Seth Troxler – Boogybytes Vol 5. | Album Review

Friday, February 19th, 2010 | Album Review

Detroit is under going a bit of a renaissance at the moment. As the once global dominant motor industry continues to crumble electronic dance music is once again becoming a prime export. Current number one export for Detroit on its third generation of techno models is Seth Troxler. He’s been making some great music over the last few years, injecting his weird and playful character into the house music genre which had become cold and processed in the years prior. Probably the most talked about thing with Troxler are his DJ sets. His hunger for the party and fun transfers directly to his sets taking crowds through musically unexpected but ultimately fun ”journeys”. His ability to read a crowd, react and then send them on an off guard curveball has seen him tear dancefloors up and win the hearts of many across the globe. So the announcement of him doing the next Boogybytes CD, a series that is known to give DJs free reign, has set big expectations from the chattering masses. Could Troxler capture and condense his peculiarities and unpredictability on to a small plastic disc?

To a certain extent yes, his three track beatless intro with nonsensical but amusing chat about white rabbits and quantum physics is a fine example of him making his mark by keeping you in a holding pattern and subtly controlling the build of rhythm. It’s a ballsy move when you’ve only got 70 odd minutes to play with but when the beats finally kick you know you have been dropped into the weird and wonderful world that is Seth Troxler. His track selection is house music, yet it’s not middle of the road house. Each track beats 4/4 yet each have their own hallmark and hints of eccentricity, all the while being smoothly blended together through great depth and body. He has a knack of slipping through so many different textures; such as transitioning from the laidback sunset layers of Baeka’s Right At It through the wonky blues bass line of Dinky’s Westoid and then somehow contrasting that bright dimension with the dark, hypnotic and very athemic Kurtel remix of Fables and Fairytales.

We get further depths and textures throughout the whole mix from the haunting trip of Alexi Delano’s Molar One or the bleepy schizophrenic Stricher by Roman Flugel intertwined with sweeping melodies and bright layers of Birds and Souls’ self titled track or Troxler’s remix of Fever Ray Seven. It’s all in there and its refined yet not over worked, just great tracks mixed with panache. However I did say he had only captured himself to a certain extent. The one thing missing is the spontaneity that makes a Troxler set so enjoyable, those curveballs that come out of no where and just wipe you out, stamping that mark of timelessness on those forever remembered sets. It just lacks that one defining moment yet despite that the mix intelligently delights as it unfolds through every subtle (maybe too subtlety) twist and turn. The mix certainly delivers for now, but with so much expectation for Troxler to create something phenomenal, the true test is whether this mix can still entertain and amuse years into the future. All that’s left is for time to tell.

Buy Seth Troxler Boogybytes Vol 5 from Amazon (CD)|Play.com (CD)|HMV (CD)

Tracklist:
01. Seth Troxler – Intro / Ryan Crosson – Amb 1
02. The Royal We – Party Guilt (Dinky’s Arp-A-Pella)
03. Luciano – Fran Left Home / Mike Shannon – Sweet A Pella
04. Craig Smith & The Revenge – The Soul Part II
05. Baeka – Right At It
06. Dinky feat. Update – Westoid
07. N/A feat. Rosina – Fables and Fairytales (Deniz Kurtel Remix)
08. Spektrum – Freakbox (Richie Hawtin’s Uncontrolled Edit)
09. Alexi Delano – Molar One
10. Jabberjaw – The Connie Shake
11. Heartthrob – Signs (Thrill Cosby aka Seth Troxler Remix)
12. Birds And Souls – Birds and Souls
13. Roman Flügel – Stricher
14. Fever Ray – Seven (Seth Troxler Remix)
15. Kiki – Cinema Obscura
16. Nicolas Jaar – Time for Us

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