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| It may have come to some of your attention that I am not easy to please - review wise that is!! I like to tell it as it is and at first view of what the demo contained, I was not convinced this would work! I mean - extracts from sets??? Wouldn't they sound incomplete?? Especially the dance ones - which are usually constructed to build continuously throughout the set culminating in a grand finale!! Hmmmm.... So, what is it like??? Does it do justice to the eJay software and the talents of you lot??? Let's slide it into the CD player and see shall we? SET 1 - AMBIENT OK!!! We kick off at the top of the set with CyberJay's Europa and instantly I relax!! I'm in safe hands...no copy and paste here....lot's going on and very Jarre in it's style - which makes it all the more interesting that it mixes smoothly into Insane Jane's Mysteries of the Insane Mind - a Hip Hop number!! This gets me intrigued....Trance into Hip Hop?? A quick click on the browser and I check into MuzikAL's Walkthroughs on ej2dj where he tells you how and why he did the mixing he did...aha...I see!! What?? Oh, you'll just have to go and look for yourself! Slippy T's harder edged track W.O. (seduction mix) surfaces through Jane's very laid back style and picks up the pace nicely. Running with the ball, Cyberjay's Child Of Jupiter slides in, keeping the pace going but easing slightly back into more chilled out mood, an excellent setting for Mr Mystery's The Mysterious Man which concludes this set extract. Wow, already? Pauses the CD for a little serious thought here. I know most of these tracks as individuals and although good in their own right, they seem to take on a new lease of life mixed like this..... hmmm.. maybe I should get MuzikAL to mix my review trax before I listen to 'em!! OK....press play and off we go into................... SET 2 Hip Hop Well, Hip Hop eJay to the fore! The set opens very snappily with Partners in Ryme's It's All Good -Hey...this ain't bad for rappin'!! Yeah! Well this is quite unlike the usual eJay Hip Hop offering....but yes, I recognise the samples so...... hmmm.. nice piano riffs....and nicely blended at the end with Jooseman's guitars in Serious Etherianism - you just can't tell the transition point! By the time this has morphed into DJ Joe's West Coast Baby I am getting worried....I haven't had a bad vibe yet so far...am I running a temperature?? Is it flu coming on...hhmm... well I ain't heard a set of tracks yet that haven't got me reaching for either the caffeine or aspirin so we shall see.... Aha! ..... next up is MuzikAL's Slow 'n Low which subtly changes the mood from Hip Hop to chill out though retaining Hip Hop rhythms...ahhhh very relaxing....without being repetitive... (in joke to those who don't know me, lol). The mixing here is superb with echoes of Joos's track slipping in towards the end...Jeeeez I am getting mellow here! Dreamer's slinky Funk now takes up the baton and thinking back - how DID we get here from PIR's rap???? Hmmmmm.. very clever mixing, that's how! Finally we have Jigsaw's Precinct 153 which starts to wind up the pace - altogether an enjoyable experience and not an aspirin in sight!!! SET 3 Dance/ House Just to shake you outta your chilled mood, Mark Penny weighs in with Let There be Music!! Now this is an oldy - but what a classic!! Those of you with just DE2 - listen and learn!! This really rocks and shows what can be done with eJay - by this time I am just enjoying myself and forgetting to listen critically! Sneaking up on ya here is Downloaders Dark Times Remix.....time to turn up the bass....I am starting to get into annoy the neighbours territory here....so what!?? Building on this - Paradise Decay's Bomb the Bass guesting Nina Goddess of Dance enters the fray and up goes the volume a few more notches....oh yes!! Excellent transition to Virus' Atlantis here...the tempo and ambience turns round on a sixpence...wonder if I can notch up the volume a tad more???.....aha....quickly morphing into Tony Ed's Glitch ..and you can imagine the strobe lighting here....this carries on the momentum and by now the walls are fairly vibrating.....ummm... you are obligated to play this at FULL volume!! Finally, we are treated to a rework of Peppy's Sanxion, surely the most classic of eJay trax! Hmmmmm.. I am not sure if I don't prefer the original version but hey....this still works for me!! Phew!! OK...the neighbours haven't come round - yet!!! So let's take advantage, notch up the volume and go for it with Set 4!! SET 4 Rave Hang on!! Looking back I haven't handed out any skulls yet!! This is worrying.... oops, no time for that, Delivery System's Bitter Herbs is on the horizon......OK..this is a revved up version of the track which takes on a more manic mantle than the original...but what the hell....this is Rave!! Everything is now real hyper.....and I'm just realising that even within the confines of this demo, MuzikAL has created a gradual build up of pace until you really can't stand it - it's dance till you're crazy or throw up time...take your pick! His own Pumping Eetha keeps up the pace only relenting with Jat's Innate b4 we are into Peppy's 56 and then AFD's Don't Stop...wow things happen fast here! I am amazed at how the style and pace change so often and you really don't notice till you think...hey a minute ago it was like...!! Everything goes manic again with Clubber's Re-emergence and I vaguely hear knocking on the walls from next door but until I see the white's of their eyes......hmmmmmmmm..... slipping into Slippy T's The Sharp End, this is getting more energised by the second...and ahhhhhhhh is that ConKuss I hear on the horizon????? In he stomps with his Gradient Chrome....and this is rocking the walls now....ahhhhhh no!! It's fading out!! Bring it back...........!! Community Mixes 1-4......Did they work for me?? U bet!! |
