Customer Reviews

John Creamer & Stephane K: Compiled & Mixed

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

 

 

Bedrock's newest "mixed and compiled" album makes a difference having to do with progressive house/trance music; this time pics John Creamer and Stephane K for their good taste and style for house. If you have heard their past works like most of their remixes you can see why are they masters on moving entire dancefloors and pleasing crowds with ther heavy and deep progressive basslines giving them a more intense touch with tribal percussions and as it goes keeping you on their world with dark and heavy voices coming from who knows from.

On disk 1 they make a great and original intro on my opinion, on difference to many deep house mixes most of them start with a good dark soundscape or melody, this time they start with an extremely cool-addictive bassline not to dark, not to tribal, but perfectly techy and funky, then changes to deep techy house with nice vocals and so on trip you till the end; ill give this cd 4 stars

Now, on disk 2, men we are talking of other stuff!, these is high class like danny t's good-house-stuff. For at least the first 20 min of the second disk this boys trip you on a deep and dark world followed by amazingly good heavy basslines and frightening soundscapes as well as evil voiced women talking simultanously, then after a while they introduced you good funky pumping house making you wish to be on a dancefloor dancing like crazy, and at last part of the cd i loved how the show off taking totally to africa with nice percussions and intense progressive heavy basslines that would bounce your whole house.
I'll rate this second cd with 4.5 stars.

My advice for listening this whole album is to play it loud with no one home and never stop listening from the first track till last

Digweed's Bedrock label got 3 releases absolutely spot-on perfect with Digweed's, Van M's and Fortier's mixes for the label. This, along with John Creamer & Stephane K's reputations as producers and remixers extraordinaire placed a lot of high expectations on their outing with Bedrock. Are these expectations met? For the most part, yes. The sound is typically their own, with unearthly vocals dancing around dark, deep basslines. As a standalone mix, this album cuts the mustard quite easily.

But we don't want it to simply cut the mustard, do we? After all, as mentioned before, this is a Bedrock mix. Unfortunately, this album suffers in comparison with Van M's or Fortiers outings in 2 distinct respects. Firstly, you come to expect a certain amount of vocals in a Creamer/K work. You even allow for a higher-than-normal amount. But Disc 1 here suffers a little bit from an over-indulgence in them (Disc 1, Track 2 - "Can you feel, can you feel, can you feel, can you feel, what I'm going through?" - overkill, one feels). Secondly, the kind of magically consistent transitions of mood that characterized previous Bedrock mixes is notable in its absence. As Creamer put it, this album may be "a collection of remixes", but in trying to infuse something different into the individual tracks, Creamer/K may have sacrificed sheer purity of mood.

Disc 1 kicks off with a belter, moves into vocal territory and stays firmly put. There are a few redeemers in the pack, like the hilariously funny-yet-deep...that don't let the vocal override the sound. Overall, not bad, but could have benefited from a little more vocal editing.

Disc 2 is refreshingly different. Starts dark, goes darker with "Seven", and delves into some really dirty, wicked grooves all through. The vocals are still there - but this disc manages to keep the vocals where they belong in the overall context of the sonic journey that it is. Beautifully done.

On the whole, this album isn't a bad buy at all. Just don't expect genius from it, that's all. Creamer/K show in Disc 2 exactly what they are capable of. Maybe soon they'll come up with an offering that hits the nail sqarely on the head. Until then, this'll do...

This mix isn't anything to get excited about. It showcases one track in my opinion and that track is F--K Sonnet. The rest of the tracks are bland and lack character. I notice a lot of users commenting on the fact that it is computer mixed versus live on turntables. Computer mixing is a skill in itself as well, the capabilities of turntables these days makes them almost like using a computer. DJs have the ability to look at a waveform using tables just as easily as on a computer these days, and with Final Scratch most DJ racks are becoming more computerized. So I honestly don't think the equipment used effected this mix, it's just a bit boring and does nothing to grab the listener's attention. Considering the pioneering choice of equipment, this mix could have tried to be a lot more adventurous. As it stands this is one to skip. Like someone mentioned before, I will be awaiting a Steve Lawler Bedrock compilation.

This CD is by far the best and latest cd you could get if you want to hear off the hook deep and tribal house. Be careful...listening to this cd on a worknight will make you go out clubbin' and call in sick the next morning.

