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Apr. 30, 2006
A bunch of 3d world reviews
Various Artists - History is Bunk Creative Vibes 8/10 The
last ten years have seen Hefty Records put out everything from
future-jazz to down-tempo. This ten year anniversary album is a
celebration of that diversity.
History is Bunk opens with a track from label boss John Hughes under his Slicker alias. Russian Ice Slide
is a bleepy little IDM number that’s clearly been awake for one too
many nights. Following on are the fluffy climes of L’Altra’s The Last and a Dabrye remix that brings his signature head-nodding sound to bear on Snowbreaker. Not to be outdone, Hefty nu-prodigy Eliot Lipp serves up one of the albums’ best tracks. His ponderous remix of Hefty Naked Ninja digs deep, featuring choice sonic snippets from other Hefty artists.
The trip continues with the tender keys and smoky brass of Deluge and Daedelus’ tweaked-out mix of Paths in Soft Focus. Another standout is the acoustic guitar driven minimal hip hop number Mackinaw Pepper Division, a musical ménage à trois between STS9, Slicker and Retina.IT. Equally lush is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s remix that has turned Telefon Tel Aviv’s much-loved Sound in a Dark Room into a piece of ghostly minimalist abstraction.
Celebrity Drug Disasters - Celebrity Drug Disasters
Shock
7/10
 You’ve
just been dropped home by the police after five days lost in a
whirlwind of clubs, pubs and pharmaceutical drugs. You’re a celebrity
drug disaster and you need help.
Celebrity Drug Disasters is the
musical partnership of ex-Def FX frontman Sean Lowry and accomplished
producer Rob Taylor. They’ve rounded up a diverse bunch of guest
vocalists and musicians including Larry Lovejuice, Daina Demillo,
Sheriden Nelson and Chris Joannou of Silverchair fame.
Designed as a concept album, CDD
is split between the trashy glamour of The Party, the white smoky haze
of The Limo-Ride and the confused cocoon of The After-party. The Party
segment features a selection of glossy trash-rock and a most cheesy
cover of Icehouse’s We Can Get Together.
It’s
in the limo, however, that the groups’ real talent begins to shine. The
sanctity of the back seat is violated by the spacey atmospherics of Looking Out/Looking Back and the modulated madness of Hotbox. Things keep getting better at The After-Party with the raspy bass and smooth vox of Graham (There’s no Way) and the star of the album, Just Say Goodbye, a spacey violin-laced adieu.
A solid debut.
Wild Weekends 3 - Various - Peewee Ferris & Smash n Grab
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|  Central/MRA
5/10
This latest instalment of the Wild Weekends series (DJ mixed for your
pleasure) is again full of club favourites, cheesy hits and a few
surprises to boot. Melbourne favourites Smash n Grab are back as
selectors, joined this time around by Sydney stalwart Pee Wee Ferris.
Smash n Grab’s disc is unsurprisingly full of easy to digest
electro-house and a surprising number of covers. Chief among these are
the Blackbox cover Love Sensation, a Junior Jack tribute titled Dare
Me, Minimal Chic’s take on the U2 classic With or Without You and The
Disco Boys B-B-B-Baby. Add to this the Italo-disco sounds of Big Fun,
the chunky electro sounds of Electric Girl and that overplayed Evermore
track and you have an enjoyable weekend warm-up. Pee Wee’s trance mix
is also loads of fun. Covers once again feature heavily, including
Filterfunk’s Police homage S.O.S, The Sax Brother’s Careless Whisper,
Blank & Jones’ Kosheen tribute Catch and Jon Wayne’s version of Mad
World. The tightly-mixed trance free-for-all also includes Armin van
Buuren’s Control Freak, Mark Norman’s epic Brasilia and The Hitmen’s
bouncy Energy is You. Overall a solid, if commercial, serving of 40
current house and trance hits. |
Exit to Riverside - The Considerate Builders Scheme
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|  Creative Vibes
7/10
An astonishingly enjoyable hybrid of abstract hip hop and experimental
electronica, Exit to Riverside is the magnum opus of South African
Justin De Nobrega. Like the work of his Seven Ark moniker, Riverside
tells its story through a tightly-woven fusion of sounds and obscure
textures. Three Beats Short opens the album with some quirky IDM. Next
to appear is the enchanting funk guitar riff and warm psychedelic
synths of And Five. These slowly give way to the jagged cut-and-paste
sound collage of the upfront Busted. Four crazy minutes later and the
stabs of frenzied violin and untamed percussion of Riverton Road take
control of the speakers. The good times keep on rolling with the
sun-soaked acoustic strumming and rollicking beats of Spare Change that
morph into the hypnotic strings of We Got it Down. Next stop is the
warm and fuzzy climes of The Project, a benevolent rambler loaded with
glitch and chunky low-end goodness. Back Space and Even the Sun Rises
both share an array of charming lo-fi sounds and 8-bit nostalgia while
the last track, A Little Different, is a warm clutter of intoxicating
sounds that leaves you satisfied and ready to do it all again.
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Paul van Dyk @ Home Nightclub. April 2nd, 2006 An amazing Sunday night spent with the worlds number 1 DJ!
Trance veteran Jumping Jack was whipping the main room into an expectant frenzy as I entered Home. Though packed to the rafters, it was still possible to carve out dancefloor real estate. Paul’s eventual arrival was met by cheering from an energized and eager crowd. Opening with Viframa’s Cristalle, Paul expertly took his legion of fans on a satisfying journey of truly epic proportions!
