- Just look at that album cover. Luke Chable and Danny Bonnici, cool as cucumbers what with their shades and gangsta lean, looking down at you all condescending-like. It’s as if they were thinking, “You thought ‘Ride’, our hit collabo from a few years back, was dope? Well, check this out.”
And then they dive into some been-there-heard-that, boring electrohouse. The end. That about sums up Chable and Bonnici’s mix “Hiddenform 001”, the first compilation on Dimitri Frost's new label of the same name. The point of the series appears to be showcasing tracks from little-known producers alongside bigger names, with a few from the duo thrown in for good measure. The mix starts with a track in the first category, freshly-signed Hiddenformer Daniel Taylor’s ‘5 Ur Ears’. It’s a terrible choice for two reasons: one, that it’s track one; and two, that it’s supposed to represent the new label’s sound. ‘5 Ur Ears’ is just a wheezy slog from start to finish, made all the worse because the grating synth stabs and low-frequency bass drops try so desperately to sound “playful” and “danceable”.
Fellow upstarts John Morgan & Kevin Shui don’t fare much better with the second track ‘Acid Brownies’, but things start to pick up when the Martinez remix of Each’s ‘Broken Bitch’ drops – a tight, squelchy production with samples from a cautionary tale of crack addiction to make it all the sleazier. Zen Kei’s ‘The Blast (Gregor Tresher Remix)’ is a 'Hiddenform' highlight, taking the relentless 4/4 down a dark alley of twisted synths, but Robert Babicz’s ‘Mister Head’ is easily the comp’s best track, heavily layered but with a heart of gold, and a short-but-sweet breaks build-up to boot.
Lifelike & Chris Menace’s neon skyline comedown ‘Discopolis’ is a solid track, but would’ve worked infinitely better as the ‘Hiddenform’ closeout rather than being sandwiched in the middle. Instead, wrap-up duty is left to Chable and Bonnici. First up is Danny’s ‘Break Da House’, which – you guessed it! – combines the man’s well-documented love for both breaks and house. It has a very cool hybrid sound of the two genres: a stuttering, devastating bass line over a 4/4 rhythm that suddenly, if not unexpectedly, breaks into breaks about halfway through. Chable’s contribution is far below Danny’s, as his assembly-line electrohouse production is about as half-assed as the track’s title, ‘Swedish Meatballs (I Don’t Know)’.
'Hiddenform 001' might be okay if experienced live; it’s well mixed the whole way through, and the bass in particular shines on almost every track. But you’ll need a few drinks if you intend to go start-to-finish in your living room, as more often than not Chable and Bonnici’s effort is, simply put, boring; just another cruel beating of the electrohouse horse. Even if the mix does showcase fresh producers and exclusive tracks, it doesn’t help that everything still sounds so “samey”. These guys should head back to the drawing board and make ‘Ride 2’, because that track really was dope.