, if you've just a passing interest in the group. It covers the first five years of their discography, and, since it was released in 1995, totally ignores the woeful attempt on Phil Wilde and Jean-Paul de Coster's part to resurrect the brand with two new singers. God, was that ever a disappointment. I could forgive them for bringing those chicks in, but what the Hell happened to their hit-making ability? It’s amazing how a duo responsible for so many all-time great euro dance tunes (including other acts like C.B. Milton, Def Dames Dope, and more) could fail to change with the times when euro trance became the clubbing music of choice. On the other hand, with anthem house enjoying quite the comeback lately (what, you thought 'trouse' was a new thing?), maybe that proper 2 Unlimited reunion will occur as current rumours suggest. It was a similar sound that gave them their breakout, after all.

Let's be clear on this though: 2 Unlimited as a group can only exist with Ray Slijngaard and Anita Dels holding the microphones. Whatever you may think of their vocals, you cannot deny they brought a unique dynamic to the euro dance template. Plenty of rappers stood out enough to have a hit or three during that scene's early '90s heyday, and the same could be said of whatever gal happened to be singing on the chorus. None, however, had as many chart topping hits as 2 Unlimited generated. How many, you ask? Just look at this CD. Every single one of them hit Top 10 in some country (mostly the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK). That's sixteen songs, over a mere five years. In the freakin' '90s! I think only Madonna managed similar dance act chart success (whether you consider her included in that discussion or not). No wonder we still hear Get Ready For This, Twilight Zone, No Limit, Tribal Dance, Workaholic, and The Real Thing today.

So, my 2 Unlimited fanboyism gushing all over the place, obviously I'm going to give Hits Unlimited a high recommendation. Actually, that's not quite the case. As mentioned, this is a good CD if you're just interested in the big tunes and little else. Truth is I find the included versions of these singles lacking compared to their album counterparts. Twilight Zone's cut short, Here I Go’s cut short, we get the not-as-good radio version of No Limit (no, trust me, the album version’s better), and, unsurprisingly, we don’t get the snappy “Who the fuck are you?” sample in Workaholic. Only two tracks here are improvements from the LP versions, Let The Beat Control Your Body (much better!), and Maximum Overdrive.

I’ve little else to say regarding Hits Unlimited, as it’s about as straight-forward a ‘greatest hits’ package as you can expect. Only in this case, each track included well warrants its status as a bona-fide euro dance hit (except new track Spread Your Love... ugh).

2 Unlimited - Get Ready

Quality: 1992

What shame is there with this one? It shouldn’t even be a surprise, as I’ve many times proclaimed 2 Unlimited one of the best acts to emerge from the eurodance scene of the early ‘90s, if not the best. Their hits are timeless in a way so much ‘techno’ of that era isn’t. Of course, it doesn’t hurt they’ve been ridiculously whored out to every sports arena ever, endlessly lodging their catchy hooks and stompin’ beats into the collective consciousness of stadium participants across the globe. Still, if it worked for AC/DC, why not some plucky Belgian group too?

What’s made hits like Get Ready For This and Twilight Zone enduring is how slick they sound, even by today’s standards (you can pump these tunes today and get the same reaction). They’re using all the tropes Belgian rave was popular for, but compared to the underground grit of most records of the time, this stuff has crossover appeal right out the gate. Throw in raps and vocals care of Ray Slijngaard and Anita Dels, and you’ve a formula that went on to be heavily imitated for years to come, though seldom exceeded.

What about this here proper debut album, Get Ready!, then? Everyone knows the hits, but did their album material ever warrant a look? Pft, if you were a fan, damn skippy it did, but I'm not gonna preach to the choir. Sit down and take a gander at what Album-Orientated-Unlimited involved in ye' olde year 1992.

First off are two more hits, The Magic Friend and Workaholic. The former's one of those goofy tunes that was fine back in the day, but doesn't hold up out of its era. Workaholic, however, still packs a punch, a bizarre scratchy synth forming the basis of the main lead; the 'Big Ben' intro also often gets used at sporting events (“get to work, home team!”). The coarse nature of this tune (including that classic “who the fuck are you” sample), along with strong cuts like Rougher Than The Average, Contrast, and Delight show 2 Unlimited still had a sense of the rave scene they spawned from, despite the underground totally disowning them by that point.

Then there are the ballads. Fuck... Forget them, especially the dire Eternally Yours; utterly sap r'n'b knockoffs.

Interestingly, as 2 Unlimited's popularity grew large enough to export Get Ready! upon American shores, some changes were made to the album. Instead of having dedicated sections for Vocal Mixes, Instrumental Mixes, and (ugh) romance, the tunes were re-arranged for stronger album flow. Instrumentals of the non-hits were removed, and the B-side to Get Ready For This, Pacific Walk, was added, a downtempo bit of balearic chill, interesting as a curiosity in 2 Unlimited's discography.

Get Ready is an odd album, all things considered, stuck at a crossroad between raves of before and eurodance of the future. Despite production quality leagues above their contemporaries, the rough edges still show, giving it scrappy fun flavor later releases would lack.