Nick Warren - Global Underground 018: Nick Warren - Amsterdam

The thing that really struck me about this mix is how different it is from Nick's other GU mixes. This mix starts out with "The World" perhaps the greatest opening track that I have ever heard on a mix CD and contiues on in strong fashion with "Eternity". The mix has some other key moments but it seems like the majority of these 2 CD's are bogged down by boring house tracks like the Peace Division mix of "Intensify"(I don't understand what all the hububb is about Peace Division personally) and "Mechanism 4-H". The second disk is able to make up for some of the weaker spots on the first disc, but it seems like it only hits full stride as its ending. Not a bad mix, just not a great one. 3 out of 5.

Nick Warren shoots off on a futuristic tangent from 90's trance with this latest compilation in the Global Underground series. Each track has its own journey, the first CD has an ambient trance feel whilst the second exhibits some very fresh baselines. Funky elements synergise well with the dark and sleazy house heard throughout.

Starting off slow with crisp ambient sounds, CD1 has a melodic feel to it. Nicks own work under the name of Way Out West on Intensify has a great baseline with several of the earlier tracks meandering between funk, dark progressive house and light trance including the appropriately titled Hedfuk. Bullet by Fluke is a great example of Nick's ability to use a twisted vocal sample as a reprise prior to hitting a peak. The sonic sound scapes of Gyromancer by PMT and Arabic chants of Soul Driver's States of Mind end CD1 on an appropriately disturbing note.

Fast funk starts off CD2 with Groove Attack by H-Bomb, gradually building with harder sounds into the squelchy hardfunk of Sparc by popular remixers Futureshock. Listening to Play by Neil Himmons, I could easily imagine myself running through a grotty dark stormwater drain. Swarm by Zenith has a similar baseline to Out of Control by the Chemical Brothers but a much more sinister feel. Twisted vocals feature again in Nick Hook's Enhanced as well as Ultra Vixens by Thomas Heckman & Mark Romboy which is complimented by subsonic and resonant baselines. Future by Halo Varga exhibits several direction changes whilst the Stripped Mix of Eternity at the end gradually sucks all the new sounds away, safely keeping them for your next listen.

If you buy dance music only to shake your butt, nod your head or tap your feet, do not buy this. The Deep new sounds that Nick Warren compiles on this CD deserve a thorough listen and a willingness to have the mind swept away from reality, whether it is on the dance floor or in the lounge room. Another fine example of dance music re-inventing itself by the Cluboxed label.