Balance 010 - Jimmy Van M

EQ

Published: 10-10-2006
Words: Dragos R

The first CD is Jimmy’s most brainwave process to include the fantastic donwtempo “Ethyopia” produced by Bill Laswell. He continued with another tune from this artist, called “Babylon Ghost”. The entire first CD is a blow-minding session of mellow rhythms and dreamy melodic lines. From the fantastic guitars by Future Sound of Clapton to the nostalgic and sad “Autumn Leaves” by Coldcut, Jimmy tries to express his other side, through melody, warmness and tenderness. The presence of Nathan Fake is felt with his “Falmer”, but the shine of the mix is indeed Boards of Canada’s Dayvan Cowboy, an excellent chill out song. If anybody pays attention of the tracklist of this first CD, it might be discovered new influences in Jimmy’s music that he wanted to expose; with names like Depeche Mode, Boards of Canada, Brian Eno and many others. The entire mix is a beautiful and hallucinant trip between sounds, melodies, sweet bass lines, orchestras, amazing vocals, chords, all mixed up in a continuous DJ mix. This downtempo session should be considered the bonus mix of this compilation, since the tracks inside have so much to say.

The midtempo is the bridge between the downtempo and the uptempo mixes. It’s refreshing, starting off with some trip hop and downtempo tunes from Miles Tillman and later Jimmy’s studio partner Steve T. After Adam Johnson’ s intense tracks, it’s time to feature the BPitch Control hero Ellen Allien and Apparat with the massive Bubbles track from the “Orchestra of Bubbles”. There are still a few surprises on this second mix; Boards of Canada joins again, this time with a much energetic track which will delight the listeners. The second half of the mix is being defeated by some minimal and deep house tunes from Aphex Twin, (the Fabric 30 maker) and LCD Soundsystem. The mix ends up with the pretty good house tune by Underworld, remixing the Cool Kids of Death by Saint Etienne.

Catalog No: EQGCD015
Release Date: October 30 2006
Rating: 6.5/10
More Info: www.stomp.com.au/eq

Djuma Soundsystem appears to be the hottest artist name of the moment with Les Djinns, a reedited track from 2003. The Trentemoller remix and Def Jaguar mix are the tunes which start the third mix CD of Balance. Fortunately Solieb saves the mix from becoming boring and takes the mix into a minimal and tech-house session which really deserves a listen. Including the excellent Jet from Ellen Allien & Apparat and San Lebowsky’s The Reducer 2, this third CD sounds really refreshing and new, if we speak about Jimmy’s musical approach. Even if it’s a techno and electro approach, this mix offers the energy and dynamism, in order to have a three complete mixes with various styles of electronic music. 16 Bit Lolitas feat. Jennifer Horne is another reason to have a listening, this project having a lot of exposure on this mix. After DJ T & Booka Shade deliver a fat track, Hug’s “The Chopper” continues the driving mix and takes the mix to the peaceful end by Supermayer’s remix of Like You by Guy Boratto.

Anticipating Balance as a mainstream compilation, it’s obvious why Jimmy Van M featured so many known tracks on the third CD. But if we speak about the Balance series like an underground dance music compilation, this last CD should work better. As for the previous mixes, Jimmy Van M made a great job, including some of the best downtempo and midtempo tracks.

The mix compilation ca be purchased from Amazon, here: Amazon.com

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