Customer Reviews

How to Kill the DJ Part 2

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

 

 

I've been collection mix-CDs for awhile now (Ninja Tune, Paul Oakenfold, etc.), but only came across "How to Kill the DJ" (PT.2) after hearing it in a local coffee shop. I was lucky enough to happen across the disc in a record shop, and it's been in permenant rotation pretty much ever since.

Disc One by Optimo is the real gem here. My favorite mix-CDs are those albums that take the listener or an unexpected journey through styles and times, and Disc 1 doesn't disappoint. Optimo probably could've stuck with pure house-disco - selections from Laiback, Carl Craig and Grauzone in particular really get the party started here. Instead, Optimo goes the kitchen sink route, mixing in everything from funk to punk, indie rock and 80s rock. Tracks by the Cramps, Gang of Four, the Stranglers, the Rapture and Blondie are interspersed with bleepy casio techno and raw house, and make this one of the more unpredictable and fun discs I've ever heard.

Disc 2 by Espacio is ever more eclectic, forgoing the typical house route entirely. Instead, we get classical, vocal tracks, garage rock by the Monks, latin rock by Os Mutantes, funk by the Meters, and pure 60s psychedelia by Sun City Girls. Disc 1 is more fun, but Disc 2 was entirely unexpected and features a lot of great tracks; hardly one clunker in the bunch.

I'd have given this five stars, but parts of both CDs hit some rough spots. Disc 2 is more or less a collection of songs, not truly a mix, so this didn't bother me as much. In Disc 1 there are some serious rough patches, where one song will just sort of end and another will begin. Hey, I realize it must be tough to make the Revolting Cocks flow into "I Walk" by the Quarks, but wasn't there a smoother way to do it? Other than just basically dropping one song out and planting another? At other times, the volume seems to seriously change depending on the track - that made the mix sound even rougher. If "How to Kill the DJ" were recorded live, I could understand - Since it wasn't, at times the mix sounds a little sloppy.

That's about my only complain. Otherwise, "How to Kill the DJ" is LOADED with great music - Tracks that you've already come to love like "Atomic" by Blondie, along with a smattering of songs that sound so perfectly familiar you'll think you've heard them before. The sublime "Opium Den" by Sun City Girls on Disc 2 comes to mind. You could do a lot worse than this CD, especially if you're into a little experimentation and want to be exposed to many different artists at once.

When I first started getting into listening to mix discs, I thought they were one of the best things ever. At the time, my musical knowledge and interests were somewhat limited, yet I was always excited to hear things that someone else thought were interesting chosen for me. As I've gotten older, my interest in a DJ simply mixing tracks together in a smooth way has somewhat waned, but I still like an inventive mix once in awhile and although it's gotten a bit out-of-hand lately, I still love the idea of a good mashup.

That said, this release from Optimo (aka JG Wilkes and JD Twitch) is one of the more interesting things I've heard in some time. Although it's somewhat similar to the Soulwax 2 Many DJs series in terms of the sheer number of different styles that it combines, How To Kill The DJ [Part 2] takes it one step further even by seemingly trying to include as many musical styles (from the past 40 years or so) as humanly possible into one bizarre mix that flips styles with ease and mashes tracks like it was yesterdays news (which I suppose it is).

A two disc set, the first is a mixed disc of tracks and the second is a seemingly even more eclectic batch of single 'classic' tracks that the duo picked. For sheer listening and surprise factor, the first disc easily takes the cake as it starts with "Wars Of Armageddon" from Funkadelic and promptly runs through tracks from everyone from Laibach to The Cramps to Banbarra and even Nurse With Wound. That's just the start of the madness, though, as "Damaged Goods" by Gang Of Four rips off entirely before somehow mixing into "Good Vibrations" from the Langley Schools Music Project. To say it's a bit of a surprise is an understatement, but then who would have thought that Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream" would fit on top of Ricardo Villalobos' "Dexter?"

Like other mixes that have come out with the prime intention of flaunting just how out-there the actual track mixes can be, part of the charm with How To Kill The DJ [Part 2] is the sheer surprise factor in hearing how many of the tracks are put together. Unlike mainstream mashups, though, it's also clear that the duo have a love of the obscure and aren't afraid to dig deep past the mainstream and bend tracks to their will in order to drop the cuts that they like. With 42 tracks running over an hour of time, you'll probably even hear something you've never heard before but might want to follow-up on (I know I did).

The second disc is even more unique in some ways, as the group includes some more spaced-out tracks that might not have fit quite as well into the mix format (although that didn't obviously stop them in other places). Again, the disc runs over an hour in length and includes tracks from André Williams, The Balanescu Quartet, Sun City Girls, Hasil Adkins, The Flirtations, and Angelo Badalamenti. In 60 tracks combined on the two discs, there's a taste of just about every style you can think of. Whle it's not always a completely smooth listen, it ultimately very seriously satisfies what I really loved so much about mix discs when I was first collecting them, which is that it got me interested in a couple new things that I've never heard. Bizarre, but highly addictive.

(from almost cool music reviews)