Cyantific - Hospital Mix Six

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  • Hospital Records consistently puts out at least decent, usually good and sometimes great drum n bass tunes, but I've no idea why they showcase their best releases each year under the Hospital Mix aesthetic. The sixth in the budget-priced series is 29 Hospital tracks mixed live across three decks by boy wizard Jon Cyantific, who nabbed Best Breakthrough DJ award at last year's BBC 1Xtra Bass Awards. If that description alone made you want to bust open the piggy bank and rush to your nearest record store, I'm not gonna block the door. But everyone else who still thinks five pounds is too much for an often-incoherent DJ jerk-off session had best hold on to their wallet. It's hard to figure out exactly who's to blame here. Could it be label founder London Elektricity, who made last year's Hospital Mix Five with the same more-bang-for-your-buck mentality? That mix was still a fair shake better than Six though, so is it Cyantific's fault? He did a bang-up job on his disc for the Hospitalised package two years ago, cutting a wide swathe through the label's tougher territory with loads of clever double drops, teases and a nice flow. All the same tricks are employed here, so is it the tracks' fault? Not by a longshot, seeing as how Cyantific didn't pass on a single gem from arguably Hospital's best year yet: High Contrast's 'If We Ever,' Apex featuring Ayah on 'Space Between', and the massive Matrix & Futurebound remix of 'System' by Nu:Tone with Natalie Williams. It's a solid selection, but what Cyantific's mix desperately needs is about ten less tracks and ten more minutes. Problem is, instead of building a coherent set with peaks, troughs and an ending that leaves you wanting more, Cyantific would rather just show off his DJ tricks for an hour and call it a night. His habit of layering songs three-at-a-time is bad enough, coating the crystal clear breakbeats in one tune with the grimy film of those from two others. Most annoyingly, however, is his tendency to replace uplifting breaks with sinister ones: pitting Nu:Tone & Pat Fulgoni's funky 'Beliefs' against his own industrial 'Disconnected', and criminally draining the aforementioned 'System' remix of all its spine-tingling power by dropping it into his caned-to-death 'Flashback' from 2005. The double-drop works nicely on 'If We Ever' cut with little-known producer Muffler's 'Mermaids.' But even then it's not as good as DJ Hype managed when he slammed it into Dillinja's 'Tunnel Grinder' on his Drum & Bass Arena Presents mix last year. Like Hype and fellow three-decks jock Andy C, Cyantific is a proud proponent of the ADHDJing style that is so prevalent in DnB. Maybe it's those DJs' years on the scene, but they're much more capable of juggling shitloads of tracks in a short amount of time and still having it all make sense. And while Jon Cyantific has been quoted as saying, "A good DJ is a musician in my book," his mixing has a long way to go before it will reflect that. Go back to the lab and let someone else on next year. My advice to that DJ: less is more.
  • Tracklist
      01 High Contrast – Metamorphosis/Logistics - Inside My Soul 02 Apex featuring Ayah - Space Between 03 Logistics - Glitch 04 High Contrast - The Ghost Of Jungle Past 05 Commix - Scarlet 06 Blame - Hindsight 07 Nu:Tone featuring Pat Fulgoni - Beliefs 08 Cyantific – Disconnected/Logistics - Krusty Bass Rinser 09 Nu:Tone Feat Natalie Williams - System (Matrix & Futurebound Remix) 10 Cyantific & Logistics – Flashback/London Elektricity - Round The Corner (Origin Unknown Remix) 11 Nu:Tone - Second Connection 12 Logistics - Colour Wheel (Friction & K-Tee VIP) 13 High Contrast - If We Ever 14 Muffler - Mermaids 15 Danny Byrd - Shock Out 16 Logistics - Spotlight 17 Makoto & T-Ak - Voyager 18 Nu:Tone - Troopers 19 Mistabishi - No Matter What 20 Logistics - Lullaby 21 Cyantific - Change Your Mind 22 Logistics - Reality Checkpoint 23 Cyantific - Space Station Kru 24 Danny Bryd & The Brookes Brothers - Gold Rush 25 Mistabishi - She Lied 26 High Contrast – Everything's Different (Calibre Remix)
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