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There is something simultaneously ominous and exciting about your favourite genre of music registering on the Ministry of Sound radar. On one hand it heralds the prospective popularisation of the sound and its exposure to a wider audience. On the other, it potentially signals the beginning of the end of the genre’s lifecycle (remember Ministry’s breaks compilations?) Ministry have obviously recognised the growing popularity of the progressive side of house and trance, and the increasing dominance of these genres on popular digital download sites like Beatport. So now we have Progression, a new release from Ministry bringing the sound to the masses.
The first disc could basically be described as the Deadmau5 disc. No less than one third of the tracks here are either original productions or remixes from the Canadian whiz kid who is taking electronic music by the balls. Of those tracks not from Deadmau5, it could be said that another 5 tracks are from producers who attended the international Deadmau5 School of Melodic House: Learn to build your tunes on triplets and eighths (recent graduates including Inpetto, Niels van Gogh and Adam K & Soha). Many pundits seem to already have their cat claws out for the mau5; for the purists, there will no doubt be plenty of scoffing at the sheer volume of Deadmau5 related material, but the fact remains, this disc does capture the sound of now. Melody is making a comeback, and leading the charge are a new wave of producers willing to gain inspiration (to put it politely) from each other’s work.
While many will debate the value of copycatting, there are still some tremendously cool pieces of music here. Deadmau5’s remix of Morgan Page, The Longest Road; the Inpetto mix of Beauty of Silence from Andrea Doria vs LXR; Twilight from Adam K & Soha are all beautiful, subtle and delicious tracks that are as warm as they are moving. However, sticking them all onto a single mix does more to highlight what they have in common than what separates them making this disc more pedestrian than it might have otherwise been. It should also be noted that there’s nothing particularly new on this disc. Not Exactly, Shadow’s Movement and Pjanoo have all been kicking around for a while now.
The second disc takes a different approach to the genre, employing a darker edge to what could probably be labelled the traditional progressive sound. The opening stanza is a tough, electro-tinged excursion that wastes no time in belting out some bottom-heavy bass. Towards the middle of the mix we get a passage where this really does start to sound like a proper progressive release – the deep and haunting sound of Sofa King from Mark Aquaviva & Oliver Giacomoto gives way to the earnest, rolling synth line of Survivor from Tiger Stripes – before dropping into a deep groove with tracks from Mark Brown and Booka Shade. On both discs, we don’t really get much craft – this is more your action blockbuster than your limited release arthouse film.
An unusual feature of this release is the surprisingly high number of remixed “classics”. Rhythm is a Dancer, Café Del Mar, Greece 2000, Toca’s Miracle, Silence, Man With The Red Face – it is a virtual cavalcade of old tracks made anew. This is indicative of the need to make Progression as accessible as possible, but it does come across as being a little heavy handed. For those already into the progressive house sound, this compilation will offer few surprises. For those who have their toes just dangling into the progressive pond, this compilation will be immensely likeable. It pulls together releases from some of the biggest names in the scene – John Dahlback, Jerome Isma-Ae, Dubfire, Tiger Stripes, Eric Prydz, Deadmau5 – and presents them in the typically accessible Ministry of Sound fashion.
Interestingly, this release is one of those “generic” efforts, where Ministry has not sought out the assistance of an established DJ to compile the release. This immediately suggests either one of two things. Either Ministry wanted to get something out as quickly as possible or secondly – and perhaps more likely – there are no DJs in Australia who are well known enough in the genre to add any tangible marketing oomph. That’s a shame, as Australia has some tremendous talent in progressive house who could have added a little more credibility to the compilation, while still maintaining the broad appeal that Ministry obviously need.
While this release is light-years from progressive comps from established camps like Global Underground and Balance, it still serves a purpose. It is an accessible snapshot of a new force in underground dance music, and while not being particularly underground in its own right, it provides a pointer to where the mainstream may be heading. If it serves to popularise the sound, then bring it on.
Mr XTC says...
"a new force in underground dance music..." Cool... so, ah... What about the last dozen odd years of prog releases?