Only one comment on der BABA!!??

Well, I experienced him for the first time in 1996 @ Skanderborg Festival in Denmark. What a turning point that became. It was a revalation which instantly made me realize that since the beginning of my journey into electronic music in 1993, I had never come across genuine quality before.

His presence...Oh the presence! No-one I have seen ever since have been able to shine behind those decks as Baba. Confidence, quality track selection and this inexplainable aura. I was sold and have since travelled thousands and thousands of miles to re-witness the sensation. That man can span a time-bow without breaking a sweat. It´s not that much in the mix (though I must point out that his 30 sec to 1 minute seamless mixes are a trademark - not lack of skills!), but in the flow of the tracks. The way he´s able to find tunes that just fit like...Well you get my point.

Nowadays I have moved on from that Sven-sound to all kinds of shit, but still I had a blast seeing him again - for the first time in 4 years - in 2007. Still bringing just a single slingback of, maybe 60 vinyls. Still the magic.

I will always love you Sven! You truly are a one-of-a-kind.

Thanks for the inspiration and for the good times

WTF? OMG? LOL?

Don´t believe the hype. Nothing fresh, no excitement, nothing new to add. This is retroclash like it sounded 4 years ago. Why bother when there are so many good artists on the field.

Peaches has contributed with to good tracks - Fuck the pain and Stuff me up. There´s not a single track on this album that I would like to have for free. People who dig this must either be totally addicted to clash or buying what they write about in ***insert name on random fashion victim fanzine here***

Pfff

The reason this LP has got a straight 5/5 is without doubt the prescence of the two Alter Ego tracks. They are the peak of an era and I have never before, nor since heard anything like the recording of the whole Alter Ego HH100 Live set, which is to be found in full length on the HH100 Live 2xCD.

Now 10 years after being released "Folk Song" is still a track that I can play and get 100% dancefloor madness. It´s cool, hard, straight-to-the-point and as unique as Betty Ford - or Rocker for that sake. But just so much better. You can listen to it 200 times and still find yourself being entertained by the tons of details being thrown into the live performance. It totally smokes the studio version of Folk Song.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST!!!

The rest is just dated material, but it´s fun to check out and proves just HOW much ahead Alter Ego was from the rest back in the days. Their unique production quality and clean sound have first lately been caught up with by the rest of the worlds leading electronic producers.

Well, all the above is more or less true.

BUT!

Westbam has developed a style which, IMO is one of the most - if not THE most unique style any techno DJ has ever created. His merge of 4/4 breakbeat with electro beats and rave RULES the big room rave like nothing else. You can send in any rockaholic dummy and he/she would most likely fall into the crowd and party with the rest.

Shure, it´s commercial. Sure there´s not a visible spot free from the logos os Playtation, Motorola, VIVA etc. But at least the money buys you technique better than anywhere else. The best sound, nice light and some visuals - when you compare it to, say I Love Tehcno, there is a long way to go for those Belgium promoters, when speaking in terms of a great setup.

Also I think that Celebration Generation and the whole album Right On are absoulutely AWESOME!!! Right On sounds like NOTHING else and is really a great work of techno art. Whenever I try and push "my" music to non-electronic people and I want to give them something besides DJ-sets, this is the only non-Underworld/Basement Jaxx/Fat Boy Slim/Daft Punk album they will listen to.

PS: He really should leave some of the scratching alone, but he´s a brilliant mixer. I have heard sets (fx Münsterland dec 2003) where he creates a great flow, using loops from the battlevinyl of the Right On and does some very nifty scratching too, creating new music from scratch, right there on the decks and efx. Very convincing, I didn´t know he had that in him.

Also the Mr X & Mr Y: Nite of the Tschuldigungs (only good work by those two) is one of my top-10 vinyls of all time!!!

Westbam is someone who it is easy to dislike, but he deserves some credit for his unique approach to techno and for doing great Mayday parties up to aprox 1998.

Dancefloor devestation for those who know. Oizo seems to know everything there is to know about music to fuck your body up!

If you dig stuff like Alter Ego, The Soft Pink Truth, Cristian Vogel and other intelligent dance acts, you will probably love Mr Oizo and this new sound of his.

I´m a fan for sure.

Once agin Alter Ego proves themselves to be in a remix-league of their very own. Hard, drivin´ acid founded, but very transparent, yet high energy/agressive theme.

Amongst the best 1/4 of the many great remixes they´ve done.

So good for so long. And then suddenly, fame blinds you. What we have here, is what in danish terms is called "At sejre sig selv ihjel", meaning that your succes grows into failure.

After having released 99% perfect shit, this one draws a very short straw. The inspiration from Rocker is so obvious that it´s embarrasing and it kind of reminds me of some danish guy called DJ Alligator Project who released some similar themed "techno" tracks around the millenium shift.

Such a shame. Hope that he gets a wake up call before it´s too late. On top of being an excellent producer and a decent DJ, he´s a helluva nice guy too.

Butterfly Skull is one of the most brilliant deep techhouse tracks from that era. Heard it first time a few years ago on my walkman, when I got the tape with Darren Emmerson´s amazing Essential Mix from 1996 (misarchived by BBC as "Underworld with D. Emmerson"). It was snowing heavily, I had a fat ass joint and this track made me so happy, I just rolled over in the snow and enjoyed.

He makes the most wicked mix with The Advents earlier alias Man Made and their one great track Spacewreck. On top he puts in a few Underworld vocal specials in nice looping. Pure master mix!

One of the most underestimated techno albums of all time!! What´s up with a rating ff 3 point f***ing somthing??

The Disco In My Head, 4th floot and a few other tracks are the absolute BOMB!!! I know that Westbam has a bad rep. amongst many of those who consider themself as insiders, but he earns much greater respect for all the things he does for the scene, including Mayday, releases like "Night of the Tschuldiguns, "Hanging Out With The Machineheads", "Born to Bang" etc. etc. prove that this is a true innovator of the sound and NOT some commercial dumb-ass which too many people consider him being!!!

Best Mills record at all. Track A1 is jazz at it´s best and B2 was an extraordinary crescendence for the time being, but a bit outdated nowadays. A1 and A2 are 100% timeless classics. As said, never heard that Mills that good, closest runner-up is "Every Dog Has It´s Day 3". Fuck Kat Moda and all that lurvy goa-sounding stuff on purpose maker. The other day EP rules.