(Renaissance/Stomp)

Spanning no less than three separate discs, Renaissance’s new ‘3D’ mix compilation series certainly represents one of the more ambitious undertakings the high-profile UK dance label has announced so far. Split into three complementary mixes, respectively titled ‘Club’, ‘Studio’ and ‘Home’, that focus upon a set indicative of the sort the artist would currently play out, a selection of that artist’s past production backcatalogue, and finally a ‘back to mine’ style mix of personal favourites, in many senses, this sprawling offering suggests that Renaissance have the eyes on three different compilation markets at once – the ‘Global Underground’-style end of the spectrum as well as ‘Another Late Night’, perhaps. In order to qualify for 3D obviously, the featured artist would need to have a serious club rep as well as a substantial body of past production work, in the case of this inaugural volume of the series, that’s where Satoshi Tomiie comes into the picture. Having cut his teeth introducing a wider Japanese audience to house in Tokyo in the late eighties before moving to NYC and linking up with David Morales’ Def Mix Productions for classics such as ‘Tears’, Tomiie certainly has a suitably extensive discography behind him, a factor which alongside his reputation as a constantly touring DJ no doubt helped make him a worthy choice for this first instalment.

‘Club’ represents a snapshot of the sort of DJ set you could currently expect to hear Tomiie spin at a club, and in this case, the focus is definitely upon big room progressive-edged house tracks, kicking off with Spirit Catcher’s ‘Polysquasher’, which introduces elements of Prince-esque synthy funk, bright synth stabs arcing their way over a crisp 4/4 beat as fat analogue bass 303 swells add a welcome element of griminess, before Dan Berkson’s stripped-down ‘People’ gets into some jacking house rhythms, crisp snares flitting back and forth around icy electro synths and a sampled MC loop that conjures up images of Cybotron and DJ Pierre meeting somewhere in the middle. From here on, it’s a smooth trip through analogue synth-heavy electro-house that manages to wander between bright funk-infused retro sounds and more sparse, pensive stripped-down robotic tech-house (as in the case of Jim Rivers’ gleamingly smooth ‘Future’), before Martin Eyerer’s menacingly funky ‘Wicked Line’ takes things down a slightly darker path, spooky slowed-down and cut-up spoken vocals lurking behind an assembly-line of crisp electro-house rhythms and juddering bass synths. Electrochemie’s ‘Big One’ introduces an electroclash-esque female vocal over buzzing distorted synth swells that build towards speaker attack over clicking, stripped-down 808 rhythms, Cass & Mangan’s ‘I Love Your Shoes’ ventures towards Tiefschwarz-esque synth-heavy electro-house, grinding bass swells and squealing acid peaks building against processed vocals and crisp snares, before Jim River’s ‘Restore’ takes things out on a vaguely trancey tip, flashing synth arpeggios shimmering around burbling bass synths and a streamlined 4/4 backbone. All in all, ‘Club’ certainly represents an offering that’s sure to satisfy fans of Tomiie’s current DJ tastes, and while perhaps it doesn’t really feature many obvious ‘peaks’, Tomiie certainly maintains a silky smooth sense of momentum throughout.

For me personally, the second disc ‘Studio’ represents the real gold on offer amongst this package, and while it’s slightly disappointing to find that the tracks collected here have been mixed in the case of CD DJs, this selection more than makes up for it by featuring no less than seven exclusive 3D re-edits out of a total of eleven tracks here. In this case, the sequencing of tracks here is more or less impeccable, with the brooding soulful piano chords of ‘Theme (reprise)’, released under early alias Loop 7, flowing smoothly into an exclusive re-edit of Tomiie’s house classic (alongside fellow Def Mix member Frankie Knuckles) ‘Tears’ that’s sure to be a major factor in inducing house heads to pick up this release. Reworkings of Chab’s ‘Lover’ and Cass’ ‘Mind Rewind’ push things in a considerably more prog-tinged direction with streamlined synth patterns locking in over dubbed-out vocal samples and rolling big-room house rhythms, while an exclusive re-edit of Slok’s ‘Lonely Child’ reintroduces the electroclash elements, with a sleazy-sounding male indie-rock vocal floating beneath buzzing synth riffs and vaguely New Order-esque rhythms that suggests Colder’s nocturnal electro-pop. For me personally though, the real thrills came with the last four tracks, with Tomiie’s stunning reworking of Photek’s ‘Mine To Give’ throwing Robert Owens’ soaring soul vocals straight into the headrush of Tomiie’s own ‘Love In Traffic’ featuring ex-Sneaker Pimps vocalist Kelli Ali, before fantastic re-edits of FSOL’s classic ‘Papua New Guinea’ and Hybrid’s ‘Higher Than A Skyscraper’ take things out, a whirl of ethno-world samples giving way to the familiar propulsive rhythms of Peter Hook’s bass.

Finally, ‘Home’ definitely represents the disc to listen to in the bath here (after all, Tomiie probably does), collecting together a tracklisting that leans markedly towards chilled-out jazzy grooves, the twinkling analogue synthesisers and fluid bass licks of Dexter Wansell’s vaguely Sun Ra-tinged ‘Life On Mars’ kicking things off on a vaguely Herbie Hancock-esque lounge-funk note. ‘That’ John Barry loop from the Sneaker Pimps’ ‘Six Underground’ flows effortlessly onwards into Miles Davis & Gil Evans stunningly cinematic ‘Solea’ in a way that makes perfect complementary sense, before Aphrodisiac’s ‘Song Of The Siren’ sets up a Chicago house-infused momentum that softly trails away into the wandering bass virtuosity of Jaco Pastorius’ softly contemplative ‘Portrait Of Tracy.’ Weather Report’s ‘Palladium’ kicks the tempo back up into wandering jazz-funk amidst tumbling percussion and acrobatic bass interplay, before James Brown turns it loose like a super sex machine.

While this inaugural volume of Renaissance’s ongoing ‘3D’ mix compilation series certainly stakes out some ambitious terrain, in this case the results are more than worthy, a factor not least due to the astute choice of having Tomiie open the series, someone who’s certainly proven himself to be equally at home behind the decks or in the studio. Fine stuff that’s sure to go down well indeed with fans of Tomiie’s streamlined house expeditions; hopefully the next volume will be as good – on the evidence of this first salvo, Renaissance could be onto a winner…

Check out http://www.satoshitomiie.com and http://www.renaissanceuk.com.