www.peakinmusic.de - Classics - CDs, die jeder haben sollte (Frame, Aug/01/99)

Chemical Reaction (Chemical Beats) ****(*)

This 1997 publication seems explosive: Eleven iron-hard Big-Beats with six (!) remixes by the gods of the beat, the Chemical Brothers, deliver one hour of big, raw excitement. Extremely phat LoFi beats and hazardous chemical sounds will make You want to bang Your head against a concrete wall or they'll force You to dance Your soul out until the music's over. Each track has its own strong attitude of groove and energy but fits perfectly with the others, so this record will suit Your next party as well as Your driving on a freeway.

An, in my opinion, ingenious Chemical-Brothers-Remix of Leftfield's "Open Up" might be the peak of this CD. "Open Up" is peakin' in the original version (see Classic CDs: Leftfield - Leftism for details), but the Chemmies brought this track, which - by the way - features Johhny Lydon (ex-Sex-Pistols), to perfection. This phat record definetely makes appetite for more Afrodesia publications. -ih 10/98

The verdict: Hart but heartly...

Check those tracks: Primal Scream - "Jailbird" (Chemical Mix), Sabres Of Paradise - "Tow Truck" (Chemical Mix), Leftfield - "Open Up" (Chemical Mix)

Chemical Reaction, 11 Tracks, ca. 62 min.

- For Laboratory Clerks and Doormen -

Afrodesia Music
242 West 62ND St, Suite 6D New York, NY 10023
Fax (212)541 4893
AFRCD01

Chemical Brothers - Dig Your own Hole (Chemical) ****(*)

Hey, what the heck should I add to the Chemmies Talk? Maybe my own view of their experience. It may sound a little queer, but "Dig Your Own Hole" starts at the point where "Exit Planet Dust" had come to an end and the name "Chemical Brothers" has risen above all in a very short time. Everything I've ever missed in the depths of their first album is on the alert for a sonic attack now. Nowadays Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons are the leaders in the science of blending elements of Rock and modern electronic music. Combining their research with the most spacious effects on the planet they've set a new level of musical understanding. Many people before failed in this relation. Some journalists therefore boasted their "arrival to save the Rock". Hmmm...

No wonder and somehow awaited: one masterpiece follows another, just a nervous and hacked song called "It doesn't matter", a mere sampling-demonstration could not hold the level of musical integrity. It's just a little disturbing. But together with Oasis' Noel Gallagher Tom and Ed make the unbeleivably powerful "Setting the Sun" some tracks later the ultimate peak of the album. Eh, this bomb made it to UK's No.1!

Anyhow, the Chemmies left even enough space for some spacy chillouts like "Lost in the K-Hole", the beautiful "Where do I begin" or the ingenious "The Private Psychedelic Reel", an orchestral monster wit sitar-arms and sax-solo-feet. Suitable for construction workers, extreme athletes, rockers, bikers, surfers, MTV-Kids, manager and modern housewives! -ih

The verdict: The Best there is.

Check those tracks: "Elektrobank", "Piku", "Get up on it like this", "Lost in the K-Hole"

Chemical Brothers - Dig Your own Hole, ca. 63 min.

- For Chemmies -

Freestyle Dust/Virgin
7243 8 42950 2 8
XDUSTCD 2
Further chemical info here

Faze Action - Plans & Designs (Disco 2000) ****(*)

What is Faze Action? Take two British brothers (Robin & Simon Lee), stir them into a phunky Band and season everything with fresh "Sweet String Company", and You will get the most eclectic Disco- and Rare-Grooves since 70's original "For The Love Of Money" by the Disco Dub Band! Get Your old orange Polyester Suits, iron Your pants, smoke a joint and enjoy this CD: Orchestral and spacy Sounds flow over authentic Rhythms between phunky and daze: One full hour of good retro-entertainment. One of the album's songs ("In The Trees") just made it to the third volume of the famous "Give 'em enough dope"-compilations!

Every single song of those eight instrumentals (2:29 - 10:18) is overwhelming in its own, unique way. It's one of the better and warmer publications of the current disco-revival; much more warmer than e.g. those insane Frenchmen Daft Punk. If Faze Action worked out those kind of plans any further, they would be able to graduate to true "Masters of the Groove" soon! A nice and complete album! -ih

The verdict: Nice planning!

