Last night I stopped by the Supermarket (yes, the Supermarket!) to do my
groceries and left with a new batch of Mexican Electronic Music CDs that I
must comment on:
1. Nopalbeat Collective: Acid Cabaret (vol. 2?)
This is the second compilation from this Guadalajara electronic music
collective, and it also bears the same awful name and bondage imagery (on
the graphics side, not on the sound itself). However, this is the first
one on their own Noaplbeat label. After the disappointment of the first
Acid Cabaret, I was more than hesitant to pick this one up, but what I had
already heard on the radio was good enough (and it was cheap on sale!).
Fortunately, this second volume is many times better than the first one.
Even thoguh the latin samples (mambo, mostly) seem more of an
afterthought, the beats are fierce this time. The production is still
lacking, mostly in the mix, where instruments seem to fight for
centerstage, instead of working together to create a groove. My
favortie, of course, is Sussie 4 SUITE TROPICAL. Sussie 4 is still miles
away from the rest of the jarocho scene and remains one of the best
Mexican Electronic musicians of late. I cannot wait for his album to come
out.
2. Noiselab Compilation 001
This is simply awesome. Almost half of the songs come from DJ Uriel E,
formerly of Abstract Massive and currently at the head of Bounce, the deep
house radio show and monthly night at Colmillo club (a must for any deep
house fan when coming to Mexico City). The rest of the lineup is as
impressive: Digi + Gabo, Club Soda (aka Decada 2) and the now defunct
Sanchez + Ruiz team of, duh!, Andre Sanchez (formerly of Titan) and Alvaro
Ruiz (aka Balboa, aka Ruisort, and formerly of Conjunto Perla Caliente!).
From deep, deep house to groovy bleepie drum and bass, noiselab is the
most sophisticated of the Mexican Collectives without a doubt and this
compilation is a must. I think this is the third time this album has been
released (and I heard the actual songlist has changed a little bit since),
so the songs are not actually new, but now it is widely available thanks
to a distribution deal with Asterisco, a division of Universal records in
Mexico. The selection is by Hector Mijangos, and thank god, it is much
much better than his own remixes!
Noiselabs site: www.noiselab.com.mx
If you read Spanish, check this CD review on Imagen:
http://web.imagen.com.mx/IMG/php/musica_imagen/cdsemana/cd_semana.php?cd_id=26
3. Noiselab Compilation EP 002
This second release by Noiselab is still dominated by house beats, but
lacks the depth of its predecessor (even though it includes one track from
Compilation 001 (Club Soda: Fizz my Soul)). Digi+Gabo and Yo+Yo deliver
solid house tracks, but legendary (?) DJ Koggi (aka Erich Martino, former
Abstract Massive and current host of Referencia 98.5 fm) gives us a pretty
disappointing house track, called organik fantastik, which unfortunately
is neither. The CD also contains some extra goodies from the
excellent Noiselab designing team: icons, wallpaper and screeensavers. I
still have not installed them, so I cannot tell you much about them.
Plus, it gives you access to extra downloadable material online.
Dr. Axel Arturo
Barcelo Aspeitia
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www.mp3.com/drxl
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Aug 01 2002 - 01:00:03 CEST