Released
October 2004 - Moving Shadow
- After a year's hiatus, Moving Shadow's budget-priced mix series returns for 2004, again mixed by label owner Rob Playford under his Timecode guise. For those who unfamiliar with their naming convention it simply reads as the last two digits of the year followed by a decimal point followed by an edition number in the order it was released in the year - making it clear that 04.1 is the first installment for 2004. The series itself has put out some memorable releases including the 10 year anniversary edition 00.1 which featured the label's greatest hits from the previous ten years and also 02.1 which included an interactive CD-ROM component. This time however, 04.1 features no gadgets, it's just a straight-up label focused mix series featuring the latest offerings from the label.
From the offset, the mix takes on the deep, techy instrumental rollers beginning with Calyx's Mirror Image - highly percussive breaks, sinister basslines and ominous moods. EZ-Rollers vocalist MC Jakes provides the first vocal offering on the CD dropping rhymes on Technical Itch's The Risin featured on the CD as the Subwave mix.
Muffler send the mix into trancier realms with their genre hopping, trance-infused diva-led Falling. A trance-like synth hook melds with a dark bassline while a female vocalist brings out the feelgood vibes. Calyx's Killa turns up the aggression dropping a growling bassline, cut up gangsta rap vocal samples and syncopation galore.
Dom & Roland send the mix into far darker territories with Moulin Rouge. Harder, aggressive basslines featuring lots of bass drops accompany hard rolling breaks to the underworld. Finally the mix comes to an end with the Hive remix of Dom & Roland's Parasite & Adrenalin named on the CD as Paradenasite, which drops a mirky, cinematic keyboard riff with menacing bass and raggaman chants.
For what it's worth, 04.1 offers up a mix of dark, twisted drum'n'bass beats for which the Moving Shadow name has become synonymous with. Perhaps a little too dark in my opinion and in many ways a little monotonous - it's a slow building progressive mix of deep techy rollers that, even though builds toward the dark side at the end, feels like it never really went anywhere. Still what more can one ask from a budget priced compilation?