(Central Station/MRA)

Having just returned from a successful European tour, Bexta, Australia’s undisputed queen of hard dance, has unveiled the latest volume of her highly successful Mixology series. Considered the audio-bible of the hard generation, volume 8 continues the tradition of melody meets musical madness.

Like every Mixology before it, this latest edition is a largely successful experiment in chiaroscuro. Thirty tracks have been spread across two discs, with angelic synths and menacing basslines engaged in a no holds barred fight to the death. The first mix is melodic yet dark, with tendrils of synth swirling over crystalline washes and dark trance riffs. The second disc leans more towards hard-style, with crunching percussion and pounding beats hammering the hard dance message home. Throw in some acidic elements, euphoric key changes, and snappy vox, and you have another satisfying slab of the hard stuff.

In a clever move, Bexta opens up with a new take on an old classic. Bex couldn’t have chosen a better opener for disc one than her new Tuffy remix of everyone’s favourite Music Makers - ”We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams, we are the movers and the shakers of the world it seems!” Lambler’s stuttery Quasar is an excellent follow up choice, as is Marco V’s smooth vocal tech-trancer Second Byte.

One of the tastiest tracks of the broth is My MTV. The driving riffs created by Noir have been expertly  wrapped around a repeating ”I want my M-T-Veeeeee!” vocal sample. This spiralling chant sends all the dogs in my neighbourhood into spasms of joy, and your neighbours will love the faux rock breakdown! 

Other greats include the soaring synths and tuff drums of Tribal Affair, and current global favourite, Bart Classen’s evil sounding Playmo. Rolling monster Playmo is such a great track that it’s almost worth picking up Mixology 8 for it alone! Bexta has also seen fit to include a resurrected, and dam funky, 2005 version of the classic Wanna Have A Good Time from Amsterdam’s DJ Peran. Throw in the relentless banging of Satcom’s Moz Blender and the infectious mashup of the Organ Donors’ Turntabalism, and Bex has easily ensured that disc one is a very tidy package indeed.

Opening up the second disc is Cosmic Gate’s new version of The Drums. Though it helped propel the Cosmic duo onto the scene, it’s not a song that has aged well. This new version, while an improvement, should have found it’s way here in an edit, not this vapid eight minute cut. After average fare from Rank 1, Dave Joy’s Fourth Joyride comes to save the day, deftly followed by Yakooza’s I Wanna Feel. The debut release from his new Traffic Tunes label, it features a classy vocal and ultra catchy synth lines.

Bexta has always been one to support local talent, and for this edition of Mixology she has recruited new talents 2 Faced (the Di Francesco brothers) to contribute. Hailing from Sydney, this production duo has sought the vocal talents of MC Losty for their bangin’ Say Oh Yeah track. After this things get hard. Really hard.

DJ Tom 809s acid squelcher Mars Attacks melts into the confronting Diamond, before the hard synth keys and pulsing b-line of the tributary Acid Braincracker front up. Dutch hardstyle duo Pavo & Zany’s 99.Nine will please Organ Donors fans, while Duro’s Psycho is an enraged monster of brutal hard-style on a funked-out, brain-smashing tip. Closing things off is the revivalist Dominator 2005 (“I’m bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher!”)

Once again Bexta has proven a master of her trade. The first mix will please all her fans, and though the hard-styled second disc is not to this reviewers taste, many of her disciples will no doubt lap it up.