So don't hate...PARTICIPATE! Shooo!

struggles to break away from the other prog mixes out there

Right, John Creamer & Stephane K are rather good remixers. They don't mind saying it, general consensus agrees with it; look no farther than iio's "Rapture," Kosheen's "Hide U," or Puretone's "Addicted to Bass." Yet for chaps (notably Creamer) so unabashedly critical of dance music mediocrity, Bedrock struggles to break away from the dozens of other progressive compilations on the market.

Disc one's the culprit. Granted, there's the typically tough beats of mandatory Peace Division, dirty funk MV "From the Underground" and the big grinding bassline of top-notch "Can You Feel" (think The Light remix of Banco de Gaia's "Obsidian"). But then there's typical robo-voices chanting "Save our soul," "Grace," "into the night," and such to chugging drums, with pointless breakdowns ("Jungle of Mirror") and all the usual sounds.

Disc two stops messing around, firmly stamping a distinct style focused on disturbing narratives: the eerie, Matrix-Morpheous-sampling "Real World Part 2," sin story "Seven," and G-Pal's tale of desire "Ocean of Blue." Counterbalanced with accessible, hypnotic songs (squelchy "Marscarter" urges you to "do what moves you") and tribal percussion (dig that bang-on-everything "Mas Suave") the duo manage an eclectic all-vocal hour that keeps you hooked to the stereo till the end.

Just one final note... Disc 1: 3 stars Disc 2: 4 stars

The 3 stars, I gave for the album, could be blamed on the precedence set by Jimmy van M and Fortier.
Creamer & Stephane K compilation doesn't even get close to them. Anyway, if you are a Bedrock fan I guess you know what to do, if not there are other higher quality releases to spend your money on.

BTW there is a rumor that the next Bedrock album would be compiled and mix by the very Steve Lawler. That would be something to look forward to.

Whenever a famed house mix series gives a spot to a dance music producer not normally known for his DJing skills, the results are wildly unpredictable. On one hand, you have triumphs like Satoshi Tomiie's Nubreed disc, where the man shows that his talents extend beyond creating a catchy tune and can captivate audiences over two full discs. On the other hand, you have disasters like this Bedrock mix by John Creamer and Stephane K. This series was started by John Digweed's legendary mix of 1999, and while the followups by Jimmy Van M and Chris Fortier were lesser to that, they nonetheless kept up the tradition of a dance floor aural journey. Creamer and Stephane K, however, put their tracks in no real order. In fact, only at the very end of the second disc do we hear anything like rising energy.

In between, the duo showcase some tracks they obviously dig. Unfortunately, these are either unmemorable or remembered as bad. The vocal loop of G-Pal's "Ocean of Blue" is probably the most annoying I've ever heard in a genre sadly plagued by bad vocal loops. And if that on its own weren't bad enough, they immediately follow it up with another vocal loop-based track, Kim English's "Supernatural". The only real standout here is John Creamer And Prince Quick Mix's expletive-filled "F Sonnet".

I cannot recommend this compilation at all, even if you've collected the rest of the Bedrock series.

I passed on this when it came out and just picked it up recently (and wish I would have before).

Hard tracks--good minimal tribal drums with occasional druggy whooshes or vocal loops. I might not be everyone's style but I love it.

When I heard that these guys were making a compilation for Bedrock, I couldn't wait for the release. Why, because these guys are great producers and because the bedrock compilations are always great!
Well, what you get this time is a really bad/boring album. It is computer mixed, and this makes is even worse. The songs on the cd do not match there style with producing, do not let yourself be fooled by that!!!!
My advice is to buy something else!

Well, I hate to say it but with the exception of a couple of catchy toons this comp is lousy. I have 100s of mix compilations and this one is at the bottom. The mixing is subpar and I think these guys are really trying to be too cool for themselves. Each of these gentlemen have mixed incredible tracks together and on their own. However, this dark and dreary road to repetative nauseum really sticks out as aweful when compared to Chris Fortiers Bedrock and all the other really good stuff out there. If you like bedrock, pick up Jimmy Van M or Chris Fortier. If you like trance with some progressive house try Hernan Cattaneo. Dj Tiesto is another jewel. See my listmania for other worthy purchaces. Just do yourself a favor and stay away from this.

I just took another look at this one and pulled off some of the dust. Unfortunately, I still don't like it. rock the vote :)