Allegedly
base can kill. If this is the case then Subsoul’s compilation of ‘upfront and
exclusive house, garage and bass music’ could be the smoking gun in several
cases of base related murders. It’s a mysterious, underground and distinctly
old school mix of vocal deep house with the emphasis squarely on your sub-woofer.
It reminds me of those old Todd Edwards mix CD’s if they’d taken steroids to
simultaneously beef them up and slow them down. It sounds great on paper but in
reality it’s a mixed bag…
As
with all ‘mix’ albums in my experience, there’s a handful of great tracks but
padded out with acceptable but unremarkable filling fodder. The Subsoul
compilation is no different and although the assembled tracks blend seamlessly
to form a coherent atmosphere, there’s a distinct lack of real quality on show.
The more soulful numbers generally hit the spot but reliance on ‘Ride on Time’
style sequenced vocals in several of the others only served to irritate me and
I was soon flicking them.
Worthy
of special attention are Wilkinson’s pulsing ‘Take you Higher’, Robin’s urban
tinged, bleepy ‘What Ya Wanna Do?’ and Kidnap Kid’s soulful, unctuous vocals on
‘So Close’. Easily the pick of the bunch is the opening track ‘Real’, it’s a
near perfect mix of smooth soul and aggressive baseline. If only all the tracks
were actual ‘songs’ like this prime offering from Gorgon City.
So
another Curate’s Egg of a compilation, but on the upside, it will make you look
cool as you cruise round with it on the car stereo at full volume (or maybe not).
It’s well worth a listen but there’s always a health warning on these DJ mix
disks. Listen with limited expectations and enjoy that base!
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