Balance – Guy J – Balance Music 2013

  
  
I have a lot of trust in the Balance series, I’ve got a few now and not one of them is less than brilliant (although James Holden’s 005 mix from 2003 is really in a league of it’s own but that’s for another post). My faith in the Balance series is such that I know I’m going to be getting something special on each new release and Guy J’s product is perfectly in keeping with that track record, but…there’s a couple of little buts.

This really is a quality release from Balance, but with two minor faults so let’s deal with those right now:

1. The opening track, eh? hmm, not what I would’ve gone with myself. In my eyes (ears?) a mix should be like a film without pictures or a sound track to an unmade film. The intro really sets the scene for the whole film or in this case the opening track sets the scene for the whole mix and well, this just doesn’t. I want something to grab my attention, to reassure me that I haven’t just flushed 10 quid down the toilet and to be honest track one got me a little worried. If this CD was a book and track one was chapter one, I very much doubt I’d be reading any further, basically in my subjective opinion a mix CD should open like a James Bond film and suck you straight in with a bit of build and action and then quickly get down to business.

2. There’s only one disc! AAAHHHGGGHHH!

Once you over look these two niggles, you’re in for a real treat. I know I should be glad of any release but you just kinda get used to the traditional format of 2 discs, especially with Balance, it’s been like that forever and I just assumed it would be a 2 CD set so I didn’t think to check and I was a bit disapointed to only find one disc.

This is a stroll through a beautiful, intelligent and complex electronic landscape (I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s on the money) with a warm deep sound to it and in track 10. echomen’s ‘Perpetual’ I might have just found my own official ‘sound of summer 2013’. I’ve been following Guy J for a while now, popping up on Hernan Cattaneo’s ‘Sequential Vol.2’ with ‘Agent Blue (v. nice track 🙂 ) in 2007 and on John Digweed’s ‘Structures 2’ on the blissed out electronica mix with ‘Lamur Am mix’ (again v/nice track 🙂 ) and loads of others besides. In fact this mix could be a sister disc to John Digweed’s ‘Structure’s 2’ they seem to share that same glow.

If you’re a fan of the Balance series and/or of Guy J’s work then this is an essential release you can’t be without, or if you’ve never heard of Guy J or Balance before but appreciate a slightly slower, deeper sound to the run of the mill EDM, then I promise you will not be disappointed in this mix. Can’t wait for the next one.

P.S. Dear Guy J, in the very slim chance you see this post, keep up the amazing work, but for f$%* sake would you do me a favour and put out two discs next time!

1. dj yellow & the flowers and sea creatures – NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND guy j remix
2. roger martinez & secret cinema – MENTHOL RAGA guy j remix
3. henry saiz – SANTA FE guy j remix
4. AMP001 – MIGRANTS guy j remix
5. juan deminicis – ONCE UPON A TIME guy j remix
6. navar – PHASES OF GRIEF guy j remix
7. pavel petrov – FEVER guy j remix
w/ dj t featuring cari golden
CITY LIFE accepella | guy j edit
8. lanoiraude – WAITIN’ charles webster’s missive sounds mix | guy j remix
9. dactilar – DAY ONE guy j remix
10. echomen – PERPETUAL guy j remix
11. guy martzur – I’M YOUR COUNTRY guy j remix
12. way out west – KILLA guy j remix
13. robert babicz – DUBA guy j remix

Michael Cassette – Temporarity – Anjunadeep

  

I don’t buy albums. Like ever. But an exception got made with this one and what a great decision that was! Reading this blog as you are automatically qualifies you to agree with me that Michael Cassette has to be one of the most under promoted, highly talented artists out there and Temporarity is one hell of a business card.

I got turned on to Michael Cassette while browsing Beat Ports listings and came across ‘A Fox And A Shooting Star’ (shame that’s not included here) and then over time kept seeing the name and pretty much everything that got put out was awesome. So when I discovered ‘Ghost In The Machine’ and learned there was an album it was a no brainer purchase.

Michael Cassette’s sound is undoubtably 80’s and nothing could frame that feeling better than his version of the Jan Hammer classic ‘Crockett’s Theme’ worth the cover price for this alone!

There is one, perhaps two weaker tracks on here but I’m being picky, if you’re a fan of the Anjuna sound then this is an absolute must buy.

1. My Name Is Michael Cassette
2. Shadows Movement
3. Crockett’s Theme
4. Through The Windows
5. Magenta Sunset
6. Ghost In The Machine
7. Pangaea
8. Nevermore
9. Kilimanjaro
10. Carpe Diem
11. Zeppelin
12. Funeralia – Farewell To David

Tiefschwarz Fabric 29 – Fabric Records – 2006

        

The Fabric series is unknown territory for me, this being my only purchase to date. I always get side tracked on to GU, Renaissance or Balance and so Fabric takes a back seat, if anyone has any recommendations let me know.

I broke my Fabric cherry on Tiefschwarz’s reputation and some positive Amazon review feedback and all in all it’s a pretty strong release but as another reviewer has said track one is a little annoying, once you’re past that most of the tunes get much better. The packaging made me happy, as those of you know this blog, boggo CD jewel cases look cheap and show no originality and do nothing to impress me. The card sleeve over a tin box with an inlay card and inner CD sleeve on this release makes me very happy!

The CD (and it is just one CD!) has quite a dark brooding theme to it so not exactly pool side peak summer listening, but it has it’s place, probably amongst my ‘night driving’ collection. The bulk of the tracks are good solid electronic pieces that are quite happy to bang out with only Sleeper Thief’s ‘Freefall’ and the excellent ‘The Hammer Of Thor’ by Riton as standout tracks.

If you were to chop off the first and last tracks (or swap them) then this would be a seriously good mix, that said I still like it and recommend it to those of you with a german dark trance/tech persuasion, but c’mon 2 CD’s are to be expected these days. It’s got to be something quite special to hold its own as a single disc, if it had a sister disc of the same quality then that would be a different matter.

1. Louderbach aka Troy Pierce – Grace (Anxiety), underl_ne
2. Claud Vonstroke – Whose Afraid Of Detroit?, dirtybird
3. Tiefschwarz – Damage (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix), fine
4. Theodor Zox – Extruder (Maetrik Remix), tic tac toe
5. Touane – Bassic, persona
6. Thomas Schumacher – Rotor, spiel zeug
7. Night On Earth – Rondell, kickboxer
8. Gummihz – A.A.K.N.Y., mobilee
9. Ichundu – Hey, souvenir
10. Jamie Jones – Amazon, freak n’ chic
11. Sleeper Thief – Freefall, 64 records
12. Depeche Mode – John The Revelator (Tiefschwarz Dub), mute
13. Riton – The Hammer Of Thor, souvenir
14. Kate Wax – Beetles And Spiders (Roman Flugel Remix), mental groove