| I've always been told that good things come in small packages. This is a load of tosh (ever tried fitting a Ferrari into a matchbox?) but when the jiffy bag containing "The eJay Compilation Mix Album" popped through my letterbox then I instinctively knew that I was about to experience something exceptional. Anyone who is featured on this CD will do exactly what I did - shove it straight into the CD player and play your own-featured track! It's as natural as taking a piccie of your own butt with your new digital camera (everyone does that don't they?). Don't worry, you'll soon get beyond the euphoria of revelling in your own brilliance and can settle down into listening to 75 minutes of eJay heaven. I shall not dwell on the sleek packaging and cool artwork (they are sleek and cool by the way) but get stuck into the raison d'etre. Set 1 - Ambient (16:19) The scene is set by a magnificent opening swelling sphere from CyberJay’s Europa - eJay's only OAP - and eases you gently into the eJay sound. It introduces you to the style of samples you can expect to hear throughout this compilation CD so that by the end of the 75 minutes you will be able to intuitively say "hey that's eJay!" A powerful beginning that already has you closing you eyes and swaying to the hypnotic beat as we slip seamlessly into Insane Jane's offering. Here we mellow out with some chilled musings before getting more serious with Slippy-T. This takes us to a deeper level of ambience with just a hint of menace and this theme is carried on by another track from CyberJay - Child Of Jupiter before the set ends with Mr Mystery musically restating the negativity of existence and meaningless of all things corporeal. I have to say that the mixing on this track is flawless, a sure sign that the DJ is at one with his material and tools. By now you will thoroughly relaxed, slightly melancholy and raring to be lifted by… Set 2 - Hip Hop/Alternative (17:41) A pure Hip Hop start from Partners in Ryme gets this set off nicely with the added bonus of the fact that you can actually understand the lyrics! Unlike most eJayers attempt at rapping, this one is not at all corny. The set flows smoothly into a pathetic effort by yours truly which, if nothing else, keeps the beat flowing into a track by DJ Joe featuring a nice compilation of the vocals found in Hip Hop eJay. The beat now goes down tempo with DJ MuziKAL into a soul/Hip Hop hybrid and here we begin to appreciate the mixer's art as key samples from previous tracks are used to keep the whole set coherent. It's then time to get a little funky with Dreamer in a genre I can only describe as "House Hop"! Finally Jigsaw plays us out with a satisfyingly hard but subtly downcast tune. I found this set to be one of the most sophisticated in that it ran the whole gamut of sounds you could expect to hear from these genres. It takes you on an A-Z emotional jerking session from aggression, through funk and soul, to zeitgeist. Probably my favourite set - but then I would say that wouldn't I? Set 3 - House/Dance (22:10) We begin with an oldie but goodie from house fanatic Mark Penny - this was the first track I ever heard in DE2. It's been speeded up and overdubbed but still retains the "wow" factor that makes eJay so special. I thought the mix into Downloader paused the atmosphere somewhat and sounded more like a filler than a track in its own right but the vibes get going again with Paradise Decay and once again we are throwing our hands in the air in a dance frenzy. Nice transfer to Virus but once again the pace is lost and people head for the bar in droves. There's just time to chuck a chilled Metz down your neck whilst tapping your feet to Tony ED before the familiar strains of Peppy's hypergenerator and cello skills reach your ears. Not really an orthodox dance track but what the hell - you hurl your body around anyway, like you've been electrocuted, before retiring to the toilets to throw up. I found this set a bit disappointing as I was expecting a non-stop dance experience. There're too many indifferent bits to keep the mood flowing and no real highs. Now in my days of disco dancing we used to……….. (ah well…this is just an extract Joos…not the full set!! MJ) Set 4 - Techno/Rave (19:03) I don't think The Delivery System will be too happy with the treatment given to his track, which is used to open this set. Racking up the tempo does absolutely nothing to this tune so we'll pass quickly on to DJ MuzikAL. The b.p.m. really goes through the roof now and between him and Jat UK we have 3.5 minutes of absolute mayhem. The frenzy comes to an abrupt halt with Peppy but the respite is only temporary as magnificently structured but complex rhythms take over. If you haven't tied you legs in knots at this point then you can groove to AFD before building the beat once again with Clubber UK. The house is really jumping at this point and only the fittest among you will keep it going through Slippy-T and ConKuss. There really needs to be a health warning on this set as the punishing beat (surely 180bpm +!) certainly takes its toll on us unfit types. Overall the set is extremely lively and apart from the first track and a few high-pitched squeaky vocals is mixed to perfection - a must for all you ravers and techno freaks. This is a superb advertisement for all the eJay talent out there and provides an excellent sampler for the range of music that people are creating. DJ MuzikAL has done a great job on the mixing - it's a real labour of love and it shows. I'm not one who's prone to exaggeration but I would willing sell my collection of Bee Gees memorabilia, re-mortgage the house or sell a kidney to get my hands on a copy of this CD. No one who loves eJay should be without it and what's more all the proceeds get ploughed back into the community - what more could you possibly want? For more details on the contents of the CD and purchasing information, pop along to the shop - you'll be sorry if you don't. |
