Ministry Of Sound kick off their new Mixed... series this month with a homage to the genre fast becoming the golden oldie of the dance music set, drum and bass.
Stepping up to the decks in dnb's good name is Friction. We're in safe hands, the Shogun Audio star is widely considered to be the most skilful and versatile DJ in the business, and is one of the few big DJs still around who made his name on the decks and not in the studio.
The double CD set (53 tracks in total, which is fairly generous, I say) kicks off with the 'Strictly For The Dancefloor' mix. Some might argue that both CDs are, like, dance music, but you know what they're getting at. So, opening with the rather screechy Sweetshop by Doctor P, Friction proceeds through a veritable who's who of the tracks that have been getting hands awaving and heads anodding in all sorts of sweaty and iniquitous places over the past 12 months or so. It's easy to be blasé about flawless mixing on a CD, he might well have 'dun it with computers' after all, but any drum and bass fan has seen Friction do this a squillion times live, so we all know he probably knocked it together on eight decks whilst reading the Sunday supplements, or something. Anyway, flawless it is, and exhaustingly quick - we don't so much listen to each tune as stop to consider it before galloping off into the next one. Highlights include Marky and S.P.Y's rather clever remix of Ms Dynamite's Wile Out, and a very naughty double drop of Sigma's Front To Back with Let It Happen by Break, which really deserves more of an audience than people nodding along appreciatively in their bedrooms, and will no doubt get one.
CD2 represents 'The Deeper Side of D&B', which is nice for those of us that thought D&B was getting bit shallow and materialistic. Cue lots of lovely things by the likes of D Bridge - special props to Inner Disbelief - Lenzman and Spectrasoul, as well some heavier stuff from German producer Phace, Noisia, Alix Perez and Commix, to name a few. There's a nod to dnb's history as well, as old classics Shadow Boxing (Nasty Habits) and Pulp Fiction (Alex Reece) get a run out, the latter albeit in slightly edited form courtesy of the one like Lynx. CD2 finishes on a high with Lenzman's euphoric, and quite unlike him, really, Masquerade.
This compilation had the potential to go the way of so many others like it, derided for rubbish artwork, tired selection and cheesy ads on the TV, and ultimately a flop in the shops. But Friction has managed to deliver a high quality package that will appeal to anyone interested in popular dnb. If the rest of the series are as tidy as this, MOS have cooked up a very hot potato indeed.
Tracklist:
CD1
1. Sweetshop (Friction Edit) - Doctor P
2. Get Low - Interface
3. Hyper Hyper - Nu Tone
4. Wile Out / Blunt Edge (Marky & SPY Remix) - Zinc (ft. Ms Dynamite)
5. Bittersweet Pt 2 - Lenzman ft Riya - SGNLTD
6. Paint It Black VIP - Sigma
7. Bright Lights - Die & Interface / Diplodocus - Noisia
8. Cascade - The Prototypes
9. Kingdom - Spor / Brainstitch (Break Remix) - Noisia
10. Plugged In - Rollz - Formation / Tru Romance VIP - DBridge
11. I Refuse (Shock One Remix) - Netsky
12. Messiah - Konflict
13. Eruption - Prolix
14. Gangsta - Total Science & SPY
15. Baltimore - Sigma (ft Jenna G) / Friday - Dillinja
16. Overwhelm (Seba Remix) - Blu Mar Ten
17. Redlines - Total Science (ft Riya)
18. Favela - SPY
19. Set It Off (Icicle Remix) - Friction & K-Tee
20. Front To Back (Original Sin Remix) - Sigma / Let It Happen - Break (Shogun)
21. Timewarp VIP - Subfocus
22. Stand Up (ft Dynamite MC) - Friction vs Camo & Krooked - Shogun
23. Neo Remix - Hive
24. We Came To Entertain (Subzero Remix) - DJ SS
25. Error - Drumsound & Bassline Smith
26. Aztec - Spor
27. Mankind 2010 - DC Breaks
28. Electrons - Nero
29. Stronger - Sigma
30. Hold On (Subfocus Remix) – Rusko
CD2
1. Alpha Centauri - Raiden - Hardware
2. Menacing Ways - Alix Perez - Shogun
3. Gallows - Need For Mirrors - SGN:Ltd
4. Glimpse - Spectrasoul & D Bridge - Shogun
5. Falling Through - Noisia & Spor - Invisible
6. Dark Days - Alix Perez ft. Foreign Beggars - Shogun
7. DJ Friendly Unit Shifter - Rockwell - Shogun
8. Strange Science - Phace - Shogun
9. Nothing To Declare - BCee & SPY - Spearhead
10. Inner Disbelief - D Bridge - Exit
11. Floating Zero - Noisia & Phace
12. Fade Away - Lenzman - Soul:R
13. Ultra Clean - Icicle ft Commix - Shogun
14. Down The Line (Break Remix) - Alix Perez – 15. Shogun
16. System Crash - SPY - Hardware
17. Featherweight - Ulterior Motive - Subtitles
18. Shadow Boxing - Nasty Habits - 31
19. Full Circle - Rockwell - Shogun
20. Absentis - Spectrasoul - Shogun
21. My World - Noisia - Vision
22. Stray (Icicle VIP Remix) - Alix Perez - Shogun
23. Pulp Fiction (Lynx 2010 Edit) - Alex Reece - Metalheadz
24. Masquerade - Lenzman - Metalheadz