mix album
Back in the days when BlackPlastic was just starting out the label captured a unique take on the (then current) emerging Electroclash scene - taking that scene's enthusiasm for experimentalism and pop sensibilities. Rather than applying it to the no-wave post-punk and disco samples that was Electroclash's short-lived treasure trove though it felt like the Crosstown Rebels label was genuinely creating something of the future.
The result was some average to good records but more importantly some genuinely excellent mix albums, both on the Crosstown Rebels label (in the form of Rebel Futurism and the follow up, Rebel Futurism II) and in Lazarus' Suck My Deck compilation for Bugged Out! The latter actually proving a particularly prophetic view of the minimal sound that came to dominate over the years that followed.
With this background in mind a Crosstown Rebels compilation still feels like a bit of an event. Rebel Rave is a three disc set with the first two discs being unmixed and the final on the three discs mixed by Clive Henry.
Sadly Rebel Rave feels dry compared to the relative passion and drive of the albums mentioned above. In reality there are some strong moments - the stripped back minimal of Minilogue's 'Hitchhikers Choice' or the angry vocal of The Royal We's 'Party Guilt' for example - but this really feels like an evolution of the minimal Crosstown Rebels sound rather than a revolution.
Where are the clever moments that re-imagine what a genre can be? For a label that released an album as challenging (and frankly bonkers) as Lazarus' own Smoke The Monster Out this just feels phoned in. Maybe they really believe that this set of tracks are genuinely exciting and defining. Hell, maybe BlackPlastic is just getting too old but we struggle to believe this would ever have raised our pulse without some sort of chemical enhancement.
With a title like Rebel Rave BlackPlastic just expects a bit 'more'.
BP x
Crosstown Rebels Present: Rebel Rave is released today on Crosstown Rebels, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].
This isn't one of those compilations you see advertised on TV with Judge Jules providing the voiceover, although to be fair it isn't strictly in keeping with the kitchen-sink-ism kitsch that originally defined Balearic either. Instead it is, as the subtitle suggests, a collection of 'new chill and warm laid back sounds'.
And that pretty much works for BlackPlastic. Occasionally it feels a little deliberately inclusive - slotting The XX's 'VCR' in at track two will certainly help shift units - but actually within the context of the (excellent) mixing it actually works.
So this is a very laid-back mix for daytime lounging and evening warm-ups that would be in danger of feeling formulaic if it wasn't for the fact that enough of the songs are pretty much fantastic. Of the fantastic the most sublime is unquestionably DJ Kaos' 'Love The Night Away', remixed here by Tie Dye it is just the right mix of hippie vocals, retro disco vibes and sunny melodies. Within the context of the mix it works so damn well that it justifies the mix on its own.
Less successful are the slightly formulaic folky numbers that close the mix and Animal Collective as a closing track almost feels a little too obvious but it does the trick.
Future Balearica isn't going to change anyone's perception of chilled out dance music but it certainly manages to do a lot more than many other similar albums. And you can be sure it would sound pretty sublime on the beaches of Ibiza.
BP x
This is better. From the angry Soft Cell-esque 'Lady Shave' Fabric 52 feels like it falls through the door without so much as a glance in your direction. A drunken adolescence of a record, it is quite happy being self-obsessed and arrogantly unaware of your thoughts or feelings. It sounds like it would go on playing itself even if you tried to stop it.
Optimo have made a thrilling, wobbly, bubbling, acid-washed, squelchy set full of reverb and trouble and doubt. Whilst previous Optimo efforts may have been distracted and deliberately eclectic (How To Kill The DJ Part Two, anyone?) Fabric 52 proves they can work a groove.
This is an album that progresses through several themes and styles but knits things together closely enough that the joins aren't even visible. Even the anthemic 'Don't Call' from Desire is disguised beneath bleeps, rhythmic stabs and shouts - letting the track ride into town on Oni Ayhun's 'OAR003-B' is a stroke of genius and successfully transforms the track. It's one of those rare moments where a mix between a couple of tracks makes something completely new and manages to improve on the original. It's really that good.
Fabric 52 really feels like an important album. Sometimes mix albums are able to point to the future far better than an album from one individual act can. The dark, spiralling acid trip of Optimo's set feels like just such an article. As on the tripped out mish-mash of Nakion's 'Heartbit' and Xex's 'Heartbeat' that closes the album, this is a fantastic collaboration between the past and the future.
BP x
Fabric 52 is out now, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].
In approaching his outing in the DJ Kicks series good old John Maclean has kept things simple: this is a straight forward set mixed on vinyl with no digital effects and it is something of a revelation.
The DFA's strength as a record label stems from it's non-myopic view of music. Nothing is too far away to be considered ripe for re-imagining or re-contextualisation. The Juan Maclean's artist albums embody that sense of natural curiosity and this mix album, despite featuring largely recent tracks, wears its heart on it's sleeve. This is house music and it is as simple as that.
It is therefore a testament to Maclean's mixing and sequencing skills that this mix just feels so fault free and timeless. And there are some excellent moments. Ian Breno's Dub of The Juan Maclean's hit 'Happy House' (here 'Feliz Casa') melts into Still Going's fantastic 'Spaghetti Circus'. Ao's 'Take Me' sidles up to Rick Williams' 'Get On Up!!' like there isn't twenty-odd years between them and Jeeday's 'Like A Child' is both haunting and driving at once.
The closing quarter only elevates things further - from Danny Howell's 'Laid Out' through Shit Robot's 'Simple Things (Work It Out)', the token new Juan Maclean cut 'Feel So Good' and a final visit to 'Get On Up!!' before closing on the so-laid-back-it's-stopped-breathing Frankel's Rhodes Workout version of 'Happy House'. This is house music for now, the summer, forever. Intelligent, beautiful and funky.
BP x
DJ Kicks - The Juan Maclean is out now on !K7, available from Amazon.co.uk on CD, LP and MP3.