steve lawler - lights out 3
anyone who digs around ireallylovemusic will probably realise that i don't have too much time for basic 4/4 dance mixes, nor do i find myself on the dancefloor that often now that my locality is somewhat remote. so, when this 2 cd set (3 if your fast off the mark for the limited edition!) dropped through the proverbial slot i didn't expect it to do much to my play list. how wrong was ! this is a set of predominantly unknown tracks that steve has sourced from everywhere but record shops, in other words, exclusives (i wonder just how many of theses tracks are actually steve under an alias?), and internet music features large and proud throughout the 30 or so tracks. things start out relatively lowkey lulling the listener into a false sense of security with all manner of minimal electro noises and suchlike, so when we get around to the third track and the bass really kicks in, the pressure intensified, the future disco funk really starts the party action. the music across both cds consists of a mixture of pumped dirty electro house, classic styled acid house, all mixed with an ounce or two of the current electroclashpunkdance attitude that is causing certain areas of cities to throb, all of which is wrapped up with atmospheres that are generally a lot darker than your average set of machine driven beats. despite the length of the mix, things rarely veer into the realm of cheesy trance, thankfully.
on the headphones this album has some seriously fat sounds that rattle your eardrums to pleasurable motions, for example, the massive synth noise in 'daily disco' just reverbs around and urges you to track down a 20k soundsystem for your living room and threaten your neighbours way of life, when this crosses over into the deep down and downright dirty minimal 808 drum beat techno of 'lets go' then i suspect a cheshire cat grim will spread across your face with total ease. the cutup vocals just add to the layered noise. then there is the deep repetition of the acid tinged 'abc' with the instructional cold robotic vocals adding more icy cool factor than possible in 6.5 minutes. there's no real point in going through the tracks individually, other than to say this is a storming couple of hours with an excellent range in styles if you like your dance music with a touch of the dark side.
the mix is in your face, with the upfront tempo and energetic dynamics being played around so that just as you are chilling to a nice groove steve raises the temperature and gets the nervous system realigned to the sonic action by forcing in some wild science fiction bass synth action, years of him watching the crowds has obviously paid off.
oh, and a word of warning, this is a mix that will make you drive your car a lot faster than the law allows if you have this rattling your car stereo system. so please be more careful than me ..
track listing :
DISC 1:
1. Lights Out Intro 1
2. Wait - (with Ben Wijay)
3. Attack Mars - (with Nick K)
4. Friday - (Trentemoller remix, with Fred Everything/20 For 7, featuring
Vanessa Baker)
5. Hit - (with J&S Project)
6. Deniy - (with Swain & Snell)
7. Moltobeat - (with Neverdogs)
8. Out Of Bass - (with Livio & Roby)
9. Pres - (with Daniele Tinio)
10. Drop That Bomb - (with Rise & Peace)
11. Happy Days Don't Stop - (Fedo Range mix, with F.E.D.O.)
12. Bitter Sweet - (Livio & Roby mix, with Wawa Flamenco)
13. Conjur - (Steve Lawler's mix, with The Skeleton Key)
14. Moogment - (Sr2, with Alex McCulloch)
DISC 2:
1. Lights Out Intro 2
2. Like This - (with Matthias Heilbronn)
3. Creaky Thoughts - (original mix, with Anja Schneider)
4. Daily Disco - (original mix, with Lutzenkirchen)
5. Let's Go - (with Mono)
6. Obsessive Sound - (with Alex Dolby)
7. ABC - (with Drax N Gooding)
8. I Don't Know - (with Suicide Sports Club)
9. Hugs & Kisses - (with Chriss Source)
10. Metro Kiev V's Pushin' Too Hard - (with Blendbrank)
11. Measures - (Ricky Ryan Edit, with Foreign)
12. Pushin' Too Hard - (Ricky Ryan Edit, with Saint & Sinners)
13. What Is This - (with Swain & Paris)
14. Feel The Vibe - (Seamus Haji Exclusive Lights Out, with Axwell)
15.Rhythmique - (Deepgroove's Lights Out Edit, with Stu Hirst)