Check those tracks: "Original Disco Motion", "Astral Projection", "Turn The Point"

Faze Action - Plans & Designs, ca. 60 min.

- For John Travoltas -

Nuphonic (Tel./Fax: 44 (0)171 739 8757/8761)
NUX115CD
RTM 0171 284 1155

Funkydesertbreaks mixed by DJ John Kelley (US-Breakbeats) ****(*)

MOONSHINE, world famous for their "This ain't Trip-Hop?"-compilations, have shown the planet that even in the USA outstanding and "different" music is bred. Funkydesertbreaks imports the original sound of big californian desert dances alike MTV's "The Grind". But the music on this CD goes far beyond the usual MTV stuff...

DJ John Kelley pasted together 15 phat tracks to a complete 55-minute-set for Your next party. From stompin' house over groundshakin' US-sound to chilly trip-hops this CD delivers a complete journey through America's contemporary musical elite. What a pity this is not a 2CD... A special highlight therefore is the only track by CRYSTAL METHOD: They ever were and still are one of the best US-Acts for intelligent American breakbeats (their current album "Vegas" is just this click away). If You're mad about peakin' music, just check out this compilation and fly away... -ih

The verdict: Funk breaks the desert!

Check those tracks: Psychedelic Research Lab - "Keep on Climbin'", Crystal Method - "Dubeliscious Groove"

FUNKYDESERTBREAKS mixed by DJ John Kelley, ca. 55min.

- For Grinder² -

MOONSHINE Music
MM 80054-2
785688-00542-3

United DJs of America - Vol.III: Josh Wink (House) ****

Some of the best and most famous DJs of each of the U.S. have gathered to mix down their favorite music due to create the "United DJs of America" compilations. This third episode has been scrabbled together by Mr. Josh Wink, the genius from the wonderful City of Philadelphia. Yes, Josh Wink, one of the pioneers of the contemporary American "Dance Revolution", climbed down back behind the two turntables of Philadelphia's "Milk Bar", where he had started his career years ago. The result: A wonderful aural one-hour-journey, travelling past the sunny ridges and the dark valleys of Underground and Deep House, which could be the perfect musical transcription of a warm midsummer evening.

Neat daydream-melodies merge to dark, paralyzing Underground and flow back to uplifting stompers, which could make You move unexpectedly and in unexpected ways, but everything is like one solid piece of Josh's masterous work. Like not many others he is able to break down the common borders of contemporary music. He is able to change the music in its context to set new standards; he has a virtuous talent to invite the audience to a trip through his brain, where one coud forget everything about time and space. The DJ explores the deep forest of knobs and faders below his hands, his adventures drown the audience into continious, seamless waves of pumping and dazing beats. By now this must be one of the best of all "United DJs". At expected ca. 50 episodes, this third one makes appetite for future releases. If You are ready for this, You will love it.

PS: Further information @Ovum, Josh Wink's label: www.ovum-rec.com -ih

The verdict: Josh Wink got hands of gold.

Check those tracks: Winx - "How's The Music", Cappio Bros. - "Caffeine 4 Daze", Rozzo - "Into Your Space"

United DJs of America - V.3: Josh Wink, Philadelphia, PA, ca. 69 min.

- For Winx -

DMC
UNDJ A CD 3

Review of Josh Wink's album "Herehear" here!

Leftfield - Leftism (Leftfield) ****(*)

Leftfield are mostly known for their track "A Final Hit" from the brilliant Trainspotting-OST. The absolute quality of this track should be enough reason to check out their current album "Leftism": The eleven tracks show perfectly the meaning of the word Leftfield, as they contain music apart any stylistic definition by using the most different musical styles side by side. Practically, this means a seamless stream of dance and ambient, cool and perfectly mixed and always surprising.

The first track "Release The Pressure", for example, gives the impression of a dub-reggae-record, which continues throughout the first part of the CD and which changes drastically after three and a half minutes of the "Song Of Life" (Track 4): an iron-hard 909-beat, supported by a submarine goa-backline makes its way through the listener's brains. Continuing this crazy way of making music, Leftfield transform innocent dubs to trippy hops like the ones of Portishead ("Original"). Dry raggamuffin styles ("Inspection Check One") bring the Dancehall to Your room, spontaneous rising goa-beats make You move in a strange way ("Space Shanty") and out-of-space ballads á la "Melt" let You forget about time and space.

