The newest deejay in the same mold as Erol Alkan and Ivan Smagghe is here and his name is Damian Lazarus and he includes the new James Holden track, unreleased at the moment plus a ton of other goodies.

Bugged Out Presents Suck My Deck – Damian Lazarus (Resist Music)

Damian Lazurus is a deejay that is getting more and more bookings recently. He runs Crosstown Rebels (The label) and he did run the extremely amazing City Rockers Label, before it became defunct. It was a sad day for many of us when the City Rockers label bit the dust but Crosstown Rebels has done very well.

Bugged Out seems to get bigger and bigger every single year, their parties started in 1994, which were weekly and they have grown exponentially since then. The original Bugged Out – Suck My Deck compilation was done by Ivan Smagghe, and its available on React. They seem to champion the sounds that are not popular at the moment but they always end up popular at some point and they use unique deejays to mix the compilations, you won’t get another year of ASOT out of them. They have released CDs with Erol Alkan, and Ivan Smagghe (who got an essential mix of late).

Resist Music who released this compilation, were originally React, who went broke and then two of the original founders ended up starting Resist. They have released World Service 2 of late, by the one and only Dave Clarke.

Tracklist

1.Break 3000 – Flash 1
2.System 7 – Planet 7 (Holden Remix)
3.Thomas Dolby – One of Our Submarines (Ricardo Villalobos Remix)
4.Pier Bucci – Polaris
5.Switch – Get Downz (Max Fresh Remix)
6.Phone feat. Alexander East – 99 and a Half (I:Cube Remix)
7.Issakidis – Into Your Life (Midnight Mike Remix)
8.Freaks – Twister (Extended Disco 12”)
9.Rayon – The Panther
10.Trentemoller – Physical Fraction
11.Matt Tolfrey & Craig Sylvester – The Horn
12.Audio Peru – Viviendas Paraiso
13.Alter Ego – Beat The Bush (Ewan Pearson Remix)
14.James Holden – Lump (Exclusive Track)
15.The Stranglers – Love 303
16.M83 – Don’t Save Us From The Flames (Superpitcher Remix)

If you like electro house, then this is definitely for you. Lazarus takes you on a ride using some lesser known tracks to some people. Break 3000’s Flash 1 is a nice introduction, that gently glides you into the world of Damian Lazarus. The only problem that I have with this CD was the next song, which is a James Holden remix of System 7, who I never understood why Derrick May wasted his time with them. Thomas Dolby’s One of Our Submarines is an often overlooked gem but the vocal might put a few people off but Lazurus seamlessly mixes into it and he allows it to take on a life of its own.

Track number four brings in the strangely addicting Polaris, which has a really nice riff that strangely draws you in and the good part about this is that Lazurus is not completely hammering the genre of the moment, minimal electro house, that every deejay worth a damn is killing. He adds some injection of filth with each and every record choice, which is always nice because as I’ve said for years, deejays don’t add enough filthy dark stuff anymore, with the exception of Steve Lawler. Max Fresh’s remix of Get Downz offers some minimal goodness, while continuing to build the mix.

I:Cube makes an appearance in this CD, which is always nice because Nicolas Chaix has never really got his proper dues for some reason. His remixes have always done something unique and the sound always makes me want to dance. Its no different with this remix, he adds some xylophone, which is another underused instrument. The mix really picks up from here and it flows into Midnight Mike’s remix of Into Your Life. I’ve never heard such a grooving electro house tune like this in ages, Chaix’s xylophones go for a while, then as Lazarus is mixing, he adds the funkiness and lets it go, while mixing out the 6th track. I must say that it is certainly a good tune selection and it moves into the incredibly electro and incredibly funky “Into Your Life”. I’ve never been a big fan of the minimal house sound that has come out of Europe of late but if deejays played more songs like this, I might jump on the bandwagon. The vocal that is pitched towards the background really makes you want to get up and dance.

As Freaks’s Tweakers moves in as track eight, I will state that I never wanted track seven to end but we all know it had to at some point. Tweaker uses that electro house groove, with some weird voices to push the sound. The best part of this track, is while Lazarus is building his set, he allows the weird electro noises to take over, its actually really interesting. Rayon’s The Panther uses some sound effects to great effect, while allowing this minimal house bassline to just addict you.

We move into track ten with Trentemoller’s Physical Fraction, it seems that every compilation has either the Dahlbacks (either of the brothers) or Trentemoller. They are both supremely talented and track ten easily shows you why. Andreas Trentmoller always seem to use a slow groove, with some addictive sound effects in tow. This is a slow burning track, that allows the bassline to take center stage. When “The Horn” starts, it reminded me of a bassline that I think I heard in 2003, when Steve Lawler was playing System but I’m probably wrong and old age and time have not been kind to me. The Horn is incredibly minimal in parts but it pushes some sound effects with an amazing horn.

Audio Peru moves us into track twelve and we are nearing the home stretch here. It is more electro than most of the previous tracks, which have all contained some minimalism or some electro or both. This is another track by an artist that I’ve never heard but this also tends to push Lazarus’s style on you. We then head into track number thirteen by my fave remixer of late, which is Ewan Pearson. Its purely electro and its wickedly groovy and it certainly adds more of that electro flavour to the mix.

We are now in the homestretch and we have an exclusive track by James Holden and this is the only other problem on this CD. James Holden is supremely talented but this does’nt seem to cut it. Holden has tried to get the techno massive to big him up and I don’t think its working, from the man that brought you the remix of First Light, Solstice, Nothing, Come to Me, brings you a dud. I think it sounds too much like Come To Me in places and its way too minimal for Holden and for what you expect from him. I’m all for expanding on your sound but not when you pretend to be something that you are not.

The Stranglers’ Love 303 is a weird minimal track with some really out there sound effects with some weird vocal samples. I’m not a fan of it but its not bad, just incredibly weird. Superpitcher’s remix of M83’s Don’t Save Us From The Flames rounds out this compilation and while I’m not a huge fan of M83, their stuff is really unique.

Conclusion:
Damian Lazarus showcases why he could be the next big thing out of the UK, which tears their artists down as fast as they build them up. The mix contains electro and minimal house, but not like what everyone else is killing. Lazarus adds a side of dirtyness, which makes him standout because after what some deejays are playing, it would be hard to tell if they changed the record.

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