DAVE CLARKE

Presents X-Mix Electro Boogie
(!K7 Recordings)
The UK's best techno producer and grumpiest DJ, Dave Clarke, steps to the decks for this history lesson in digital dance music. Professor Clarke deftly mixes classic mid-'80s electro from beatbox bandits like Hashim and the Imperial Brothers with Detroit bassbumpers from Aux 88, Model 500 and Detrechno, occasionally slipping in a couple of '90s references from cybertwerps like Electroids, LFO and Dopplereffekt just to show us that the tinny drums, high-cheese synth sounds and hilarious "futuristic" vocoder samples wittering on about robots, computers and space critters that defined electro are still alive and well. His thesis seems to be that these early tracks, and current tunes that follow their blueprint, still kick the arse of most current techno as far as imagination, general weirdness and skeletal funk are concerned... that, despite thin production, dated keyboard sounds and a paranoid ideology that wouldn't rule out microwaves and pocket calculators taking over the world, these pioneering '80s geezers knew what time it was! And that time was NOW! After a few days spent with Dave's disc wheezing and clattering away in the background, I'm inclined to agree with him. He mixes like a fiend (plus there's a second disc included with the unmixed versions), claiming to have done the mix raw and unrehearsed on a pair of battered old turntables without digital editing, and shows the impeccable taste of a man who obviously deeply loves these skinny yet tuff early singles.