Search - Nick Warren :: Global Underground: Reykjavik

The Music Behind the Beat

LexAffection | Philadelphia, PA USA | 12/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I want to begin by saying that this is one of those priceless GU sets where one cannot help but make the assumption that the music was entirely influenced by the setting in which it was performed. The music feels like it belongs in the hauntingly lush gray-blue backdrop of Reykjavik, Iceland. The music is as unique as the locale, and that speaks very well of this set and of Nick Warren.



That being said, there is no other GU quite like this. Though several Global Underground releases deviate from the norm of progressive trance and progressive house - examples including Emerson's Uruguay, Lavelle's Barcelona and Sharam's Dubai - it feels innapropriate to include Warren's GU024 amongst the other deviations; this is, by all means, progressive trance music, and in that light, fits well with the series. What makes it so unique is that there are very few discernable peaks (and yet the album never gets boring or repetitive) and the album is so "dreamy". And not in that shimmering, magical sense like Warren's Shanghai release; no, this set has a spiritual, dubby and meditative flow to it. It is not about the traditional slow build-up, peak, a couple afterglow songs, on to the next disc. This is a linear landscape of sound that flows as consistently and fluidly as water in a stream, with every bit as much beauty.



Disc 1 is, without question, the more out there of the two; it is also my favorite. This IS dance music - but more to the point of upclose and sensual body movement than bouncing around on a dancefloor chanting anthem lyrics and waving your arms in the air. Disc 1 is also perfect for creating a lounge-ish environment, similar to Kruder & Dorfmeister or Thievery Corporation at times. I tried using this disc to induce sleep one restless night, but was so involved in the intricate beats that I wound up listening to the whole album and falling asleep to the sound of rain instead.



Disc 2 has the same feel to it, but it is also fundamentally different. It flows, it is dreamy, but it has more of an upbeat dancefloor vibe to it. For a GU release, this would be typical, and in a way it is; the only difference (and an important one at that), however, is the fact that Warren is still concentrating most of his heart and soul on the 'music behind the beat'. Which essentially sums this album's driving purpose up. I feel that, however much raising the bpm on the second discs of these 2-disc releases makes the second disc more favorable, in most cases it is also somewhat disapointingly predictable. It is for this reason that Warren's focus on the *music* in conjunction with the beat stands its ground so well; completely coherent, yet oozing with pleasure and unpredictability.



However thrilled I am that he decided to extend his Global Underground catalogue by one more, this would have indeed been a fitting and triumphant close to perhaps the Global Underground series' most successful participant DJ.

Five stars. I didn't have to think about it.



~Lex"

Experimental, minimalistic masterpiece and prospective class

7.52 | California | 01/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a long review and I hope it is worth your time. Happy new year by the way.

Quick review (if you don't want to waste your time): It is an anomaly of a comp; full of beautiful, strange and intelligent records, records that make you think without knowing to. (End of quick review)

It has been a while since I've actually listened to this compilation from start to finish. This review is somewhat retrospective in that I am at present a die hard Nick Warren fan owning his albums with Jodi, his earlier mixes and his last GU pass, Shanghai. Shanghai is more melodic, enthusiastic, and accessible. That said, although Shanghai will give this comp a run for its money it has to be said that this is probably the classiest, mind boggling, head scratching, jaw slacking GU to date and the first I have seen to rival Sasha's Ibiza.



Why? Simple. It is different. Indeed, it is too different. There are times when this compilation falls flat on its own ambitious momentum (it is at this point your finger starts tapping the skip button) Even so, the tracks I don't appreciate (probably because of my own inexperience) I feel on some level I understand. This GU's brilliance also relies on luck. Most prog DJ sets try unconsciously or otherwise to capture the spirit of the location. Sasha's now legendary Ibiza was mind numbingly danceable, sweaty and sunny but slyly subliminal (at least on the first disc) Digweed's LA was boring, Seaman's capetown was tribalistic without being bombastic. Sasha's SF came pretty damn close to capturing what it is like to be drunk on booze you somehow managed not to pay a single penny for and to be warm and happy and ecstatically playful with your mates at a major club in SF. Even Oaky's New York 007 ( very old so not very popular), had that sleek you don't know this but it will still f**k you up feel to it which pretty much sums up anything "new" and innovative in New York. This Comp actually succeeded. It has more to do with the mixing style, the application of pads and a thousand over tiny things we never notice until we really like a track and we go back to it over and over. From the cold isolating Dub in Time by Avatar to the gorgeous encompassing beauty of the atlas track to the pedantic crescendo of Ulrich's classic to Board's of Canada's earlier stuff this comp, when it finally gets you will blow you off your feet. It is that good. It was through this comp that I found Sacred Machine by Baby ford and the Ifach Collective and had me paying more attention to Holden and Adam Spears, as well as the genius subsky. I am not kidding you or trying to be tedious. Whether you buy it or not, or it simply is not your style and do not agree that this is one of the only four GUs that truly transport you to the location it claims is up to you. It does not matter whether you hat it and find it boring. You will still have to admit that there is at least one mind numbing track and it is this track that will keep you going back to it until eventually you are at your computer at 2 am in the morning, trying unconsciously or not to express gratitude to someone who is simply doing what he truly loves.

"