DJ Dede (MDMA) adds his name to a long and distinguished list of record spinners, among whom we will name Mark Allen, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Sid Shanti, Goa Gil and Jean Borelli, as he was invited to mix one for this excellent series of psychic compilations. And I am glad to say that he certainly rises for the occasion and does more than just live up to the high standards set by his predecessors, this is one of the best full on compilations I've heard in a while. The track selection is great and the mixing is an artwork.
It starts of rather bluntly with two night tracks- Spontaneous Man (T1), an energetic number from Slide and Mark V.D.V that slides into Sparkling Soup by Phoetus (an unreleased mix of a project including the man himself, the other two versions can be found on the Sparkling Soup EP) which is full of scratches and FX talk. The groove builds up with Absolum's Dramatrix (T3)- a brilliant piece that combines samples from the movie Matrix, mutilated guitar like sounds and a funky beat generated by a generous amount of percussion instruments. There's no looking back from this point on and things get funkier in track 4- Expose from Cat On Mushroom (a collaboration between Space Cat and Infected Mushroom) which is a cute little number with nice beat breaks and well timed entrances in the Infected tradition and sounds with a sense of humor (I especially like the gargling sound from min4.18). Muddy Effect by Infected Mushroom (T5) starts with a cool little melody and gradually develops into the darkest track I've heard from Infected up till now, although it is still unmistakably "Infected", full of little developing melodies and groove build ups, the overall feel is spookier than their usual optimistic releases. I like it a lot.
Tune In from (T6) introduces the characteristic Xerox bass line into the overall groove, and is a very energetic piece, one of the highlights of Xerox's own solo album (Freestyle) that came out earlier this year. It gradually slides into a somehow familiar melody in the form of After Shock from Oforia (T7)- a morning track with a great driving beat and a melody that reminds me of another Oforia release (The Morning Song from Off The Ground) but works great here. The Flow from Talamasca (T8) is the Goaish track of this CD- a mildly eastern tune on top of funky beat and nice build-ups. The ride ends with Future Prophecy's remix to X Dream's Freak (taken from their CD- Shadows)- a proven party highlight with its massive entrances, guitar riffs and machine gun drum section.
Another full on compilation full of party anthems? No, this CD flows from track to track brilliantly because the track progression is logical and the mixing is superb. Some of the tracks are mixed while they are still in full swing and done very smoothly, others were mixed in the quiet zones and create real mixing drama and are always on the nose. Not difficult to make a perfect mix in the studio you say? Maybe, but you still have to know what you're doing and choose the right tracks for the job. DJ Dede proves with this CD that he has both the taste and the skills and can play a rocking set. |