Armed with two Mac laptops, Paul’s final hour was arguably his best. Hearing Crush, The Egg’s Walking Away, Timo Maas’ I Wanna Take Pictures of You, The Other Side, Nothing But You, For An Angel, Deep Dish’s Say Hello, Time of Our Lives and his closer, Dogzilla’s Without You was truly magical!
Besides his expected flawless mixing, Paul surprised with some unusually animated antics. Playing air guitar and dancing around isn’t something Australian clubbers expect from the usually serene German trance maestro and it really boosted his performance. In fact, Paul was smiling and enjoying himself so much he delighted the crowd by playing on til 2:30am!
Though many left after Paul’s set, a large number stayed, dancing until Nik and Amber finally surrendered to the sunrise.
the mad notes
The latest music to cross my desk:
Regurgitator - MishMash
The Gurge. Australia's craziest knob twiddling axe wielders.
Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
New kids on the block with an emotive masterpiece.
A Perfect Circle - Emotive
Iha, Maynard, that Hole chick and probably some other cool cats. Choice.
Koolism - Part 3 Random Thoughts
Funkin' good grooves!
Sound Quality - Volume 2
Diverse collection of Australian electronic/hip-hop, including the 5000 Fingers of Dr T!
Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash
Hardly underground, but funkin' danceable mang!
Summa(Field) Dayze - 2003
Festival music, incl Sunspots remix of Underworld's Two Months Off!
WickedBeatSoundSystem - NewSoulBreaks
Smoove bruvva.
Endorphin - Skin
"We" do it better!
Triple J - Groove Train
Tunes from selekta Galal.
The Rhythm Method - 001
Australian house tracks. Some real fodder but also so gems.
A Night of Trance Feat. DJ Ruby Sandwich a crowd of dedicated trance lovers between a shimmering rainbow of lazers and sets from Sydney’s finest purveyors of trance and you have a party destined to rock on past 8am. With DJ Ruby, one of Sydney’s finest trance DJ’s, making his debut appearance, this party delivered on its promise!
Arriving to hear the end of newcomer DJ Selby’s set, pre-midnight Arq appeared disappointingly empty. A dedicated crowd of twenty or so were enjoying a set of classics and keeping the dancefloor busy while others were scattered around the lounges and balcony area. Trance prodigies Karvan & Condivi managed to pack the dancefloor by the end of their driving set, creating a laptop symphony and employing their trademark Voodoo People teasing.
Veterans Diggs and Stama restarted the turntables, cranking the intensity up a notch and taking total control of an ever increasing number of people. Basking in a waterfall of full spectrum lazers, Diggs and Stama explored a deeper, more melodic side of the genre with a healthy blend of the old and the new.
Clad in black, headliner DJ Ruby surpassed all expectations, delivering a sparkling set of quality vocal trance that turned Arq into a bona fide smile factory! Ruby kept the vibe alive with Kyau vs Albert’s Made Of Sun, Matt Darey’s Beautiful, Sun Decade’s Follow You and an obligatory remix of Born Slippy.
After Ruby’s vocal spectacular, Jaydee and Marishka steered things towards a more driving, epic style of trance, dropping favourites including Carte Blanche and Dogzilla’s Without You, as well as their own production, the euphoric Barrier Reef!
Switching gears, DJ Comp winner Tempa and runner up Arbour threw down a divine set of harder edged trance that peaked with the ever popular Pistol Whip and kept bodies moving well into Saturday morning.
One of the most enjoyable ANOT’s, it was great to see so many new faces there, along with many regulars. A total success!
Home’s 7th Birthday - Saturday 12th November, 2005 From Paul Oakenfold to Pnau, Home nightclub has played host to some truly amazing musical talent over its seven year history. As Australia’s premier entertainment venue, complete with a crystal clear new sound system, its hallowed dance floors once again echoed with cheers and irresistibly funky music, as the cream of Australian performers and disc jockeys treated clubbers to a rocking musical homage to Sydney’s favourite night-time institution. After waiting in a frustratingly congested queue, salvation arrived by way of the ever-impressive Illya. Hanging on his every beat, the frenzied crowd roared its thanks as he handed control over to the Sneaky Sound System. In a truly magic moment, a sea of pink balloons cascaded down from above as the boys launched into their party time anthem ‘Hip Hip Horay’. John Wall’s electro-tinged follow up was equally enjoyable, with a well received bootleg of The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’, as well as crowd pleasers Tomas Anderson’s ‘Washing Up’ and Future Love’s ‘Abysm.’ Soon enough, it was time for electric live act Pnau to take the stage. They cranked the intensity up to 11, with a freaky masked dancer locked in a hypnotising movement and a driving, yet melodic, performance full of fresh material, including what sounded like their newest track ‘Donnie Darko.’ DJ’s Goodwill and Alex Taylor kept the main floor packed until 5:30am with electro and house of the finest calibre, including mixes of Junior Jack's ‘E Samba’, Silosonic’s ‘Something’, Coburn’s ‘We Interrupt This Program’ and Thomas Schumacher’s ‘Heat It Up.’ Terrace dwellers were similarly rewarded, with funked out sets from Yogi, Jules Beaumont and the talented John Devecchis, a man never afraid to answer the call of “one more!” In the Icon room, the Purple Sneakered ones also pleased and teased with carefree aplomb. Small niggles, such as the massive bar and entry queues, were outshone by the quality of music on offer and an extremely friendly crowd that helped ensure this birthday really was all about the music!
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A bunch of 3d world reviews