Search - Phil Asher :: Pa02

This Sequel's Almost as Sweet

bordersj2 | Boston | 02/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Phil Asher's a DJ that's been around for quite a while. Whether it be pumping out some sweet remixes under "Restless Soul" or putting together the "Jazz In the House" series, he's always busy putting out good music or making sure that people can hear some underground or often overlooked tracks. Master of the Broken beat is an understatement - not only can he produce some killer deep house or broken beat cuts, he can seamlessly mix tunes in and out of one another. He really is a DJ's DJ.



This is the second of Phil Asher's Trust the DJ releases and I think it measures up to the first one. The CD starts out with a Seiji (BITA) track followed up by a sensational track by Far Out's "Nature's Plan" with "Smile". What a song, great instrumental - why haven't they released their own album? Mark Force, another BITA member comes in with "40 Days, 40 Nights" and that's followed up terrifically by Rich Medina's "Minstrel Speak" remixed. Rich Medina's got a cool voice; perfect for a spoken word house cut and he was equally impressive on Yukihiro Fukutomi's "Equality". Another song that stood out was Mustang feat Vanessa Freeman on vocals with "Give a Little Love"... what a beat. The song just grows on you with it's intricate broken beat. You've also got some good soul and jazz from Blaze and creative tracks from Modaji to Restless Soul's own entry.



I could go on and on with this one but I really dug the album. The only song that I didn't care so much for was "3Dom", which is a bit ironic because I loved Seiji's cut on the first PA TTDJ release. One of the things I love about this - as Phil Asher wrote in the notes - is that he didn't use any effects or real tricks - just a basic mixer and a couple of turntables. It's true, he is the 'DJ's DJ' and he proves you don't have to load an album with gimmicks, just focus on the tunes. If you dig this, you'll probably like his "Jazz In the House" cd, some of his Chilifunk comps, version 1 of his TTDJ, Mark De Clive-Lowe's "Tide's Arising", work by 4-Hero and Bugz In the Attic artists and of course a few of the other Trust the DJ releases by Patrick Forge and the others. In otherwords... just look at the limited degree of separation with the artists."