When I first heard Jonathan Lisle, it was through his guest mix for John Digweed’s Kiss FM show in London, and I must say that first impressions do last. The mix was quite simply stunning, so much so, that John Digweed felt it was absolutely necessary not only to keep booking Jon for his Bedrock nights in London & Brighton, but also to have him mix the 2nd installment of the Bedrock Original Series. It follows a very impressive mix by Desyn Masiello, but doesn’t follow a similar approach that Desyn took.
The mix, I must say from the outset, has an incredible amount of diversity in a one cd attempt. It starts beautifully with the ambient sounds and chilled approach of ‘Tribute to Bladerunner Vol 1’ by Cosmic Baby and then moves into a deliciously quirky Rabbit In The Moon interpretation of Depeche Mode’s ‘Waiting For The Night’. Jonathan technical ability is also demonstrated here as he uses his experimental nature to nicely mix into the drum and bass sounds of the Crowd Control Dub of ‘West 4’ by Art of Silence. The high tempo nature of the drums soon subside allowing the more gentler sounds of ‘Gently Shifting People’ featuring the retro vocals of Steve Alex. We have already featured classic artists such as RITM and Art of Silence so why not throw in ‘Vivos En Muerte’ by Hawke, which is quite simply breathtaking – a true highlight of this mix.
The mix noticeably lifts up a notch from this point as the slow broken beats of Steiger set a moody transition of the mix. PMT’s ‘Afro Lavalamp’ certainly adds to the sudden deep and darkish mood that has taken over the mix, a point emphasized by yet another production by one of the all time classic producers, Young American Primitive. This is some quality break beat right here, creating a stunning middle section to this mix. RITM get involved yet again with a gorgeous remix of ‘See The Love Infinite’ by Gavin Hardkiss, lifting the pace yet again with some superbly constructed drums and percussion as well as subtle but deep baseline.
The chunky baselines continue with Habersham & Blake Potter on remix duties of Trafik which leads into an early anthem of 2005, that being one of Matthew Dekay’s finest moments in ‘Bad’, a production blessed with a beautiful piano line and the typical trademarks of Dekay’s work. The mix well and truly enters peak time with the Hamel & Evolution 2005 reworking of Andy Ling’s classic, ‘Fixation’, a track that was a feature release on the now defunct Hooj. The mix concludes delightfully with a storming breakbeat number by Forme, and arguably one of the highlights of this very fine mix.
Now many people I feel will be put off by the fact that the first half of this mix is quite subdued, but let’s face it, the beautiful productions that make up this very unique opening half are fantastic choices. You can’t help but feel that this will help in making this mix one of those growers, a mix that seems to get better and better with each listen, because that’s exactly how I have found this to be so far. It has great depth, more so then Desyn’s mix, and again the mixing is quite impeccable, and more importantly, creative. Give this mix a chance and don’t be put off at first, because you may just miss out on one of the better mixes you will hear this year.
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