Efdemin: Carry On—Pretend We Are Not In The Room
Curle

Following on the heels of Phillip Sollmann's Efdemin full-length debut on Dial in 2007 comes his debut mix-CD Carry On—Pretend We're Not In The Room for Curle. To his credit, Sollmann opts to include a number of relatively obscure tracks rather than familiar “hits.” A blend of deep and classic house and Berlin and Detroit techno, the mix's focus is pulsation first and foremost with every one of its fourteen tracks geared towards maintaining the charging groove Sollmann stokes for a full seventy-four minutes.

Skip The Showroom Recording Series' opening “Watcha Waiting For?” (whose breakbeat funk-bossa nova fusion would be a whole more than tolerable if the cut's annoying voiceover were deleted) and proceed directly to Patrice Scott's “Deep Again” which pairs a dramatic string-laden motif with urgent piano chords before ceding the stage to the snappy house swing of Craig Alexander's “Soul Revival.” Alexander's gravel-voiced proselytizing (“Prepare yourself / ‘cos there is a soul revival goin' on / I got my ticket and I hope you got yours…”) paves the way for Tony Foster's equally stoked “It Is All Around Us” and Scott Grooves' even mightier house banger “Only 500” where ricocheting beats rage so feverishly they seem downright rabid. Tobias. and Minilogue keep the fire going with the slinky techno minimalism of “Second To None” and deep locomotion of the tribal raver “Doiicie (A)” respectively. Beat sculptor Surgeon works his precision-tooled magic on the slippery rumble and squiggle of “Floorshow (1.2),” after which Efdemin inserts his own tripped-out exclusive “ America ” and Pigon's even trippier “Kamm” before ending the mix on an inspired note with Photek's “T'Raenon,” a classic whose sleek elegance provides Sollmann's mix with the perfect leave-taking. If you like your mixes groove-based, Carry On—Pretend We're Not In The Room is for you. Just remember to start it at track two.

January 2009