james holden - at the controls
genuine pop, underground producer, and big name remixer, james holden has been quietly diggin' away at propelling his own brand of electro dance to europes finest dancefloors. so, when resist approached him to sort out a 2 cd mix he tapped into his itunes playlist and decided to try and get some tracks well beyond the usual scope. amazingly, the tracks were cleared ! so alongside the unusual dark-n-moody electro there are some proper classics, such as massive attack, lucky pierre, aphex twin. the music therefore starts off all cinematic, downbeat and totally gorgeous before dropping in the big fat booms of the wonderful reverb excess of massive attack via mad professor, the mood drifts along nicely as death in vegas do their minimal dark krautrock groove, but it's not too long before the tempo is ramped up and all electro hell is let loose. personal faves include the acid overloaded 'trance fiction' by midimiliz (??), the minimal beauty of the tangerine dream styled ‘Gebrünn Gebrünn’ by Paul Kalkbrenner, and the superb electro pop of malcolm middleton. of course the mix is chocka with artists whose names i have read about, but never had the chance to actually hear, as well as several holden exclusives making me add lots of new names to the 'must hear more' list that i never manage to eradicate.
so, if you feel like getting a mix that updates your knowledge of the thriving electro groove, then this release is an ideal starter point as james has put together an excellent set that will easily see me through the next few months.
tracklisting :
CD1
1. Apparat ‘Wooden’
2. Plastikman ‘Cor Ten’
3. Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor ‘Trinity Dub (Three)’
4. Kate Wax ‘Angel Blues’
5. Death In Vegas ‘Anita Berber’
6. Petter ‘Some Polyphony’
7. Vox Sola ‘Metro Pop’
8. Issikadis ‘Hotter Now’ (Stripped Down Mix)
9. Holden ‘Lump’
10. Midimiliz ‘Trace Function’
11. Harmonia ‘Watussi’
12. Holden ‘10101’
13. Skugge & Stavöstrand ‘Medean’
14. Nathan Fake ‘Charlie’s House (Apparat Remix)
15. Lucky Pierre ‘Angels On Your Body’
16. Christ. ‘Perlandine Friday’
17. Fennesz ‘Rivers of Sand’
CD2
1. meta.83 ‘Opening Titles’
2. Paul Kalkbrenner ‘Gebrünn Gebrünn’
3. Motiivi:Tuntematon ‘1939’
4. Malcolm Middleton ‘Solemn Thirsty’
5. Aphex Twin ‘Xtal’
6. Milky Globe vs. Holden ‘Sun Spots’
7. Kalabrese ‘Aufm Klo’
8. Lazy Fat People ‘Big City’ (Original Mix)
9. Water Lilly ‘Lottotron Reboot’
10. Trans Am ‘Cold War’ (War Is Stupid Mix)
11. Slag Boom Van Loon ‘Poppy Seed’ (Boards Of Canada Reprise)
12. Egoexpress ‘Live At Sirius Prime’
13. Black Strobe ‘Nazi Trance Fuck Off!’ (Holden Remix)
14. Plastikman ‘Cor Ten’
15. AFX ‘Every Day’