Pole Folder: Destinations
friskyRecords
Destinations isn't the sequel to Pole Folder's debut artist album Zero Gold (Bedrock) but rather a seventy-eight mix disc that takes its title from the popular radio show of the same name. Being friskyRadio's resident DJ makes Benoit Franquet (aka Pole Folder) the natural choice to inaugurate the friskyRecords venture and he does so with a representative overview of the “global progressive house scene.” True to the genre form, grooves flow smoothly throughout without hitting too hard and are typically embedded within multi-layered, synth-heavy atmospheres. Peaks and valleys are subtly woven into the overall flow with dramatic extremes kept to a minimum, and female voices occasionally punctuate the mix with soulful interjections (or get sliced into hiccupping chirps as happens in Arc's charging “Limin”).
Highlights include the epic synth theme that careens through Simon S's “This or That,” the rousing funk-house swing of Superdub's remix of Leon Bolier's “Further Instructions,” and the silky vocal Astrid Suryanto contributes to DJ Yellow's “To the Top.” Moments of wobbly swing (Deep Mariano vs. CPM's “Plattenbau”) and chugging techno-funk (Francesco de Santis's “Fuck'n'Roll”) also make strong impressions, as does Spektre's charging “Myst.” All told, it's a perfectly decent outing and definitely polished in assembly and execution but, in truth, Destinations still ends up sounding like a rather generic mix that could use a few more distinctive moments to help it stand out from the omnipresent crowd of mixes constantly competing for the listener's attention.May 2008