Search - DJ Dara :: Antidote

DARA has GOT to be one of the best US DnB DJ's there is!!

j phenomenon | washington DC | 07/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this a week after it came out - again, the breakbeatscience label is releasing some very beautiful compilations/originals. Dara's eclecticism and sheer genius in his track selection shines on this album. I was thoroughly impressed with the transitions from track to track - a MUST HAVE for any DnB fan - check out the Hive + Echo rmx of Klute's Glue Sniffer, also Ebony Dubster's Number One is neo-classic jungle at its best. D'Kay, Cookie's rmx of Infrared's own Kathy Brown track, it's all good here, but don't necessarily take my word for it, go buy it yourself.



For those that have been listening to Dara's compilations for a while now - think of the energy on the From Here to There compilation released on Moonshine."

Simply Amazing.

Zack McConnell | Texas | 11/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sup.



I think the best way to start this review is to decribe who's going to be into this. As you may know, there's two groups of DN'B fans. You have the people who dig the ponderous, jazz-infused, almost trancebreak DNB, and you have the hardcire junglists, who dig the in-your-face synth riffs and bombastic breakbeats. I'd like to put myself in the hardcore junglist section, as I like the hard/fast, not the thoughtful/trance.



This CD is for all DNB fans. It's not the hardest of the hardcore, but it's all none of that NewForms jazzybreak girly DNB. It's a mix of both DNB styles, and OH BOY what a mix it is...



DJ Dara knows his stuff, and he's picked 16 of the DNB militia's finest. If you're into the scene, you'll know names like Klute and Kathy Brown. These people have taken mere machines and made them sing the melodies of the gods -and then layered some rippin' breaks over that. It's rare to see tracks of this quality - this is some KILLER stuff. It pumps your subwoofer, and your cranium, at the same time. THERE IS NOT ONE BAD TRACK ON THIS ENTIRE CD. PERIOD.



The same quality of the tracks has gone into the mixing - all of the tracks can be played as individual songs, but it really comes together when you listen to the whole CD. The transitioning is absolutely FLAWLESS and it really demonstrates how well the tracks work together. You can put your own rave on using this CD; it's as close to a live set as you could hope for.



Whether you're one of the hardcore fans, or one of the jazzybreak fans, you're going to love this CD. I don't put my seal of approval on just any music. This is a classic."

Doesn't Stand Out, but Doesn't Disappoint

Marcus | Raleigh, NC USA | 05/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Dara has done it again. His latest release brings hard hitting drums and wall-shaking bass straight to your speakers. Nothing new there, right? The mixing is right on, which is also nothing new. So what is new about this CD?The problem I had with this mix was the fact that many of the tracks are not exactly new and fresh. While I might have enjoyed hearing "The Calling," "Heatwave," "Outer Space," and "Glue Sniffer" the first million times I heard them, I would have thought that Dara, one of America's representative DnB DJs, would have chosen more original tracks for his latest mix. I mean, some of those tunes have been out for nearly a year (if not more), leaving me wondering how the album description could say it was a CD of "new and unreleased" tunes. He spun a good number of these tunes in the Planet of the Drums tour (at least, he did in Charlotte), which makes it seem more like he is re-hashing something he's done before, rather than taking a step forward.Now that I've criticized the hell out of this CD, I want to say that it is still worth buying. Tracks like "Gonzo" and "Blind Cobbler's Thumb" are flat out sick. Then you have the old familiars I just berated, like "The Calling," which still sounds good, despite being spun in every club a DnB DJ has entered =)
There really are no bad tunes on here, just some that I think might have been better off in the vinyl bin instead of on the decks.All in all, I would not hesitate to buy this CD if I didn't own it. I bought it the first chance I could get, and I do not regret it. It is a typical Dara release, with choice tracks and great mixing. At the same time, it doesn't seem to be a mix that stands out for any particular reason. It's just another DnB CD by one of the greats."