REVIEW: Various Artists, Amp 2 (Astralwerks)
- Krisjanis P. Gale
This second compilation from the techno-centric MTV Series "Amp" is a radical departure from the first batch of ambient, intelligent dance (IDM), and techno. You will not find any tracks on this Amp by Future Sound of London, Underworld, Chemical Brothers, and the like.
What you will find, however, is a pretty fresh collection of all that is trip hop. What is trip hop? Imagine old school rap producers suddenly thrown headlong into a room full of synthesizers and beat boxes. What you get is something considerably new and different.
On Amp 2 , you will find rap greats Method Man, the Low-Fidelity Allstars, Chuck D, Public Enemy, Kool Keith, and KRS One right alongside Prodigy, Pigeonhead, Ticc-Tacc, Amber Sunshower, Hardkiss, and Goldie. It's this sort of cooperational effort that will ensure that hip hop flava will live on in a future generation of electronic street shakers, and you get to hear it here.
Aside from the breakthrough co-ops, you'll find the number one single "Rockefella Skank" by Fatboy Slim, a deliciously bassified Jungle Brothers track, an Air tune remixed by Beck, the hard-hitting tour de'force "Genius" by Pitchshifter and remixed by Luke Vilbert, a bizarre Adam F. headtrip mixed up with some DJ Jazzy Jeff loops, the tried-and-true "Brown Paper Bag" by drum and bass pioneer Roni Size, and "Bang On!" by the Propellerheads, which can only be described as breakbeat-infused experimental hardcore acid trance.
I have to admit that I didn't receive this disc very well when I first listened to it. But it grew on me as soon as I realized I don't own anything at all like it. It's a great mix, and it's probably unlike anything you've heard before.
