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Various - Deconstruction Classics - A History Of Dance Music - 23-Apr-07 11:08 AM
Few dance record labels could get away with calling a compilation of theirs "a history of dance music," but Deconstruction served up many of the most titanic tracks of arguably the most explosive era of dance music, 1987-1998.

This double DC compilation offers full, extended versions of many of the highlights from the label's history. The liner notes ought to have included more information on the tracks (for example, I would like to know where this superior version of the slinky "Sly One" came from, as it's not featured on the original 12"--in fact most of the mixes are not named). Release dates would have been nice for the historian as well. But you'd be hard pressed to find this much fun packed into any other dance music history lesson. Love the trainers, too.

Videosex - Arhiv - 03-Apr-07 11:14 AM
Their friends (and fellow Slovenians) Laibach achieved greater fame, but Videosex's music has aged far, far better (much of it could be released as new material today without anyone batting an eye). The group went through four distinct phases during the 1980's: new wave, caberet (or possibly a parody of cabaret), techno/industrial, and electronic lounge. In all cases, the musicianship and songwriting is fabulous, but it is Anja Rupel's superb vocals that bring the most to the table, whether she's tackling the tragic tones of "Badem" or the hilarity of "Snip Snap" (the latter being a song sung jauntily in English about the unimaginably awful consequences of sucking one's thumb). Ask a Slovenian about Videosex and the early new wave hit "Moja Mama" will likely be the first tune that he mentions, but as an American I found "Balkan Federation" to be the highlight on an album packed with highlights. Thumping beats, electro noodlings, and a delightful playground chant about how "Greece is white and Russia's red," among other seemingly random things, make this quite possibly the greatest party song you never heard. I cannot recommend this CD more.

Hi-Q (3) - Da Muzica Mai Tare !!! - 03-Apr-07 11:14 AM
Hi-Q have dominated the Romanian pop charts for several years. The singles from the album Da muzica mai tare were the first tracks I heard from the group, as they were Romanian radio staples in early 2001.

The group has a prodigious talent for assembling hooks, and the tracks on this CD find them in particularly fine form. Mightiest of these is album opener "Cat te iubeam," with its jackhammer drum and bass rhythms in combination with sweeping synth chords and Dana's soaring vocals. It's an admirably experimental combination of elements, and it triumphs. Next strongest is the spooky "Mi-e tare dor," a thumping tune that probably drew inspiration from ATC's "Around the World" (note the use of bells in the beginning, which turned up in a lot of songs after "Around the World" became a smash hit). An odd aside; the DJ Raut Club Rmx of "E vara mea" samples its melody directly from JX's "Son of a Gun."

CD contains bonus music videos, including a fun one for "Cat te iubeam" as well as a clip for an earlier pop hit, the jolly "Totul va fi bine."

Girl Thing - Last One Standing - 03-Apr-07 06:24 AM
Pop/American Idol judge Simon Cowell managed them and they got first crack at Hear'Say's massive Betty Boo co-authored hit "Pure & Simple." However, it is clear that Girl Thing is destined to be forgotten in the history pop. "Last One Standing" sounds exactly like a cross between the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" and Carl Douglas's "Kung Fu Fighting." "Extraordinary Love" is an instantly forgettable B-side. CD single also contains a music video for "Last One Standing" wherein the girls crash a wedding and (predictably) take it upon themselves to educate everyone in the cathedral on the art of getting funky. The teenaged girls in the group got a hard lesson in the brutality of the music industry when, after their second single tanked, their full-length album was never released in their native Britain. That's the breaks, kids.

Daphne And Celeste - Ooh Stick You - 03-Apr-07 06:24 AM
Too facetious for the teen crowd (what young female listener wants to repeatedly be called "ugly"?), yet too poppy to find an audience with the more "serious" music fans, Daphne & Celeste existed in a sort of netherworld during their all-too-short career. "Ooh Stick You" was their first single; lyrics consist of a series of playground insults (much like their [relatively] popular follow-up "U.G.L.Y."). The Mint Royale Vocal Dub mix is a crazy, big-beatish treatment with a spectacular brass section, and alone is well worth the price of the single--but only if you're the sort of music fan who inhabits that aforementioned neverworld.

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