Various Artists – The Other Side: Paris – Black Strobe (Resist / Inertia)

Parisian dark electro-house duo Black Strobe (aka DJ du jour Ivan Smagghe and producer / multi-instrumentalist Arnaud Rebotini) have certainly built the levels of anticipation surrounding their upcoming debut artist album to near-excruciating heights with a string of huge 12”s such as ‘Me And Madonna’, ‘Innerstrings’ and ‘Deceive / Play’, whilst also securing a position as one of the most seemingly in-demand remix outfits currently going, with reworkings for artists as diverse as Rammstein, Dave Clarke and The Rapture under their belts. This second volume in Resist’s ongoing DJ mix CD / cityguide DVD series with Time Out follows on from Fischerspooner’s NYC-centric first instalment, and shows the focus falling this time on Paris, truly a city you’d expect to have a seedy yet alluring underbelly; much like the darkly seductive EBM-informed pulse of Black Strobe’s streamlined productions themselves.

In this case, fans of Black Strobe are especially likely to greet this release warmly; while Ivan Smagghe has certainly previously mixed volumes of both the ‘Fabric’ and ‘Kill The DJ’ compilation series, this mix represents the first ever release to feature the full Black Strobe lineup of both Smagghe and Rebotini. While Fischerspooner’s preceding ‘Other Side’ volume was predominantly an unmixed affair much in the style of the ‘Back To Mine’ series, this latest volume captures Black Strobe in decks and FX mode, with a range of software being used to trigger loops live and perform re-edits on the fly, resulting in some unexpected and appropriately gothy surprises such as Front 242 and Bauhaus appearing alongside such contemporary forebears as Huntemann, DJ Hell and Basteroid.

Black Strobe themselves open proceedings here with an expansive intro track that slowly fades stuttering bass pulses into focus between a rippling backdrop of synths, floaty phased synths and hard-as-steel pneumatic tech-house rhythms locking firmly into place before Solid Groove’s ‘This Is Sick’ introduces creepy whispered vocal snippets into the mix as whirling treated vocal loops inject an appropriate element of chaos into the bleepy arcade game-esque synth lines and speaker-punishing sub-bass pulses. Hell’s classic ‘Jack Your Body’ takes things into dark sweaty EBM as scything synth riffs carve a sinister path beneath growling vocal processing, a curiously Kraftwerk-y melodic synth passage emerging during the breakdown as ‘Trans Europe Express’-esque synths power over the punching 4/4 rhythms, while originators of the EBM genre Front 242 also get a mention here, the gliding motorik-meets-Detroit electro rhythms of ‘Operating Tracks’ standing easily alongside the more contemporary offerings here, even though the track’s around twenty years old this year.

Goth grandfathers Bauhaus also make a noteworthy appearance with the one ‘non-electronic’ track here, ‘Terror Couple Kill Colonel’, Peter Murphy imperiously intoning lyrics he’d originally written based on some shock story he’d idly encountered while reading a UK tabloid, as Kevin Haskins’ rippling guitar lines get furiously re-edited and stuttered back and forth around the tribal drum rhythms. DS’ ‘Like It Like That’ pushes the trajectory distinctly back towards darkly seductive electro-house, a baton that’s certainly capably followed up by Basteroid’s ‘Schnicking Data Per Post’, which bends urgent Euro-EBM synths around pneumatically punching tech-house beats and chaotic bleeping electronics, before the fantastically-named Bastards Of Love take things out on a Nitzer Ebb-esque tip, phased vocals riding alongside punching rhythms and buzzing synths as darkly percussive clanking tones power away in the background – nocturnal Parisian electro-sleaze, eat your heart out. Trentemoller’s ‘Beta Boy’ meanwhile introduces some dirty distorted sub-bass action into the equation, crystal-sharp snares and handclaps cutting a path alongside rattling rhythmic elements and whirring synth fragments, while the final coup de grace is delivered here with the final three tracks, Huntemann’s ‘50.1’ getting sandwiched between Black Strobe’s own productions ‘The Abwehr Disco’ and ‘Deceive / Play’ in a mass of rolling live re-edit fury that at points makes it difficult to tell where each respective track starts and ends.

As for the DVD component (it’s a nifty Dualdisc, you see), there’s certainly the obligatory 20-odd minutes of video footage walkthrough of various Parisian galleries, cafes and shops, as well as far more of an opportunity to watch Black Strobe discuss their creative partnership than was offered with Casey Spooner’s comparatively fleeting appearance on the preceding volume (Arnaud makes musique concrete – who knew?). While the accompanying DVD section comes across as a cursory bonus more than anything else, it’s fair to say that the storming Black Strobe mix on the CD side is going to be the main attractant for most people here; and in this case, they’re unlikely to be disappointed. With a extremely astute choice of guest compilers so far, Resist look to be onto a winner with their ‘Other Side’ series.

Check out www.timeout.com/otherside and www.resist.co.uk