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[tigersushi records]
Kill the DJ is a club night in France, hosted at le Pulp nightclub. ITM’s budget being limited, I was unable to research it in person, but producer Fany Corral apparently has an anti-scene, new wave revolution happening in her nightclub, and here the sound is distilled into a DJ-mix cd by collaborator (and presumably endangered species) DJ Ivan Smagghe. I’m not sure what they have against DJs – presumably they are more anti the cult of the DJ rather than the reality, as Smagghe receives no billing on the irreverent CD cover.
But if the message is in the music, what a message it is. I haven’t been so impressed by an album for a very long time. I’ve been having fun trying to pigeonhole the genre to give you some idea of what the album is about, but its near impossible – this is an exceptionally wide-ranging CD. It starts with the atmospheric electronic groove of Roger’s Helsinki blondes and via In flagranti’s Just gazing into the electro-flavoured Rather be from Crowdpleaser & St Plomb. Normally vocals don’t appeal to me in dance music, but here the charmingly named Selfish in bed croons very satisfyingly over a sinister, oozing synth and metronomic drums. Overall the feeling never strays too far from electro – be it the pure electro of No way can you sleep from Digital tongue to the dark groove and DJ Rush-like vocals of Chelonis R Jones’s Black out. Mmmmm – very black, and getting darker – Suck’s Freak defies description, but the night is definitely closing in and getting more intense. Sweat is running down the walls and Woody’s Fumakilla funk takes it even deeper. Champu is Daniel Diamond’s way of reminding me that techno can be luminescent, beautiful, and as light as a butterfly when subtly produced – just sublime.
Smagghe is unobtrusive but clever as a DJ – transitions are varied from 2-minute slow mixes to crash mixes – but always building the mood and contributing to the feeling rather than showcasing the DJ’s cleverness. He draws from all sorts of musical genres to build a mood that is somehow coherent in tone and effect, and always interesting. Any weaknesses? Yes, I think including Soft Cell on any dance compilation, any time, ever, is a huge mistake, and the little interlude where Smagghe talks to the ecstatic crowd was rather against the spirit of Kill the dj – or did I just miss the irony? Judge for yourself – this album is my first “must-buy” recommendation of 2003. Go get it.
