Full of pulsating bass lines and catchy melodies, disc one of TheTherapy Sessions mixed by Dave Seaman is a CD that will appeal to thosewho like pounding peak-time progressive dance music. Energy levels arekept high from the outset as the mix traverses through breaks, tech andtribal house to full on progressive mayhem, all of which keeps a strongfocus upon the dance floor.
I personally found this CD to be to be atouch full on. Because the mix begins so energetically, little space isleft to take you somewhere further towards the end of the set. I like tosee mixes take their time to subtly build energy levels until an explosiveclimax can be unleashed at the right moment. With programming that Ifound a little confusing, I found this CD to be simply a collection of bigtunes and not really a Ëœjourneyâ„¢ that I think mix CDs should be. There are some tracks that are weaker than others, but there are howeversome truly brilliant records that make this CD still an enjoyablelistening experience. The two major highlights for me come fromAustralian producer, Luke Chable. His track Melburn is one of the besttracks of the year so far and I love his Holden-esque remix of Powerplants Blame.
Continuing on the Australian theme we move to Disc Twomixed by Aussie breakbeat DJ, Phil K. The mix starts superbly with someincredible Sasha-like tracks consisting of subtle broken beats andbeautiful floating melodies. I personally thought that the mix lost itsway a little however in the second half in a move towards some lessmelodic, driving breakbeat records. I found several of the tracks to berather monotonous and felt that they didnt really fit in the mix in asection which should have been raising the energy levels. Fortunately thequality comes back at the end with the haunting Take me to the Soundâ y Dark Globe. Creative use of a Derrick Carter acappella and someeffects makes this a good CD and is my favourite of the two.
Overall I think this is another good release from Renaissance and I thinkthis is yet again an accurate representation of the fresh, exciting newmusic being offered by the progressive scene at this point in time. Importantly The Therapy Sessions highlights the superb talent thatis coming out of Australia at the moment, both on the production front andthrough the skills of Djs such as Phil K. I dont rate this CD ashighly as other recent Renaissance releases such as the brilliant verybody by Sander Kleinenburg but it is still a thoroughlyinteresting and enjoyable collection of forward thinking dance music.
Track Listings
Disc: 1
1. Habersham – Transparent Sound
2. Luke Chable – Melburn
3. Jeff Bennet – Swapping
4. Sterio & McGrath – Hostile Ground
5. Powerplant – Blame (Luke Chable Remix)
6. Cass – Giant (Cass’ Four Four Two Mix)
7. Infusion – Girls Can Be Cruel (Infusion sQ’ed Mix)
8. Paul Jackson & Steve Smith – The Push
9. Ernest St. Laurent – Do Ya Dub
10. Redanka – In A State (fUcKed Vocal Mix)
11. Stel & Good Newz – Particle
Disc: 2
1. Polanski - Film Song # 1
2. Vance Musgrove - Music In The 24th & a half Century
3. Slow Talking – DJ Jacques, Uber and Fosch
4. The PQM Project & Phil K - They Just Won't Let Me Be
5. Nubreed - One Day (Phil K's DJ re-edit)
6. The Operators – Furball
7. Habersham - Follow The White Rabbit
8. The Disciple Grin - Odditease (Transformer Man's Blueberry Muffin Recipe)
9. Andy Page - Mr. Rush
10. Born Too Slow - The Crystal Method (Nubreed remix)
11. Dark Globe - Take Me To The Sound
but I might give it a
