Search - Max English :: Progressions 1: London

Proof you can succeed without relying on obvious tunes

Richard Diaz | 04/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Welcome to the Next Big Thing, placing a DJ smack dab in a foreign city and recording an encapsulated version of their set. Global Underground, American DJ Series, Global Frequencies, Global Trancemissions, welcome everyone to Progressions 01 with Max English.With just an hour to work with every track matters, and he sure picked a beauty for openers in the subtle, cascading `Janiero' by Solid Sessions. Most importantly, English didn't just nab a chunk of vinyl coated in brand names or flavor of the moment tunes, a gutsy call backed by a label trying to launch a series. Fred Numf vs Five Point O `Wireless Influences' doesn't quite scream "dance club monster" yet happens to be one of several moving mid-tempo pieces. Even when peaking with more popular selections the remix is preferred, as in the vocal Vox attitude-rub of Xzique's tribal `Lookin in."Progressions 01 offers a strong reminder of how much quality trance lurks out there and this DJ proves you can succeed without relying on obvious tunes. Bring on volume two. Grade: 3.5 stars"

Nice... Really nice.

Jeantet Fields | New York, NY USA | 08/14/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There are so many mixed albums out there that it's difficult to find a really impressive one. Or for that matter, it's difficult to find one that's not boring. I ended up with the Progressions Vol.1 by luck - I was in SOBE, all happy and in a Trance mood. A spontaneous "let's try this one" is how I ended up with it. This time, the gamble paid off.This album doesn't rely on mainstream stuff that's been played to death. Max uses this to create his own uniqe vibe. If you listen to a lot of Trance mixes, you know that every DJ has a unique "feel". If you're not familiar with Max English, the best way to describe his "feel" is a bit of Paul Oakenfold with a slight infusion of Deep Dish. (At least, that's how I feel.)So I obviously like the CD. Why only 4 stars? Simple: there are so many Trance mixes out there, so many artists, and so many DJs. To get 5 stars, in my opinion it has to be an earth shattering departure from the status quo. That being said, this album is a really solid mix. My favorite is track 9 - deep beats, chanting. whew! Nicely done Max."

Another fresh progressive mix from a small label

Douglas A. Greenberg | Berkeley, CA USA | 04/07/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Within the world of electronic dance music, one of the most exciting developments since the start of the new millenium has been a veritable efflorescence of creativity among producers of the deep, percussive, textured, trancey sound that has come to be labeled simply, "progressive." This sound, referring to a style that is part trance, part progressive house, and in some cases part tech-trance, has emerged perhaps as a reaction against the faddish popularity of "uplifting melodic trance" that characterized the club scene in the UK during 1999. Responding to echoing cries among longtime fans of electronic music that "Trance Sucks," some music makers began turning out records exhibiting the darker and less melodic "progressive sound," and there has been an accompanying outpouring of dj mix cd's that reflect this trend. Some of the better-known dj's spinning "progressive" have included Britons Sasha and John Digweed, Dave Seaman, Nick Warren, and Dave Ralph, Dutchmen like Sander Kleinenberg, Lucien Foort, and DJ Johan, and Germans like DJ HH (Hardy Heller). As with just about all forms of dance music, progressive is far more popular in Europe overall than it is in rock and hip-hop crazy America. However, the number of U.S. dj's who have adopted the progressive sound is ever-growing, and includes Chris Fortier, Danny Zee, Jimmy Van M., Taylor, Mark Lewis, Jerry Bonham, Bill Hamel, John Debo, Sandra Collins, and Max Graham (Canadian). So it is within the context of this ever-growing legion of progressive-oriented dj's that Miami's Max Music has offered up some "progressive" mix cd's by relatively unknown dj's including Wendel's "Emit" and most recently, Max English's "Progressions 01: London." For fans of progressive, English's mix is well worth buying. For the most part, the tracks are still fresh, and for those songs which trance/progressive house fans have heard previously, such as Pink Bomb's "Indica" and The Freak Project's "Beat of a Drum," English has used remixes that are at least a bit different from what we've heard before. Overall, the mix moves along smartly, beginning with the shimmering "Janiero" by Solid Sessions" followed by the Ocean Wave (Kasey Taylor) remix of Quadra's "Far Away" and a high energy version of DJ Gordon's "Moonshine Boogie." The only track that disappointed me a bit was the vocal mix of Lexicon Avenue's "Midnight On West 27th Street," which incorporates what sounds like an "Islamic holy man calling the faithful to prayer" vocal that simply does nothing for me. But eleven out of twelve isn't bad, I think.If there is a weakness in Max English's presentation here, it's that the mixing seems a little rough in a few spots. The transition between "Janiero" and "Far Away" could have been smoother, I think, and whereas the mixing is competently done throughout, the transitions are sometimes a bit too apparent to be termed "seamless." Overall, however, I have enjoyed this work by a relatively unknown dj on a relatively small label; it demonstrates that this new but largely underappreciated subgenre of dance music is alive and well in the U.S., even if 99% of Americans have never heard of it."