Comp. Review: Sven Vath / ‘The Sound of the 10th Season’ (Cocoon)
Dec 21st, 2009 | By admin | Category: Music Reviews
A long hot soak rather than the jack-hammering of joints, Vath’s opening of midsummer funkiness presents penetrative yet supple techno. Michel Cleis re-imagines the piano aspect of Balerica for Spencer Parker’s “The Beginning” as a case in point. If it’s a massage you’re after, watch out when Vath digs his knuckles and elbows into you. Disc one leaves the audience expectant with bated breath for what seems an eternity, dangling on the precipice but maintaining balance, before Franco Cazzola’s “In Mexico With You” tumbles rapturously with a harder-nosed edge. Umek’s “Pravim Haos,” mixing ancient mystique with affirmation of who’s boss, typifies Vath following long roll-outs with a toughened shunt from behind, though Ilario Alicante’s “Living in Africa” raises a smile through the sweat.
Rebuilding with withdrawn calm and quiet storms (Basti Pieper’s “I Love You” is a gorgeous holding of a sunrise in its hands), perspiration again becomes a badge of honour that you have to earn, demanded by Precious System’s “The Voice of Planet Love.” Second time round though, Vath’s preying holds back on strong strikes. Cleis’ “La Mezcla” takes the party to the desert, Stefan Goldmann sends the temperature in the opposite direction, and Vath makes the second disc more about sustenance and survival instead of high peaks and low blows.
Matt Oliver
File under: DJ Koze, Westbam, Josh Wink
