Layo & Bushwacka! - GU33: Rio

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  • Best known as producers (remember chart-topper ‘Love Story’?) or as residents at London club The End, UK duo Layo & Bushwacka! are perhaps a surprising choice for Global Underground’s longstanding DJ mix series. It’s been four years since their previous mix CD All Night Long, which did mix the old with the new, but GU33: Rio stretches the concept to breaking point: disc one focuses exclusively on house classics while disc two compiles hot new(ish) tracks. The result, predictably, is two very different outcomes. Retro chic is not something that Global Underground is best known for, but on disc one few artists from the golden age are left unchecked - Junior Vasquez, Marshall Jefferson, Danny Tenaglia, Francois K, Cajmere – all mashed-up in a rapid-fire NYC mixing style that screams early nineties. The problem with the mix is not the programming or the mixing, both of which are top notch, but its relevance in this context: this is the first GU mix to be retrospective, and series fans expecting the best in current progressive are likely to be nonplussed. Meanwhile the target audience for a mix like this, hardcore househeads, are not exactly GU followers. Disc two focuses strictly on the latest developments in house music so it is no shock to find the big names in minimal well represented. Despite being surefooted and catchy, unfortunately there are not enough surprises in the track selection. Well-worn hits such as Larry Heard’s ‘The Sun Can’t Compare’, Samim’s remix of ‘Hay Consuelo’ and Richie Hawtin’s ‘Spastik’ get another rinsing, making this disc, in its own way, as familiar as disc one. Some great cuts from Hug, Tiga and Adam Beyer contribute a nice crunchy techno bite but there is a nagging feeling that this mix has all been done before. Layo & Bushwacka! have tried to bring a fresh approach to the Global Underground series, and there are places which work well on both mixes, but overall you can’t escape the feeling that this is inappropriate stuff for GU. Maybe with the dearth of decent prog out there in 2007, they’ve run out of suitable candidates?
  • Tracklist
      CD1 01 Ellis D - Took My Love Away 02 The Daou - Surrender Yourself (Ballroom Mix) 03 Marshall Jefferson - Open Our Eyes 04 LB Bad - Touch Me! Touch Me!! 05 Kym Mazelle - Taste My Love 06 N.Y. House'n Authority - APT.1A 07 Blunted Dummies - House For All 08 Da Rebels - House Nation Under A Grove 09 Sheila - Acid Kiss 10 Lil Louis & The World – I Called U (Why’d U Fall) 11 Liaisons D – Future FJP 12 Master C & J Feat. Liz Torres - Can’t Get Enough 13 Pierres Phantasy Club – Dream Girl 14 Francois K - Hypnodelic 15 Eddie Flashin Fowlkes - Move Me 16 Sine - I Like It Deep (Soozee Kreemcheeze Mix) 17 Jaya – One Kiss 18 KC Flightt - Planet E (House Mix) 19 Fingers Inc – Never No More Lonely 20 Metro Area - Proton Candy 21 Fallout - The Morning After 22 How II House – Time To Feel The Rhythm 23 Cajmere Feat. Dajae – Brighter Days 24 Kenny Larkin – We Shall Overcome (Richie Rich Hawtin Remix) 25 Soul Boy – Harmonica Track 26 UBQ Project Feat Kathy Summers – When I Fell N Love CD2 01 Phonique - Bang 02 Hug – Fluteorgie 03 Tiga - 3 Weeks (Troy Pierce’s Move Until You Leave Mix) 04 Pier Bucci - Hay Consuelo (Samim Remix) 05 Guy Gerber - Belly Dancing 06 Stefan Goldmann - Aurora 07 Paul Ritch - Samba 08 Richie Hawtin - Spastik 09 Adam Beyer - A Walking Contradiction 10 Bushwacka! - Long Distance 11 Jesus Loves You – After The Love/Layo And Bushwacka! - Ashes Remain 12 Henrik Schwarz - Walk Music 13 Patrick Chardronnet - Ledge 14 Layo and Bushwacka! - Tabloid 15 Martin Buttrich – What’s Your Name? 16 Larry Heard Presents Mr. White - The Sun Can’t Compare (Long Version) 17 Riley Reinhold - Lights In My Eyes 18 Layo and Bushwacka! – Saudade Remix
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