(Inertia)

Since he moved to Western Australia from the UK in his late teens, the Perth (and Australian) dance music community have embraced Greg Packer as their own adopted son. Having mastered the art of mixing through phases of jungle, hardcore, house and breaks; it’s with the liquid sounds of melodic drum’n’bass that Packer has carved a niche in the scene.

As a producer he’s had material released on LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking Records and Doc Scott’s 31 Records to name but a few. As a DJ he creates his own party on stage with whomever his MC is, always smiling, energetic and visually getting into the music he’s dishing out on a fun loving crowd. Renown in drum’n’bass circles around the globe, it’s fitting that Inertia’s first ever DJ mix compilation comes from a hometown hero.

As testament to Packer’s skills in defining his own sound it’s refreshing to see that he’s produced or co-produced seven of the sixteen tracks and remixed a further three. The album kicks off with High Contrast’s Twighlights Last Gleaming, a track with a gentle summery vibe that nicely eases you into the mix. The beats keep rolling out again with High Contrast, teaming up with M.I.S.T with Do It.

The first of the Packer productions is his collaboration with Soul Drop, Hawaiian Groove, presumably named so because of the soft acoustic Hawaiian sounding guitar accompanying the flurry of beats. A few tracks later the soulful voice Cleveland Watkiss soars out over the XRS monster track Breeze. This is followed by a five in a row Packer run, the first four alternating at two tracks apiece from MC’s Shureshock and Assassin. Shureshock’s perhaps best known for his work with Kid Kenobi and Assassin a long timer on the Perth scene and frequent live performer with Packer. Both offering a distinctive melodic tone of their own that suits the cruisy vibe Packer pushes. It’s with the Assassin track Ragga Ninja that the mix builds up and gets a little harder. After progressing through tracks by Contour, Laroque and Ratpack, Packer closes off with his own collaboration with Perth gal Rachel Claudio Something Inside. The two do a hell of a live show together and this track only hints at the power of her voice of those frantic beats.

All up a very impressive album with Inertia certainly entering the compilation market with a bang. With Australian producers making international headwaves in a number of different genres at the moment, hopefully this trend continues of Australian DJs/producers having the confidence in releasing mixes of their own material or that from their local scene that stand up against the rest of the world. By no means anything new, but something there’s nowhere near enough of. If you’ve witnessed the smile and groove of a Packer set then look no further as this perfectly captures that mood on disc.