Damian Lazarus & DJ T. - Monza Club Compilation Vol.2

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  • Two things in life are a certainty in Ibiza: a bottle of water will cost you ten euros, and every club, café, bus shelter, and book store will release an annual compilation. Doing the honours this time is Monza, Thursday night hosts at Privilege, whose major claim to fame is an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest club in the world. Mix duties have fallen to Damian Lazarus from Crosstown Rebels, who injects a bit of London into disc one, and DJ T., the granddaddy of Get Physical and co-founder of the original club Monza in Frankfurt, who stands in on disc two as the obligatory Berlin (via Frankfurt) DJ. So what separates this comp from the slew of other ones on the market? Well probably not a heck of lot, save the fact (and this is a very important fact), that both selectors have impeccable taste in music and know how to put it all together. Both discs are quite heady and trippy, made up predominantly of house with a techy edge to it. Lazarus’s effort strays more into the minimal territory at times, while T’s is the deeper more mellow. Like any good annual, big tunes abound from start to finish. Efdemin, who can seem to do no wrong these days, comes out on top with two entries, the sublime 'Bergwein' making for a perfect closer. Other highlights on T’s mix include the discofied falsetto of 'Naked,' the choice use of the “You got me burning up inside” sample on 'Ombala Mbembo,' and the surprisingly cheese-free VonStroke offering 'Groundhog Day,' which is a brooding chilled number much more 'Who’s Afraid of Detroit?' in spirit than 'Whistler.' Quite frankly, both discs are choc-a-bloc full of quality tunes. On Lazarus' mix, the hypnotic narrative of 'Listen to the Drums' works a treat, and he follows it up with one of my faves of ’07 in Stefan Goldman’s remix of 'Helen Cornell,' which stands out from your standard fare with its unique story line and broken beat. Lazarus’s effort has a really twisted feel to it, full of static, swirls, and gnarly vocals, creating a sense of disorientation and otherworldliness. The latter part of the disc gets more minimal, with Szenario’s 'Pleaseasy' fast becoming a hit in this regard, while elsewhere Jamie Jones flies the flag for London quite nicely with his spooky, introspective offering 'Strangers.' I could go on, but most people are probably already familiar with the majority of the big numbers here. Suffice to say, as the blurry mess that was the Ibiza season fades into a distant memory, if you even remember it all, Monza does an admirable job of keeping the party going and reminding us of why we decided to go out clubbing in the first place.
  • Tracklist
      CD 1 mixed by Damian Lazarus 1. Nathan Fake – You Are Here (Four Tet Remix) 2. Pier Bucci – Glasgow 3. Dennis Ferrer – Son Of Raw (Loco Dice Remix) 4. Efdemin – Just A Track 5. Patrick Zigon – Mental Draining 6. Outlines – Listen To The Drums (Contains Shackleton feat. Savage Republic - Next to Nothing (acapella). 7. Marc Romboy – Helen Cornell (Stefan Goldmann Remix) 8. Jamie Jones – Strangers 9. Phonique – Bang 10. Szenario – Pleaseasy (Raudive Remix) (Contains Ambivalent – R U Ok? (acapella) 11. Danton Eeprom – One Thing Leads To Another 12. Snax – Honeymoon’s Over (Konrad Black Remix) 13. Henrik Schwarz - Walk Music 14. Trentemøller & DJ Tom – An Evening With Bobbi Bros 15. Findlay Brown – Losing The Will To Survive (Wizards Of The Sleeve Remix) CD2 mixed by DJ T. 1. Max Berlin - Elle & Moi (Joakim Remix) 2. Boundzound - Louder (Martin Buttrich Remix) 3. DJ Koze Vs. Sid Le Rock - Naked (DJ Koze Remix) 4. Martin Landsky - Let Me Dance 5. Raz Ohara - Whitmey Na 6. Einzelkind - Maferefumeco 7. Matthias Tanzmann - Procon 8. Johnny Wagner - Intercity (Daniel Stefanik Remix) 9. DJ T. - The Dawn 10. Junior Boys - Like A Child (Carl Craig Remix) 11. Mike Shannon - Ghost Writer Blues 12. Arto Mwambé - Ombala Mbembo 13. Schatrax - Mispent Years (Original) 14. Claude VonStroke and Christian Martin - Groundhog Day 15. Efdemin - Bergwein 16. Pantha du Prince - Saturn Strobe
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