I guess it's safe to guess that if you're a dedicated Jungle DJ, you have this
by now. And as a DJ-oriented compilation, it works. Every tune on the damn
thing is probably spinnable. Unfortunately, it means that the compilation
winds up pretty monotonous for the listener. I'm still happy I bought the
compilation, though - I really only bought it to have DJ Krust's "Maintain" in
my collection. And it seems as though the compilers at V knew it was the
dopest cut - it's the first track on CD 1 _and_ the 3rd CD, Bryan G's mixed CD
of cuts from the comp. Not a bad bang for the buck ($31.00 for 3 CDs) but I
was really paying the $30 bucks because I needed to hear Maintain NOW.
Remember the R&B/D&B discussion from a while back? This song proves it can be
done - in fact, I would go so far as to say that for me, at least, it's the
"Unfinished Sympathy" of jungle music and quite possibly my favorite jungle
song of all time. (!) My recommendation would be to pray that Maintain gets
licensed for a dope compilation like the freezone series and ignore the rest
of the tracks, for they are a little bland. But I must stress that that's a
listener's perspective - these same songs are be the ones I would be thrilled
to hear on the dancefloor.
Luke Vibert - Big Soup (Mo Wax CD 72)
Ok, so can someone tell me the reason why there are only two extreme minds in
dance music these days (Tom Jenkinson being the other) when it comes to
production tricks and instrumental beat music? And why are they both English?
Although on first listen the album is not quite up to the level of "Wagon
Christ", Vibert managed to provide my neurons another hour of pure beat joy.
Some may disagree with me here as the album is definitely more accessible
insofar as the beat samples used are more "organic" in nature - adding hip hop
cred. but losing the quirky sounds and blips that were one of my favorite
touches of the last downtempo full-length. The material is less melodic
(nothing is as catchy as e-z listener) but at times a little more emotional
(my memory may not be serving me but am I still dreaming? is the one I'm
thinking of here with a string sample backbone that almost sounds like a
sigh). From the producer's chair, I did notice that he used a few of the same
beat samples and sequences from the last album - is this laziness or
recontextualization? I wish I didn't notice.