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This month, Dave Spoon takes the baton for the fifth chapter of the irrepressible Toolroom Knights series. Breaking it up into two discs, ‘Main Room’ and ‘Basement,’ the newly appointed Radio 1 DJ takes the listener through big room electro, old skool hardcore and everything in between, as he lays his influences bare in this colourful Pick n’ Mix.
Disc 1 opens on the trendy Baditude from heavyweight trio Spoon, Harris & Obernik. With the catchiness of the Jaxx’s Rendez-Vous but lacking in depth, the mix begins on a fairly obvious note, before dropping into Ingrosso & Laidback Luke’s discordant Chaa Chaa, as funky Latin rhythms drive this tribal tech-house tugboat. Squelchy flat beats from young Swedish pretender Dahlback creep into Jerry Ropero & Clubworxx’s simple but pumping tribal house anthem Bangladesh, as I begin to snap out of the funk induced by the bland kick-off.
Zoo Brazil’s weird and wonderful Technik bitch-slaps me awake with its blend of glacial funky techno before pitching up into a piercing siren crescendo. Not usually a fan of fidget house, this one is techy enough to have me peaking regardless. Just as the fog is clearing, the minimal and chuggy 555 from Angello and Ingrosso has me yawning again before Spoon surprises me with his latest production 88. Banging progressive tech-house along the lines of Deadmau5 or Fanciulli, this bassy track finally stomps into Tim Weeks’ atmospheric Fashionably Late.
Phil Kieran’s remix of Roel H’s Dancing Bears is my pick of the disc. A spacey deep landscape morphs into playful, ‘carnie’ music in this aptly named track, as rolling progressive house meets tubular Amiga-styled rhythms. Lucio Aquilina caters for the serious tech-house heads with some deep, funky beats before the delicious Nintendo jump FX and rolling prog/tech of Butch’s Mushroom Man leave me grinning. Antoine Claraman’s rattling deep tribal notes lead into Paolo Mojo’s Nightlaw, a tough yet melodic peak-time killer with a fucking massive breakdown – absolutely peerless techno. Disc 1 ends as it began, with a reprise of Baditude – this time in Mark Mendes’ sandblasted dub.
Spoon’s second disc Basement opens capably with acid house sirens and screeches from Skint head honcho Midfield General before Stupid Fresh cut in with some hit n run fidget in their jackin cut Stretch The Canvas. An early highlight is Spoon’s remix of Dizzee Rascal’s Flex, laying some fat raspy bass under Dizzee’s inimitable vocal. A familiar sample ( House Crew’s Keep The Fire Burning ) screams in as Herve finally wins me over in a tribute to the sensibilities of breakbeat hardcore. Layering acid FX over nu-skool jackin house, this is a belter of a tune which has me happily reminiscing.
Heavy electro-house bleeper The Reward Is Cheese from Deadmau5 vs. Jelo comes in, another worthy offering from the prolific producer ITMers either love or hate. Just as the disc starts to flow, Spoon breaks it up with a series of noisy, fidget house tracks which leave me cold. Tong & Spoon’s Gas Face is sexy but lacklustre, before the experimental mashup of Herve’s Dub More Forward and Jaxx house classic Fly Life. Mish rather than mash, the track has the right ingredients but comes out messily.
Diverted by the sirens of James Talk & Nick Corelli’s Freak It like Us, it is not long before Santiago and Bushido’s heavy bass and tech-funk lean into Riva Starr’s lush ‘Bubble.’ The surprising Chicken from WTF? (Deadmau5, Tommy Lee, DJ Aero and Steve Duda ) elbows in, deep hard and trippy. Spoon then falls back on some more superb hardcore as Another State slams into Spoon’s punchy house knockout Liability. Angellos’ Mescal Kid persona staggers into Kris Menance and Spooky’s champion Stereophonic, as progressive electro meets lazy old skool breakbeat complete with crackling vinyl and acid organ. Zero B’s rave anthem Lock Up closes with its massive hands in the air breakdowns, metallic clangs and tape hiss. Magic.
Dave Spoon’s Toolroom Knights offering is ultimately a frustrating release, as each refreshing track is drowned by a bland counterpart from the other end of the spectrum. What we are left with is two mediocre discs rather than one killer mix. The mixes are thrown together quickly and sometimes a touch confusingly. There’s not much in the way of transitions or flow, in spite of being compiled entirely with Ableton.
The tribal rhythms and old skool flashbacks are superb, though tempered by the crowd-pleasing big room house numbers. As a sampler, Spoon’s Toolroom Knights compilation is pretty good. As a DJ mix, though, unfortunately it comes across as an untidy affair from a great artist and a great label.
Toolroom Knights mixed by Dave Spoon is out now through Toolroom Records/Stomp.
