Various Artists - International Deejay Gigolos CD 11

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  • It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the International Deejay Gigolo imprint and its head honcho DJ Hell started to lose it, but you could probably pin it to right around the time they started releasing toilet paper (!) and panties (!!) as a way of branding. In 2007, Gigolo's 10-year anniversary celebrations frankly went unnoticed, and 2008 barely even saw a release worth remembering, nor worth listening to. It's in this grim context that both the label and Hell are attempting a comeback: So here we are with Gigolo's 11th annual compilation showcasing its latest recruits and some of the label's usual suspects (Richard Bartz, Abe Duque, Billie Ray Martin under her Opiates guise, Hell himself), and thankfully for them—and for us—it seems to be all about the music. Opening the compilation with one of acid-house's pioneers is as strong a declaration of intent as you could get. DJ Pierre's "I've Lost Control" is one of those (rare) moments when the music both seems timeless and time-bound, an improbable telescoping of both 2009 and 1989. And, sure, you get your fair share of acid house's most over-used clichés, either lyrically or musically, about jackin' it (Bennie A's "X3," Motor's "Jacked Up," Acid Junkies' "Chica Sexy," Seelenluft's surprising Inner City imitation on "You Can Dance"), and it's also a bit too ironic to have the vocals on Heib's 'Jackpot' telling you that "This is not about standing there looking good" when Gigolo has always made a strong case for fierce visual identity in the past. But notwithstanding these minor concessions to the sub-genre's tics, these cuts aren't overtly contrived—which is something you could all too easily accuse of Gigolo's output in the past. But despite the aforementioned retro nodding to acid and vintage Detroit techno that punctuates the compilation, the material here sounds shockingly current. Joel Alter's "Snake Eyes," for instance, has the hypnotic sparseness of a Radio Slave remix, The Model's bleeby "Newly Found Voids" takes Plaid-like motifs and sets them to a present-day beat and Peter Kruder's "Visions Ltd" recalls Henrik Schwarz at his melodic best while suggesting great things from the upcoming Kruder/Hell collaborations. And that's not even going into the astonishing ten-minute long "Discotecktonic," a climaxing spacey odyssey by Fetish and Me that's way more gripping than the S&M connotations would suggest. In the current economic climate, it's rather surprising to see a dance music label still going at it with the same determination after more than a decade. And it's even more remarkable to see DJ Hell coming up with almost three hours of solid new music after his years in the wilderness hawking toilet paper and panties. It's probably a bit too soon to be talking renaissance, but with this compilation and a promising new double album coming out in April, Hell's upturn from suave fashion icon to pertinent DJ seems to be shaping up.
  • Tracklist
      CD1 01. DJ Pierre - I've Lost Control (WildPiTcHMix) 02. Peter Kruder - Visions Ltd 03. I.B.M. - Kill Bill (BMG Edit) 04. Opiates - Candy Coated Crime 05. G.rizo - Boys Medley featuring DJ Glow & Donovan 06. Hell - The Disaster (CD Eleven edit) 07. Joel Alter - Snake Eyes 08. The Model - Newly Found Voids 09. Motor - Jacked Up 10. Richard Bartz - Voyager 11. Acid Junkies - Chica Sexy 12. Captain Commodore - Express 13. Seelenluft - You Can Dance CD2 01. Actor One - Popcorn 02. Marascia - Leggy 03. Fetische &Me - Discotecktonic 04. Snuff Crew - DJ Into Space 05. Herman Schwartz - Back 2 Black 06. Abe Duque - Life Is Sooo Good to Me 07. Lopazz feat. Deafny Moon - What Should I Do? 08. Bennie A - X3 09. Heib - Jackpot 10. Joe Le Bon - Tanssiakos 07 11. Phobia - Phobia (Hell's CD Eleven edit)
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