Just look at the cover for this. You know you’re going to be in for some fun when you slap this baby on. Mexican-American 24 year old Seth Troxler is taking the underground house and techno scene by storm at the moment alongside his Wolf + Lamb label crew, making a name for themselves with quirky, colourful, pensive music that strives to be just that little bit different. His DJ sets are spoken of with reverential tones, so it’s no surprise that BPiich Control boss Ellen Allien has chosen him for her prestigiuous Boogybytes series.
Troxler’s charismatic personality is stamped all over the mix – from the hedonism described in the intro and his track Party Guilt at the start (which runs around a dialogue between him and a female clubber he’s chastising for being obsessed with partying) to the quirky feel that runs through the mix, it shines through.
From these stripped-back beginnings, the energy builds slowly but rewardingly, with Craig Smith & The Revenge’s The Soul Part II providing some gentle but engrossing deep US house flavour, and Baeka’s Right At It a deep disco ‘n’ jazz dub that Jimpster would be proud of. American dance and disco heritage litters the mix at regular intervals, Troxler digging out a bevy of tracks that pay homage to the old school with unobtrusive and uncontrived modern production values.
Never one to be afraid to drop in a few choice vocal cuts, Troxler comes up trumps in the mid-section with Deniz Kurtel’s spooky, sublime remix of N/A feat. Rosina’s Fables & Fairytales – proper hypnotic beauty – and a trippier vocal in Richie Hawtin’s Edit of Spektrum’s Freakbox. This slice of Hawtin signals a switch into weirder, bugged-out material, with Alexi Delano’s murky Molar One dragging you down into a pit of aural murkiness and sleaze, and that minimal sex factor comes very much into play.
Birds & Souls self-titled track lifts us out of the darkness with its twinkling arpeggios and elastic bassline, Italo-disco with a cool vocal, but the trippyness prevails, shunting us into Troxler’s plodding, ethereal remix of Fever Ray’s Seven, her vocals cutting through the mix like a hot knife through butter, the remix slowly unfolding into a bizarre sort of subdued euphoria. He gives us a pleasingly uplifting finale – Kiki’s smooth, happy piano chord groover Camera Obscura and Nicolas Jaar’s divine, fists-pumping-in-the-air nu disco style groove Time For Us evoking end-of-night sunrises and balmy days on beaches with its slinking bass and husky, seductive vocal (like Daft Punk in chillout mode). Proper lush.
This mix definitely justifies the hype on Troxler’s DJing ability. Classy, expertly programmed, and with a perfect blend of tradition and cutting-edge, it should sit as one of the year’s great compilations.
Tracklisting:
01 Seth Troxler - Intro
Ryan Crosson - Amb 1
02 The Royal We - Party Guilt (Dinky's Arp-A-Pella)
03 Luciano - Fran Left Home
Mike Shannon - Sweet A Pella
04 Craig Smith & The Revenge - The Soul Part II
05 Baeka - Right At It
06 Dinky feat. Update - Westoid
07 N/A feat. Rosina - Fables and Fairytales (Deniz Kurtel Remix)
08 Spektrum - Freakbox (Richie Hawtin's Uncontrolled Edit)
09 Alexi Delano - Molar One
10 Jabberjaw - The Connie Shake
11 Heartthrob - Signs (Thrill Cosby aka Seth Troxler Remix)
12 Birds And Souls - Birds And Souls
13 Roman Flügel - Stricher
14 Fever Ray - Seven (Seth Troxler Remix)
15 Kiki - Cinema Obscura
16 Nicolas Jaar - Time For Us