But the peak of this record, no doubt, is the appearance by Johnny Lydon aka Johnny Rotten aka Ex-Sex-Pistol, whose brilliancy gives "Open Up" (Track 10), the special note: "No-Rules-Johnny" shouts out for the leftfield massive... In my opinion, Leftfield deserve the title of the "saviours of pop", side by side with Underworld. Why? Because Leftism is an ingenius masterpiece. -ih

The verdict: Far out!

Check those tracks: "Afro Left", "Song Of Life", "Open Up"

Leftfield - Leftism, ca. 70 min.

- For open minds -

Hard Hands/Sony Music
HANDCD2
LC 0162
RTD 01.478142.10

Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker (Electronic Pot Music) ****

Andi Thoma and Jan St.Werner aka Mouse On Mars are really a phenomenon: They make it to sound a little like 'hyperprofessional absolute beginners', by using sounds like those in Your old Bontempi-Keyboard to create unbeleivably trashy and dazed tracks. Smooth and relaxed beats and spacy basslines in true LoFi might make You compare them with CAN sometimes, but in the light of being overwhelmed by a dizzy mixture of Portable-Keyboard-Bossa-Nova, mad elevator music, beeping ambient and deep drum&bass You'll discover the uniqueness of this record. Everything is smooth, so this CD could be predestined for professional pot smokers or music magazine writers.

Even without support by any illegal substances this music shows ability to make Your brains work better. You'll just need some time and passion to listen. So it might even be a perfect record for a morning chillout, or for waking up in an unknown bed with an unknown partner aside... Check it out, try to get hold of it and dream Yourself away if You liked it. If You don't? Hmm, that's the way it is... -ih

The verdict: Stoning!

Check those tracks: "JuJu", "Tamagnocci", "Maggots Hell Wigs"

Mouse on Mars - Autoditacker, ca. 64 min.

- For flying people -

Our Choice/Rough Trade
LC 5661
RTD 195.3231.2
Mouse on Mars are @home at a-musik's in
D-50674 Cologne, Brüsseler Platz 10a, fax: 49-221-5107592

Nick Holder - Still On Track (House) ***(*)

Nick Holder has created a solid and relaxed House-record on Berlin's DJ-label !K7, best-known for their DJKicks-compilations (see Classics: DJ Kicks - Rockers HiFi for details). It's not a special thing, but it grooves and it never seems to become nervous. Pumping, but not too fast beats around 130 bpm set aside with acoustic guitars, pianos, saxophones and creamy analog filter technology to create a foggy mixture of Jazz, Samba, Deep- and Commercial-House.

Nick Holder is skilled to find unconventional, but familiar samples. So You'll get to listen to the famous voices of the Jungle Brothers in "Rock Da House" instead of some loop taken from some sampling-CD, and "Deep Inside" reminds me of Boney M.'s massive 70s-sing-along "Rasputin" sometimes. I state a guy like Austin Powers would be mad about this album! Besides that, some tracks like the seven-minute Samba "Buscando", the martini-dry "Rock Da Discotek", or the jazz-like groovin' "Plastic People" are 100% clubbing and suitable for Your next shelter party. "Still On Track" is not a special record, but a nice and relaxed one. -ih 10/98

The verdict: Oh, behave....

Check those tracks: "Buscando", "Plastic People"

Nick Holder - Still On Track, 9 Tracks, ca. 61min.

- For Austin Powers -

!K7
!K7R018cd
LC 7306

Orbital - Orbital 2 (Trance) *****

1993: The "Melody Maker" is high and states: "...as sensual as spring rain!". Even higher: "Select" and their discovery of "Pure heavenly technology!" in Orbital's record. Parts of this intergalactic collection of orbital sounds were shown in a furious live-performance on MTV. To make it short: The A&Rs did a brilliant job. Hmm, that was years ago and Orbital continued to produce hits like "The Box" or "The Saint" (from the Orbital record "In Sides"), but this publication from the early years of Orbital's works sounds fresher and slightly more innovative in songwriting and sound design.

