- Doppler Shift is the latest compilation release from Australia's Clan Analogue collective, and it has been quite a while since the crew have actually put out a compilation release, with memorable releases such as Twenty Disco Greats and Solid Gold boosting the crew's profile both on the local and international level. For those who are unfamiliar with Clan Analogue, the collective includes (past and present) artists the likes of B(if)tek, Itch-e and Scratch-e (which includes Paul Mac), General Electrik, Meem, Disco Stu and Telemetry Orchestra to name just a tiny percentage! Ever since their Twenty Disco Greats release, Clan Analogue compilations have an underlying theme whether it be 70/80s style disco, cheesy 80s pop and electro. Doppler Shift: Electro Selections is a compilation highlighting the Clan's electro side.
Luke Collision provides the opening tune Waiting For You providing a laidback start to kick the proceedings off. Luke Collision is also known as Dsico who's known for his twisted and tweaked out bootlegs of commerical radio tunes, taking the original tune and shoving it through a cheese grater, creating machine gun style edits and warped out vocal stabs. On Waiting For You, he puts that aside and replaces it with ballad-like vocodered vocals and a mellow synth hook.
General Electrik serves up some 80s electro flavour on What We're Doin' which pays homage to flashy and fluorescent coloured disco styles and fashions of the 80s. Pommy styled vocals during the verses are accompanied by vocodered vocals during the chorus (as always) and a catchy bassline.
A compilation of electro tunes would be incomplete without a little breakbeat and Victor X-Ray does just that on Radiation, Yes Indeed giving the beats a groovy, syncopated shuffle. Victor then lays down a whispery vocal sample and completes the rhythm with pop-influenced synths. Lunar Module continue the fascination with breakbeats on Turn The Key, this time giving the beats an 80s b-boy flavour.
Itch-e and Scratch-e turn out some minimal electro/Chicago house stylings on King Of The Moon using a quirky electro riff and arpeggio and combining both with a deep dubby bass line. Captain Spanky gives the compilation a German disco feel with Stoppst Du Nicht dropping acid like synth lines and hard hitting beats. Andy Rantzen and Ryan Spigolo pick the pace even further on Zero 7 which is not to be confused by the UK downtempo group of the same name. Zero 7 brings out some uptempo beats and plenty of quirky electro madness on top - worlds away from the group of the same name.
Electroteque's Thoughts Of Mutual Understanding brings the compilation back to a deeper ride featuring dark rumbling bass and sublime electro hooks and minimal drums before curtaining out on Kaputnik's atmospheric Charlie Don't Surf. What sounds like a drawn out ambient synth line is then thrown to the heap when furious electro hooks and manic breakbeats kick in to deliver one final blow for the dancefloor.
Doppler Shift: Electro Selections demonstrates a sounds that is primarily associated with Europe and the US can be handled by a group of underground Australian artists and still be of the same high quality that international artists are known for. Is there an Australian sound to electro? Possibly! It would most likely involve heavy Australian accents and indigenous instruments, but there's definitely a lot of variety in this release done by the artists to acknowledge a good grasp of the sound.