Regular readers of my prose may well remember the review I
did last week of Avicii and Strictly Rhythm’s, ‘Strictly Miami’ (http://www.datatransmission.co.uk/ViewReview/2471).
They may also remember that I was more than a little disparaging about the
state of ‘quality control’ being administered by the bigger labels.
Given my recent experience with Strictly, I was somewhat
reticent about listening to this double CD of what is purportedly ‘future
underground’, given the seeming chasm between my expectations and what labels
are delivering.
I was, however, buoyed by my recent encounter of Riva playing
out in East London – his energy, dynamism and eclectic coherency created an
intensity that I haven’t felt in some time.
I was then also struck by a combination of hope and fear regarding Tong’s
input on the compilation. Given his long
and illustrious career (he’s just celebrated 20yrs at Radio1) I know that he
has his finger on the pulse of the scene; this made me immediately recoil and
worry about his commercial sensibilities. And it would seem I have no reason to doubt either of them!
CD1 (Tong) is bursting with banging beats and deep
tech-edged house goodness. The
compilation is beautifully crafted and has a solid common thread running
through it; the drum-ladened focus maintains a sense of impetus and movement,
while the contrast between vocal highs, melodic lows and pulsating, throbbing
pads makes for a truly special arrangement.
Tong sets out his stall early with the hypnotic and
infectious, ‘Every Cow Has a Bird’ and he seduces the listener into a deep Balearic
fusion of old and new. The use of vocals
from yesteryear, combined with reworked elements creates a sense of familiarity
and grandeur, while keeping the overall feeling of something fresh. For my own personal taste, he does veer a little too much toward the commercial
side of things and this can be forgiven by the way he blends them into more
authentic ‘underground’ tracks and vibes.
This is a lesson in how to fuse decades of experience into 77mins of
aural enjoyment.
CD2 (Starr) is a true reflection of my recent clubbing
experience of him. His skill in mixing divergent
and seemingly irrelevant sounds into a coherent, original and vibrant journey is
truly something to behold. Where Tong’s common thread was a linear one, Starr’s is much
more lateral. He jumps between heavily
filtered and phased tracks (such as ‘Percolator’); sample-heavy, funk-fuelled
stompers (such as ‘Chic Easy’); hypnotic keys, horns and vocals (Room 423) and
does it all with aplomb. It seems too
varied to makes sense and then it clicks – he’s mixing in total vibe. He cares not for genre, key, composition or
any other poultry distractions. Starr’s
sole concern is creating an infectious, incessant involvement from the
listener.
This is pure class and has restored my faith in clubland!