Customer Reviews

Balance 10.1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

All the previous Balance mixes have been 2-3 disc sets. This is the first single disc, and also a further extension of Jimmy Van M's Balance 010, hence the 10.1 name. This mix fits better into the Balance realm, as it's more of the upbeat tracks the series has used since it's inception. It briefly starts off slow, but then picks right up and gets into some fast paced techno with some top notch tracks by artist such as Dave Shokh & Holgi Star, Stephan Bodzin, Umek, Chaim, and quality remixes by Guy Gerber and The Field. It's not too far off from Lee Burridge's Balance 012, with a slightly harder techno edge, and Jimmy picks a few more quirky tracks such as the two male vocal ones at stops 2 and 3. The mix briefly dips down in BPM's with tracks 12 and 13, two incredible melodic tech house offerings, with the latter, Air Conditionne by Julian Jeweil being one of my favorite tracks of the year. It's become incredibly popular and building up several mix appearances, across several different electronic genres. It's the Rej of 2007: an incredible track that no matter how many times you hear it it never gets old.

If you put this disc alongside Disc 3 of Balance 010, you'd have your typical two-disc Balance entry. I almost feel Balance 010 should have gotten the decimal point, as even though it sticks to the theme of "Balance-ing" a variety of sounds, none of the others featured much downtempo or ambient, except for maybe one or two tracks to start the mixes. You end up with people who loved that aspect of Balance 010 left scratching their heads as this mix isn't what they expected. You also end up with those who have been following the Balance series for a while, left hating Balance 010 (as evidenced by some negative reviews over there), as it's nothing like the faster paced energy of the previous mixes.

While I enjoyed the uptempo final disc of 010, I found this mix on 10.1 to be more varied in track selection and with a lot more energy. If you are looking for something similar to discs 1 and 2 of Balance 010, then you won't find anything remotely like that here other than maybe the first track of this mix.

All in all, a mix far exceeding my expectations and after repeated listens, it kept creeping up on me to 5 star status. I recommend this for all Balance fans except those who only prefer discs 1 and 2 of Balance 010. It's a high energy techno ride full of great tracks, and another great entry into the now legendary Australian Balance mix series.

This second CD from Jimmy van M in the Balance series is certainly the best he has ever recorded. Each track is to my opinion carefully selected, the tracks are perfectly blended to a high quality mix. It's a little hard to specify the style of this cd, it's a mix between minimal-techno and progressive sounds. Anyway, for anyone who loves these sounds it should be in your collection!!

Jimmy Van M makes this addition to his original Balance entry, which focuses on a harder-edged, squirrely techno-based sound. Clearly, he wanted to do a modern dance mix in addition to his beautiful compilation of a wide variety of styles on Balance 010. It is most similar to Lee Burridge's excellent Balance 012 in mixing style and content, instead of Balance 010. All of these tracks deserve additional exposure, and now they will get it.

Unfortunately, this cd doesn't even begin to compare to Jimmy Van M's Bedrock. It sounds like he turned on the drum machine, left the studio, and returned only to throw in some intermittent and obscure sounds every few minutes. It pales in comparison to other work.

If you are a huge Van M fan, and enjoy quirky minimal, random noise-infused, non-danceble and barely tolerable house, this is the cd for you. If you, like me, are expecting the next level of detail and sophistication that should be apparent after the great Bedrock series he did a few years back you will be VERY disappointed.

I like Van M, but I was shocked and annoyed at how amateurish and unrefined this disk is. I swear I thought I heard a child playing 'scales' on one of those cheap toy pianos we all remember using is a kid. Terrible.

Tracks 12 through 14 are tolerable, but only if you make it that far and can get over your frustration at how poor the rest of the cd is. If this was an experiment, it failed. Better luck next effort.

This cd simply doesn't cut it in this series. The intro is blah. The mix is so so. No reason at all to pay 17 dollars for this mix. For a single disc I thought Jimmy was releasing his favs and was going to blow everyone away with oh you thought Balance 10 was it. NO no, more like the outtakes. Balance 10 was great. Balance 10.1 doesn't hold a candle to it and is easily forgettable. Skip this one.

I seriously wish that these Dj's of old would step it up a notch & put the Dance back in dance music ... You can still be creative & still keep a Decent bpm I am just sooo tired of people doing this to me I read everywhere

Peak time mix !!! Ect ect ... Well this was not it & it's so sad to have

Gone from Bedrock 1 to Balance 10 to just a step up from that last one ... Oh well at least I have Bedrock & tons of promo mixes that he put out that Blew both of these last 2 out of the water

I'm not sure what happened... Balance 10 was 3 CDs, top quality deep thinking music.. this was 1 CD of mediocre music. I've listened to Balance 10 100's of times, this CD I've listened to about 3 times and forgot I even own it.

Balance 10 has 3 CDs, each a different level of energy. The first CD is mellow and beautiful, the third up beat and fun. Balance 10.1 has no ambient and beautiful, and nothing that really got me going. It was stuck in the middle somewhere, and not one track stuck out. Ok maybe one or two tracks stuck out but it wasn't the first place I'd heard them.

I wouldn't buy this.