A heavy dose of dark tech house.
Doctor Trance | MA, United States | 03/01/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A whopping 35 tracks on 2 discs, and aside from the occasional electro track, it's all dark techno and minimal. If the quirky, grinding sounds of minimal techno aren't your favorite genre, do not look here, 'cause you'll be getting a heavy pounding of it. With all the crazy pings and beats in this type of music, I must admit that while driving, I sometimes can't tell if my car's falling apart or it's just the track! The aptly named Nightdrive signifies an incredible experience while playing this in the car, and I have been abusing both these discs over and over again since I got them. It's definitely not dance floor friendly music, and the tones are dark enough to scare the wits out of most elderly people, especially at night! There aren't really any true, full vocal tracks on here, with just the choppy acapellas and digitally distorted voices usually found in techno.
Out of the 35 tracks, I'd say there were only 4 that I was displeased with, and actually, they are both the starting two tracks on either disc. I just start each CD with track 3! Disc 1 is really downtempo until you get to tracks 7 & 8, and by track 9, things really heat up. The rest of the disc features some really funky but dark tech stuff, with Trentemoller's remix of Coincidance, and ends with an epic James Holden re-rub of an oddly titled Black Strobe track. Oddly, this last track is over 10 minutes, when you were lucky to find a 5 minute track in all the rest.
Disc 2 is higher energy stuff from the get go, and other than the 2 opening tracks, the entire disc is solid techno and tech house tracks. What stops this set from getting 5 stars from me is lack of monster tracks; tracks that blow up the mix and take it to the next level. While there are a few on here, nowhere near the quota I would expect from a 35 track mix. Don't get me wrong, other than the 4 tracks I mentioned, ALL songs are average to well above average. It's just that the well above average ones are fewer, and when you get to those, they only usually last 3 1/2 minutes (the average of most tracks on here), so you find yourself hitting the back skip button a lot. This mix definitely could have used longer cuts of some key tracks, even if it meant less tracks (there are certainly plenty of them anyway), and a better helping of top notch melodies.
Overall, a must buy for the tech house fan. I just wish the tracks were a bit more selective, fewer, and longer."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1