(Obsessive/Inertia)

Peddling a sound that often has him mistaken for a black DJ from Chicago, German born and bred Ian Pooley has been chosen to front the latest installment in the Excursions mix CD series (previous Excursions coming courtesy of Felix Da Housecat, Kerri Chandler, Patrick Forge and Colin Dale). Championing an intriguing blend of house and techno, Pooley has built a solid reputation around the globe for his impressive production work and equally impressive DJing. So with the memory of Pooley’s sound fresh in the minds of Australian audiences after his recent tour as part of Vibes on a Summer Day, what better time to release Excursions?

Marking Pooley’s first mix since his Nite:Life CD on NRK, Excursions bucks the trend many mix series seem to be heading in lately of cramming two (or even three) CDs full of the latest floor fillers. On Excursions Pooley has only crafted one CD, choosing to fill it with 18 tracks of deep and soulful house with a dash of techno thrown in for good measure. The clincher? You’re not likely to have many of these already in your collection.

Standout tracks include Frankie Knuckles presents Satoshie Tomiie – Tears (Classic Vocal), Maurizio – Dominas (Carl Craig Mix), R-Tyme – R-Theme, Brian Transeau – Relativity (Carl Craig’s Urban Affair Dub), and Bernard Badie – Love Explosion. The mix starts on a very chilled and funky tip, picking up the pace slightly around track 7, then slowing moving into slightly ‘harder’ tech-style territory (although I would never label any of the tracks included on the mix as hard!)

The tracks selected by Pooley have an inimitable ‘electronic’ sound to them, more or less completely devoid of any acoustic instruments or samples (which can obviously be surprisingly rare in house music). Overall this gives the mix a rather unique sound, but I think sometimes this can give the CD a somewhat hollow feel as the samples are synthetic. Even still, Excursions is still a funky mix.