This is Techno Soul
chis@matrik.ndo.co.uk | Hants, UK | 06/25/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Tech-Soul is a little-used "label" for Juan's style, but listening to his music I find it incredibly hard to describe it any other way. Especially considering he's the only one who can really claim to make it, with the notable exception of Mad Mike.After the travesty that was Mind & Body (practically ruining the legacy Model 500 brought about imho), the few releases Juan Atkins has made under the Infiniti name have kept me from losing all faith in him - which briefly at least, I did after listening to Mind... Then came Never Tempt Me. And once again almost straight away, I knew that this man still has what it takes to make a perfect record.Lets get the dross out of the way first: Cristian Vogels' mix attempts to add more of his "Boom Busine" sound to Juans' track, and imho it has. It _also_ succeeds very well in destroying the track completely. Others may feel differently, but personally I think it feels completely out of place here, and really did nothing for me.On the other hand, Fehlmann brings to NTM his trademark ambi-jazz-tech sound (daring even, to include the rhythms of Jazz Is The Teacher), and whilst it is perhaps not the best mix here, it certainly holds its own. With the Magic Acapella I can't help but feel that perhaps Juan was trying to fill out the single a little, and it adds little to the original, but his voice works very well solo and in-track so all cynicism aside it deserves to be here.The original has Juan's trademark trippy rythms and provocative basslines all over it, only this time minus any particuar melody. This is made up for straight away by his excellent vocals, the deep drawl of "I Wanna Be There" is also right here, and it works an absolute treat (unlike Be Brave, but I shan't go there). Substance's Mix also works well - and wouldn't be out of place on his own releases. This is a somewhat more minimal offering, using a similar trippy rhythm as the original's, and managing to slot in most of the vocal parts also.But forget all that for the moment - we also have the Substance Interlude mix. Anyone who's been lucky enough to hear Substance's offerings on Chain Reaction/Basic Channel, as well as Torsten Profrock's "Various Artists" - Decay Product, will feel right at home here. And by a hairline, it's my favourite mix (the original is _almost_ there). The sparse but oh-so welcoming minimalism that is Substance's trademark (fitting in a beatless reworking of the original's percussion), the emotional pads of Decay Product features also, and it just completely does the business for me. As emotional even, as the epic No. 8 from FatCat CD 7.Hopefully this dodgy essay of a review (sorry ppl! ;) will be useful to Amazon readers out there, suffice it to say: Mind and Body really wasn't worth the wait, but my _god_ this was. Never Tempt Me is overall a must have for any and all Detroit fans.- Chis 2K"
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1