Amsterdam based DJ Flow and DJ Ingy play together as DJs and as a liveact (using real instruments as well as hardware and laptop) called Flowing. Together they run Flowing Productions, the company behind the Club Krang parties in Amsterdam.
From October 22 to 25 our capitol is the stage for its annual Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) again. Beatfreax has created the ultimate online guide to keep you up to speed with the coolest parties and venues during the event.
Tijdens de heerlijke avond eind mei in de Utrechtse Poema waar Chris een set draaide van maar liefst zes uur lang (ondanks enorme kiespijn en onder de pijnstillers) werd wel duidelijk dat Liebing en Tomorrow elkaar goed liggen.
The newest release on Plus8 is a compilation cd, which is going to be made available on double vinyl as well, of old released and unreleased tracks on cabinet records, a German house label. The compilation holds 24 tracks of the following artists: Compass, Cab Drivers, Todd Bodine, DJ Trike, Daniel P, Horseshoe, Karo Zwo en Ons Projects.
Once you start browsing through the tracks you will hear pretty quickly why this release is about old school house / tech / acidish sounds, it could remind you of the mid 90s / end 90s sounds. This fact makes cabinet classics one for the admirer of this style, since this sound does differ significantly from today’s techno and minimal, that seems a little more sophisticated and less loop oriented. The typical 90s claps and hats and especially the loop oriented structures, proof that this music is a little older then some of us might be used to. This obviously doesn’t necessarily mean the compilation is not a good one though. There are some tracks that are quite good, take for example the Compass – “Rainy Day” track. A superb aggressive bass sound determines the quality of this track with moments where it fades away and comes back to hit you right were you like it. Really catchy one! Another very good (acid) track would be the one DJ Trike made, called “Acid Dream”. The build up starts nice and slow and de acid loop comes to the foreground more and more. Half way the track, some percussion joins in and the theme becomes unbreakable. Great work! The other one he made, “Turbulence” is a little boring compared to “Acid Dream”. Then on to Cab Drivers, that are well represented on the compilation, with 6 tracks. One would have been enough though, since the tracks just aren’t that special. They all seem a little dreamy so not really dance floor compatible music. “Steam” by Cab Drivers rocks most, it could remind the listener of a dark Detroit techno party were the track would be played and mixed by Jeff Mills for example. Then there’s Horseshoe, represented with 4 tracks. These tracks seem a little more down tempo, with minimal influences, but again nothing special. It simply doesn’t affect you, there’s nothing to hang on to, nothing to let you get carried away by. This basically also goes for the remaining tracks. They’re kind of dreamy and this results in a lack of energy and funkiness. Moreover, the tracks have a very loop based build up. The percussion for example, once the hats come in, they won’t leave nomore and stay the same the whole track, like there is no creativity left for variance.
Cabinet Classics & Unreleased is probably a compilation for the “old-techno sound lover.” For the people who love this style, this would mean a gift from heaven. For the ones that are more into today’s music business, this compilation won’t offer much innovativeness. Sure, there are a couple of nice tracks, but there are 24 in the whole compilation that simply aren’t that special.
