Customer Reviews

Black Strobe: The Other Side of Paris

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

 

 

Straight through, barring one cheesy vocal track, this is a non-stop aural assault of the most sinister and high energy tech house you are ever going to hear. This mix is full of special effects courtesy of their self titled "Decks and Effects" mixing style, with Ivan on turntables and Arnaud on a laptop. I must admit, when I first checked out this CD in my local shop when it first came out, and read the back where it says "always funky, this mix encapsulates the Paris disco underground" I opted not to buy it, thinking it would be too Parisian disco funk for my tastes. I finally decided to pick it up, after hearing a few of Black Strobe's latest tracks in other mixes, and thinking they sounded very techy.

I have to say I am glad I ended up buying this, because it just blew me away. There aren't very many all tech house mixes out there, so this one is perfect. It has dark, fast beats, all the way through. I nearly slammed into a police cruiser taking a corner too fast, while listening to track 17. You have to use extreme caution when playing this one loud in your vehicle!!

The only thing keeping it from being a completely perfect mix is track 6, which is a horrible pop or alternative sounding vocal track, that totally seems out of place. I had to check my CD player for a moment, thinking I had accidentally switched the CD off and went to radio, because it sounds that odd. Then I thought maybe the record company accidentally burned the wrong track 6 onto the Black Strobe CD!

You also get a 24 minute DVD that shows you a quirky look at hidden spots in Paris you wouldn't see in other travel shows. At the end, Black Strobe talk a little about themselves and their history.

This is an incredible adrenaline rush and a super hot tech house mix you simply can't pass up.

Lovely. I don't know how something so dark and technoid can be so grooving. The Bauhaus rather breaks an otherwise nearly perfect flow--wish they'd mixed and looped it like they did with This is Sick. Still, an all-around A. The DVD side is cute, but fairly inessential, and likely a bit out of date at this point.

Would be 4-stars except for some playback issues. This is more techno/dance oriented than Other Side: New York. I have had some problems playing back on some computers. I tried it on several Macs and Windows PCs. Some systems can play and rip this album fine. Some cannot even mount it. The record label is aware of the problem and has been very responsive to my feedback. Kudos to them for their help!