Perhaps Derrick's best CD
M. M. Davis | 12/15/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I guess the reviewer below is right: this disc is not stuffed with the anthemic freak-disco of _Cosmic Disco_. But it's very, very well mixed--even for Derrick Carter.Derrick always mixes in an aggressive and profoundly ambitious style. He spends an enormous amount of time in each of his sets keeping two--sometimes three--records playing, singing back and forth to one another for minutes on end. He gets incredibly rich textures this way, but every once in a while an errant snare or an ill-timed breakdown on a record mars his symphonies, because he's just going for it so damned hard.But not on _About Now_. He's locked into a groove here. Even the three-deck mixes are precisely beat-matched and perfectly balanced between all three audio sources. And don't get me started on the EQ shenanigans.I felt that a technical note is in order to illustrate the tight composition of this mix. The reviewer below, who notes the 'blackness' of this CD, attributes the "black's worth more than gold" couplets to 'Girly Souly' by De Pompidou. If one reads the liner notes, it appears that the VOCALS are an a cappella version of 'More than Gold' on Nite Grooves, while the rhythm track is 'Girly Souly.' The fact that I had to read the liner notes to discover this fact should give readers some hint as to just how well this disc is mixed.If you know enough about the art of house deejaying to appreciate technique when you hear it, you owe it to yourself to buy this album. It will be in your CD player very often, and for a long time."
Whose House? Derrick's House!
The Groove | Boston, MA | 08/06/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Acclaimed DJ Derrick Carter has released a fine mix CD which features his love for soulful house. Derrick's beats are hyper and energetic, and the groove never relents from the first track. While some DJs inject techno and European influences into their mixing, Carter's a soul man all the way, featuring some pretty decent vocals, and even a spoken sample from "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman," which opens the disc. The mixing is well done, as the tracks blend nicely together, and there are no awkward transitions. It's clear that Carter is a seasoned veteran in the game of house, and it's right "about now" that you should go and get this CD."