One could really feel the fun those two had with bringing around nights with turning knobs and pushing buttons resulting in a wonderful 70-minute-journey through an unreal, virtual underwater world of boiling acid sounds, glass-clear solo synths, deep down basslines and powerful beats. Another highlight is the orbital joint-venture with the mayonaise-Rockers "Lush" (they sound like you pronounce their name) in the tracks "Lush 3.1" and "Lush 3.2": The dazed and confused voice of Kirsty Hawkshaw, who sometimes sounds like an Mariah Carey having a hangover after a bad night, refines the two tracks nearly to perfection; to induce an impression by the listener of definitely being somewhere. Everywhere but here and now.... More info on the Orbital-Homepage -ih

The verdict: A MUST-HAVE!.

Check those tracks: "Lush 3.2", "Impact (The Earth is burning)", "Remind"

Orbital - Orbital 2, ca. 66 min.

- For Skywalkers -

Full Frequency Range Recordings (FFRR)
162.351.062.2

DJ Kicks: Rockers Hifi (Freaky Dub) ****(*)

Since the ingenious work of Kruder & Dorfmeister ('!K7 gave us lots of dope 'n gals!'), the "DJ Kicks"-Edition of Berlin label !K7 is known to be one of the most important and innovative of all the uncountable series of mix-cds. Another masterpiece in the row is the "Black Album" by Richard Whittingham and Glyn Bush from Birmingham, better known as Rockers Hi-Fi. Just like Peter (Kruder) and Richard (Dorfmeister) from Vienna, the two guys from the UK don't play their favourite songs the traditional way one after another, but blend them with the techniques of Dub, using a large number of sound effects. And in addition to that, the Rockers had the nice idea to engage Mr. Farda P., whose spontaneous toasting delivers the authentical Kingston-sound.

Not at least that plays an important role when stompin' breakbeats, deep-down London-, Brooklyn- or from-somewhere-else dubs, spacy ambient-house-tracks and original dancehall merge to a single, wide and calm floating stream of sounds and beats. To talk about single tracks might be redundant in the light of constantly floating important musical information; this is a completely good record. And it's the first time ever one could get this authentical form of a sound system for private use - a compilation, with which future so-called publications will have to be compared with. -ih

The verdict: The Rockers set a new level...

Check those tracks: Grizzly - "Up Through The Down Pipe", Electric J - "Varispeed", Cee Mix - "Com-unique-ation", Dr. Israel vs. Loop - "Sadisyabruklinmon"

DJ Kicks: Rockers Hifi, ca. 76 min.

- For Dubsters & Rockas -

!K7 Web/ !K7 Mail
!K7056cd
387.0056.2.43
LC 7306

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman (genau das!) *****

Underworld - if words like "Trainspotting" or the more recent "Moaner" flash through Your mind now, You should check out this publication from 1993. This record is a perfect demonstration for Underworld's professional ability to take and merge parts of nearly all musical styles to create a modern mixture for all modern people. A seamless blend of electronic and natural sounds takes the listener through a world of swinging grooves, mysterious beeps and hypnotic Raps á la "Moaner", overwhelming from the first to the last minute. "Dark & Long", the first track, has even made it to an own Remix-EP. Furthermore You could witness Elvis on the phone in the 13m07s mutation of the heavenly "mmm Skyscraper I love You" from a rolling tribute to the King to a soul-transformation soundtrack. Farther down the stream reaches the space of dark trance- and underground-forests, aside fields of psychedelic mushrooms, into the paradise-like gardens of "Tongue" and "Dirty Epic", where the dizzy soul has some time to relax, before the river reaches the stormy sea in "Cowgirl"; a Song that could have been produced by The Grid: Microwave Go!

As the waves in the "River of Bass", a slowly swingin' reggae with beautyful vocals, calm down and the seven-minute opus "m.e." finishes of the journey, it becomes evident this record will feed You for weeks. But like most good food, this delicatesse is hard to get. But it's also an essential for a peakin' library - so You should search and buy... -ih

The Verdict: If Elvis was still alive, he would make music like this!

Check those tracks: "mmm Skyscraper I love You", "Cowgirl"

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman, ca. 73 min.

- For daydreamers and nightcrawlers -

Junior Recordings/Intercord
INT 845.214
LC 1109