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Co-Fusion: DJ Live Set 1/Remixes |
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(Sublime) |
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"Wilbee Wilbee" [154k RealAudio] |
Following their last "proper" release on Sublime, "Co-Fu," the duo of DJ Wada and Heigo Tani present the same material in two alternate contexts: a Live CD and a disc of remixes. Let me just state at the beginning: the first is worth the price of both combined.
Co-Fusion is one of those acts that absolutely ignites onstage or in a club: their unique DJ approach augmented with DSP processing in the mixer and two synthesizers. Right from the opening strains of "Wilbee Wilbee" you're brought right up close ... as if you were listening from their own monitors (granted the sound is about 200 times better than your average war-torn concert speaker). There are no lulls or ruts in Co-Fusion's set--just non-stop, carefree Japanese techno. However, if one were presssed to pick out highlights, they'd probably be the double-time bassline swing and melody of "Five Forty" or the techno-run-ragged finish of "Cycle." The remixes pick up where the live CD leaves off: the intensity of "Cycle," run through the mills of Flr (Ken Ishii), Daz Saund, and Buckfunk 3000. The latter is an incredible reconstruction that captures all of the track's momentum and spits it out as a bit of twisted, pointillist beauty ... and still has room to add strings on top of the whole thing. There are also remixes of "Zit'r" (Thomas Schumacher, Laidback Luke and DJ Shufflemaster), "Torn Open" (Captain Funk, Seiji) and "Strutin'" (Funk D'Void and Detroit's Claude Young). Captain Funk's unapologetic big beat experiment works suprisingly well, but you know we at Reverb had to advance straight to Mr. Young's interpretation. It's Young's more abstract style at work here, restraining Co-Fusion's exuberance at the same time he promotes the funk. Co-Fusion's sound can only be described as energetic techno at its finest, and these two discs do wonders in presenting it to the audience.
-DS |
