Customer Reviews

Avalon Los Angeles Ca 06/24/06

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Taking a look at the tracklisting before I purchased this, I saw a lot of great names and tracks. My other thought prior to purchasing was whether or not it is going to be really live, with crowd noise, or they just meant it was recorded during a live show, straight from Sasha's decks (or whatever he uses now or is calling it), with no computer editing afterward, and leaving out the crowd. I was hoping it was the latter, as crowd noise is always a slight distraction for me, because I feel electronic music needs to be heard in all it's pure digital glory, with no interuption.

Well, what I found was 1) it is live, with lots of whistling and some annoying, uninterpretable chanting through a lot of the tracks, and even an equpment failure where the music stops suddenly on disc 2, track 1; and 2) despite the great looking tracklisting, the mixing just wasn't up to snuff. Now, I don't mean technical mixing, which Sasha has obviously proven he is a master of in the past, I mean track selections, times, and the entire flow of both discs. 15 of the 20 tracks are between 5:56 and 9:59, and only 2 are under 5 minutes. Most of these tracks go on way too long, and I really feel like I am listening to a CDR that I burned for myself, containing tracks in all their full lengths. It's almost lucky they have the crowd noise, because that's just the feeling you get, until the someone starts chanting and you realize it is a mix cd. While Sasha does do some live editing, it's nowhere as technical or involved as Involver or Fundacion. The tracks go on and on and it really gets to be a boring mix, on both CD's. That's not to say the tracks are boring, as if the same tracks WERE on a CDR I had burned, I would have no problem listening to them and not feeling bored. It's just when they are mixed, minimal and tech house need to be trimmed to fix the mix and continue the flow, rather than be heard from start to finish, which most of the tracks sound like they nearly are.

While it's not a bad listen, with lots of great stuff, including Booka Shade's catchy minimal track Night Falls, the techy Roman Flugel Remix of Radio Slave's My Bleep, and the groovy tech house sounds of Monkeybreak by Nils Noa, it just doesn't cut it as a limited edition 2 disc mix. Check my listmania list of the best tech house, minimal, and techno mixes this year, you'll find much more enjoyable discs of tech.

With John Digweed's Transitions tech house mix, and now Sasha here with a minimal and tech house mix, just about everyone has gone over to the tech side of house now. Hernan Cattaneo and Paolo Mojo have been the two biggest names I can think of this year who have stayed with a lot of standard house and progressive house in their mixes, although both have incorporated either electro or techno sounds in the mix.

I just think Sasha needs to tighten up these tech tracks, into shorter durations, and it would have helped the flow a lot. Some of the tracks also didn't seem to flow well in their order, especially on disc 1. I think that the next artist in this new Instant Live series ought to think about leaving out the crowd noise. They should also put the tracklisting SOMEWHERE on the CD or sleeves, as the only listing is a sticker on the outer wrapper that you have to either cut out and put inside (which would probably get lost) or carefully try to peel the sticker off the wrapper and reapply it to the back of the CD cover. Even though they were quick to get this mix out (1 month after recording it live) it didn't seem like they were rushed and forgot about putting the tracklisting on there, especially since they took the time to print on one of the inner CD sleeves that you need to go to a website to print out the trackslisting, and then slip it inside your CD case. That is pretty lame.

Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe the Avalon was simply ready for a really thick, funky night. We were not in Ibiza-and Sashas set seemed to be geared towards a more mature, chill crowd..it might have worked on a beautiful island somewhere; but it sure didn't with the needy Hollywood crowd. I guess I thought he would have been able to sense that vibe and adapt accordingly. I have heard him do mindblowing sets that were pretty high energy and intense, but that did not take place on that nite. The DJ that was on before him was twice as good and probably got about 5% of Sasha's fee. Too bad. Buy something else by him...but not this. 2 stars because he has proven himself in the past, and it could have been worse.

The reason most people don't like this mix is because they are trying to "pigeon-hole" Sasha as a "Trance" dj. Everytime an artist expands their musical repetoir, there are always people who attempt to restrict their growth. Keep this in mind when reading other amateur reviews.

I found this cd to be outstanding. Before purchasing this compilation, I already owned quite a few original versions of the tracks on it. I was surprised to see the reworking Sasha did to these tunes to make them uniquely his own. The mixing throughout both discs is solid, especially in the first half of cd 1. The mix does explore quite a bit of headspace through its blend of lush melodies and chunky, minimalist, tech house basslines.

If you are looking for a disc filled with anthems and other mindless music, then Instant Live at Avalon is not for you, but if you are looking for a timeless mix that is brilliant and subtle, then I highly suggest making this purchase!

