REVIEW: Mucho Macho, The Limehouse Link (Beggars Banquet)
- Christina Apeles
If you're among those that long for the dance music of yesteryear, when acid house music ruled the undergrounds and techno only began to make its way into everyone's vocabulary, The Limehouse Link may be the answer to your prayers. You'd have to rummage through deejay tapes at the onset of this decade to find a mix like this, because if old school dance is what you want, Mucho Macho delivers.
When I say old school, I'm referring to that time in the underground scene before ravers treated the speakers like gods, surrendering themselves to that space closest to the altars of sound, gyrating to the music because the music was too monotonous or too fast -- in short, not danceable. Mucho Macho's Tim Punter and Neil Dunford have been DJing since the mid 80s and their expertise is evident with a release that takes you back out onto the dancefloor with tracks that make you just want to move with familiar breakbeats, synthesizer progressions, and sounds that can take you well into the a.m. hour.
With a keen bass line, seriously groovy beats, and timely breaks versus the typical repetitive nature of recent techno, "Rap Is Really Changing" has the ups and downs that keeps you entertained. Followed by "The Airport Freeze" and "Rockley Sands" which any 808 State fan would scream, 'Rip offs!' I treat these songs as more of Mucho Macho’s way of paying homage to one of the masters of electronic music. Not just another lofty dance mix, The Limehouse Link is a non-stop hip-shaking, sweat-dripping collection of tracks. And if you can't take my word for it, consider this: Guess who the Beastie Boys invited to play their launch party for Grand Royal Records in the U.K.? If anyone in this world knows what fun music is all about, the Beasties do, and they chose Mucho Macho.
