Deetron - Balance 20

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  • There's a debate to be had about vinyl vs. digital DJing, but Swiss jock Deetron isn't interested in having it. Balance 20 sees him devote a single mix CD to each type, and in the process he proves that DJing doesn't have anything to do with how you're doing it. It's what you do with what you have. Few DJs would have the facility to pull this off with quite as much finesse. Deetron is helped along by years spent producing tracks (there are some neat edits and production done after the fact in Cubase and Wavelab on the first disc) as well as mixing in clubs on three turntables (at certain moments, Deetron's expert analogue version might fool you into believing it's the digital). Most interesting, though, is how similar they both sound. That's partly because of Deetron's taste of course. Vocals appear early and often with The Unabombers' remix of Shit Robot's "Losing My Patience" and Ame's remix of Osunlade's "Envison" providing particular highlights. But it's also again a testament to skill: There is a lot of melody spread around these two discs, but it rarely feels overcooked. Promise me Todd Terje's "Bonysh" and "Ragysh," Caribou's remix of Virgo Four and Dave Aju's take on Nicolas Jaar's "Space Is Only Noise..." in the course of an hour, and I'd wonder how much space you left anything else to breathe. On the digital mix, it feels so much like a natural progression that, by the end, when he throws in ten minutes of dub and unstable synth pop, it feels like anything is possible. The analogue mix takes up where the digital left off, starting in dub territory but quickly ramping up to a sturdier beat (aided by Deetron's own brilliant DJ tool, "Threee"). The mixes throughout are almost more thrilling than in the digital: Ripperton's "Swept Illusions" blends seamlessly key-wise into the aforementioned Ame remix of Osunlade's "Envison." Romanthony's voice cuts through the B-side on Shed's WAX 30003 like hot butter. Late in the game, Cosmin TRG adds a third layer of dizzying rotating synths to the mesmerizing Johanna Knutsson/Surgeon mix. It's already impressive to be mixing drum tracks on a third turntable, but Deetron is constantly playing stuff with complex melodies and pulling it off without a slip-up. He DJs the same way no matter what the tools at hand: Really fast and really well.
  • Tracklist
      CD 1: Digital 01. Autechre - Nine 02. Reno Wurzbacher - Julischkaa / Model 500 - Infoworld (Loop) 03. Julio Bashmore - Craboon 04. Shit Robot - Losing My Patience (Unabombers remix) 05. Todd Terje - Bonysh 06. BNJM - Blocks 07. DJ Koze - The Geklöppel Continues 08. Ricardo Villalobos - What's Wrong My Friends + Wishmountain - Video 09. Move D - Your Personal Healer 10. Todd Terje - Ragysh 11. System 7 - Positive Noise (Carl Craig Remix) 12. Resonance - Yellow Train 13. Burial/Four Tet/Thom Yorke - Ego 14. Maceo Plex - You & Me 15. Lawrence - Above The Sky 16. Virgo Four - It's A Crime (Caribou Remix) 17. Mr. Beatnick - Synthetes 18. Cavalier - Kaimanawa 19. Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise if You Can See (Dave Aju Remix) 20. Throbbing Gristle - Hot On The Heels Of Love (Ratcliffe Remix) 21. Avus - Reality Itself 22. LV and Message To Bears Feat. Zaki Ibrahim - Explode 23. Model 500 - Infoworld (Loop) 24. Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Pioneer IOO 25. Andy Stott - Tell Me Anything 26. Savage Progress - Heart Begin to Beat CD 2: Analogue 01. I:Cube - Un Dimanche Sans Fin 02. Substance - Relish (Shed Version) 03. Roots Panorama - Threee (Deetron Beats) 04. Ripperton - Swept Illusions - Caravan 05. Osunlade - Envision (Ame Remix) 06. Mampo Village - Descending of the Supernatural 07. Deetron - Croque 08. Super Flu - Hallo Halle 09. Sneaker - You Think You Think 10. Mathew Jonson - Learning To Fly (Dub) 11. Wbeeza - A116 12. Reggie Dokes - Haiti 13. WAX 30003 (B) 14. Romanthony - Bring U Up (Deetron edit) 15. Mike Dehnert - Umlaut 2 16. Four Tet - Pinnacles 17. Redshape - Son of A 18. Simon Garcia - Tears In Vain 19. Johanna Knutsson - Heavy Baby (Minilogue's cut for a cut) 20. Surgeon - The Crawling Frog is Torn and Smiles 21. Cosmin TRG - Fizic 22. Radio Slave - Let It Rain (Deetron edit) 23. Deetron - Starblazer 24. Lone - Coreshine Voodoo 25. Rhythm Is Rhythm - Kaos 26. Ronny & Renzo - Heartbreak Theme (C2 Cinema Remix) 27. Deetron - Collide
RA