Sasha does it again. Does he put out any thing that isn't good?

I was worried because it is a live disk that there would be too much crowd noise. Sounds to me like they mixed in the crowd noise at the beginning, and in the middle of a couple of songs to make you remember it is a live disk, other than that, I think everything is recorded straight out of the decks...

Very smooth and transitional mix. Sasha continues to push the envelope. I actually liked all of the tracks.... wonderful bass sounds through out.

With the quality of Sasha's latest releases presented in the past few years, I was afraid that one day the time will come that I will write a review so critical and acidic about one of my favorite DJs in the world - Sasha - that not only it's gonna hurt people's feelings, but will also squeeze my heart just as painfully. With much regret, that time has come.

So sad I am that it feels like I have lost a loved one. To me, Sasha is musically DEAD. Therefore, I would like to offer the world my deepest condolences on the loss of one great and beloved genius of the electronic music world. The cause of death was extreme carelessness with music in Los Angeles, California. But we have to be strong and accept the facts of his musical demise. We cannot be in denial if we want to move on with our musical lives. Yes, these are sad times; however, he left us with great music of his early years, not to mention his influence on many current DJs that he had passed the baton to; DJs like Hernan and Desyn to name a couple.

Alas, his latest release (Avalon) was one of the worst releases I have ever heard by any DJ so far. I have no idea where to start. But just for the record, I have pre-purchased Avalon from Sasha's site where it offered limited edition of only 10,000. CDs to be released that could only be purchased through his site. I was one of the first 500 people to purchase this comp. which is printed on the back of the CD jacket, I was so eager to get it. Then I found out that it is being sold everywhere for much, much less, what a scam. That actually didn't bother me as much as when I started listening to the comp. The tracks are toooooo long where you get BORED and want to fast forward them to the next one. The mixing is sub-standard especially for a flawless mixer like Sasha. Track selection is OK but not great. The sequence of tracks is haphazard, lacking the flow and expedited without much thought to it. If you are looking for a nice journey, you won't find it here. And the one thing that still baffles me is that god awful HALT of music on the second CD, track one at 1:30 minutes or so, what the F**K happened there? The whole thing is just so sad, so, so sad. I am glad I wasn't there at Avalon, listening to the CD is bad enough.

But since I should speak nicely of the dead, I do have to say this:

Sasha was my inspiration; it was he who got me started remixing, composing tracks and djing just for kicks. Sasha's genius and talent gave me countless hours of joy that I will never forget. It is really hard on me now, so I'll stop now.

Sasha, you will always be in my heart and mind.

Rest in peace.

I don't listen to much EDM anymore. The genre has become stagnant and has rather siesed to impress. I still check out releases by the few that still push it forward and develop new sounds though, I.e. J. Holden, Digweed, Nic Warren/Way out west, seaman, chable,nubreed. I still go out if any of the Global Underground vanguard is in town.

This mix is totally on point and forward sounding. It's much better than Fundacion. The tracks and programing are supurb. i appreciate the breaks tracks but wish there were a few more of em.

I'd like to know what the guys who panned this release are listening to.

Pretty much everything electronic produced anymore is trash. It's nice to hear something different. I will continue to dabble in the scene as long as they continue to fuse electro and breaks with tech house. CDs and club nights of straight 4/4 are a curse. Sasha continues to impress by intoducing innovative and forward thinking producers and putting their tracks together via ableton/maven. He's one of the very few DJ's that still keep this old man interested in dance music which is no small task.

The concept here was to have a "live feel" to a club-venue recording of Sasha's tech-trance and progressive house mixes. The music is for the most part, quite interesting and well-mixed. However, the live recording comes across as a bit thin and for my taste, there is simply too much crowd noise. I don't really relish hearing clubbers cheer and chant and enthuse; I just want to hear the music. Overall, this was an interesting experiment, but there are better mixes that present similar music more clearly and cleanly.

This album shows that Sasha has a very dynamic style. I think this album is far better than Air Drawn Dagger, and ranks right next to Expeditions as one of the best albums he has compliled and of my collection.

I kept repeating it from the in-famous US Delta heavy tour. Too bad, once upon a time he had his 5 minutes...

After being at this concert I experienced a definite loss in the audio quality--the bass seems tight and wimpy. Even compared to other electronic performances i've heard on live recordings. Check out the videos from this performance on youtube and you'll really know what i mean. You get an idea what the show was like from this tracklisting, but i still remember how much it blew my mind when i was there.