At the Controls

"James Holden At The Controls is a breath of fresh air in a market saturated by mix CDs. Both discs are equally imaginative and sound like nothing else I have ever heard (and I listen to a lot of music). Holdens tastes have changed from his forray into progressive trance and the Border Community boss serves up downtempo grooves, wierd glitchy electronica and techno with beautifully programmed mixing and effects. He takes less obvious classics from Plastikman and Aphex Twin and adds them to an overwhelming wall of fuzzy sound and harmony. CD1 is slightly more downtempo and could even be a very original electronic take on the traditional Ibiza sunset grooves one would hear at Mambo or Cafe Del Mar. The essence is the same, blissed out grooves and melody. CD2 is slightly more dancefloor orientated with 4/4 beats, funk and uplifting synths. This is an excellent achievement which has made me feel like buying his Balance mix from a few years ago. "

Track List:
Disc: 1
1. Wooden - Apparat
2. Cor Ten - Plastikman
3. Trinity Dub (Three) - Massive Attack & The Mad Professor
4. Angle Blues - Wax, Kate
5. Anita Berber - Death In Vegas
6. Some Polyphony - Petter
7. Metro Pop - Vox Sala
8. Hotter Now - Issakidis
9. Lump - Holden (1)
10. Trace Function - Midimiliz
11. Watussi - Harmonia (2)
12. 10101 - Holden, James
13. Medean - Skugge & Stavostrand
14. Charlie's House - Fake, Nathan
15. Angels On Your Body - Lucky Pierre
16. Perlandine Friday - Christ.
17. Rivers Of Sand - Fennesz

Disc: 2
1. Opening Titles - Meta.83
2. Gebrunn Gebrunn - Kalkbrenner, Paul
3. 1939 - Motiivi:Tuntematon
4. Solemn Thirsty - Middleton, Malcolm
5. Xtal - Aphex Twin
6. Sun Spots - Milky Globe & Holden
7. Aufm Klo - Kalabrese
8. Big City - Lazy Fat People
9. Lottotron Reboot - Water Lily
10. Cold War - Trans Am (2)
11. Poppy Seed - Slag Boom Van Loon
12. Live At Sirius Prime - Egoexpress
13. Nazi Trance Fuck Off - Black Strobe
14. Cor Ten - Plastikman
15. Every Day - AFX

Quem junta Malcolm Middleton, Apparat e Aphex Twin num mix merece o céu. Quem consegue transformar, ligar e fazer soar de forma trancendental todos estes sons, provavelmente, não quer chegar a toda a gente porque, provavelmente também, nem toda a gente compreende. Lançando os seus próprios gostos para o mercado só seria de se esperar uma obra elitista.Aqui está presente tudo, tudo o que nos faz viajar por sitios musicalmente e mentalmente longinquos, sempre sem perder uma linha, um objectivo, um sabe bem e não conseguir parar. Na continuação dessa linha musical, e com as mãos de Holden, poder-se-ia viajar pela sua musica indefinidamente. É questão de se esperar pelo próximo.
Para quem ainda não ouviu, na tracklist estão algumas samples.

Agora palavras do proprio Holden:
"The idea was just to make a compilation that I'd think is good. Mostly I hate DJ mixes, so that's the main thing that influenced this - trying to justify my 2 CDs with a load of music that I really love. Through Resist we've been able to get permission to use some tracks I never dreamt I'd be able to get, so it's turned out being a cross section of music that I'm really happy with. Lots of it comes from the little family of friends around Border Community, recommendations from my hairdresser!, and of course the depths of my iTunes folder - things I've been listening to for 10 years wanting to put on a mix CD."