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| BLUE GENE I noticed that the sound quality was very, very impressive. I liked it a lot. Nice one! The mixes themselves are brilliant. However, I did feel that some numbers went on a bit too long but there again on the dance floor it'll go down a treat. |
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| INSANE JANE Muzkial, the compilation album is EXCELLENT!!!!! |
| VIRUS Congratulations as it not only SOUNDS great, it also LOOKS very fine indeed!!!! The mixes are as professional as one could get them, just as good (or even better...) as the REAL mixed cd's in the shops!!!! |
| DREAMER The HipHop section's highly recommended! |
| The compilation is nothing short of 70 minutes of excellence !! The conjoining of individual artists creations into a 'meld' of wide ranging yet enjoyable sounds. The continuity of quality is maintained throughout....Listen for yourself. Deek (True music from within) |
| GIRLYBOY I got a copy of the Demo Review CD and it kicks! |
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| Mix 1 - Ambient/Alternative The scene is set; with the sublimely laid back Europa by Cyberjay. Lovely Spheres permeate this track, yet at the same time it has enough 'edge' to it to make it a dance floor mover too. Owes large thanks to the likes of Mr. Jarre with more than a nod to Kraftwerk as well. A seamless link takes us into Mysteries of The Insane Mind by Insane Jane. Bit more of a beat here to liven things up, though it does managed to retain a lot of the chill factor too, a good example of Ambient d&b. Works particularly well when the percussion is beefed up at the mid point of this particular track. Bit of a lurch into Slippy T's W.O. This has now become a serious dance mix with less emphasis on the ambient and more on the beat and the set has been very cleverly built to this point, without noticing this has built and built - sign of a good DJ I guess. Mr. Mystery tidies things up with Mysterious Man and at the end of this set I have to convince myself that I really have heard a mix of tunes and not just one extended mix, so well do they gel. Mix 2 - Hip Hop Now I'm not much of a Hip Hop fan but the placing of Partners In Ryme at the front of this set was perfect. Easing you into the groove with the brilliant It's All Good. How the hell do you guys get so much out without tripping? Segued into Joosman's Serious Etherianism this makes a serious opening 6 odd minutes. The mood slows, allowing us a respite from the break neck pace with the introduction of West Coast by DJ Joe. Not for the first time I have to pinch myself to remind me that all these tracks were produced by eJay artists. The flow of this set is maintained with the introduction of Slow 'n' Low by the remixer himself DJ MuzikAL. Smokey nightclub abounds here and we are taken into jazz funk land wit the meld between Funk This by Dreamer and Precinct 152 by Jigsaw. This is a seriously good set and again the placement of the tracks can't be faulted. Mix 3 - House/Dance Interesting choice of opening on the Dance mix. A hi-energy mix, which I have to say, is one of my least favourite tracks of the whole collection. I know this is from one of the older members (not so much in years) of the community, but I personally feel it shows how much the whole eJay community has grown since those early days. The vocals get on your nerves like only eJay vocals can. I find I have the least to say about this set as the whole mix just seemed to 'happen' around me and didn't really capture me. I found I was just listening rather than enjoying, unlike the previous sets. To me this is the only set that sounds eJay.! Mix 4 - Techno/Rave Frantic opening and The Delivery System do Rave! With a seriously revved up version of Bitter Herbs. A brief respite after nearly 2 minutes then you are thrown headlong back into the mix. God I wish I could dance. The master remixer gets another outing (hey he deserves it) with Pumping Eetha. Up goes the volume!! As we step seamlessly through the tracks, Jat, Peppy, AFD, Clubber UK, Slippy T and Conkuss all come and flow in a blur. Well what can I say? Well for me, the Ambient and Hip Hop mixes are the best, though that is obviously my personal taste. The mixing of the tracks is superb and with very few exceptions sounds totally professional. For me the dance mix is the weakest, but I am sure there will be those that will say I am talking out of my ar*e. Well worth £9.99 of anyone's money. So come on you guys, put your money where your mouth is. |
| GROUNDIO if you dont have Chilled Out City get it!!! I got my copy today, and its damn good, almost as good as my coffee Seriously, u mates must have this one. |
| CHILLED OUT CITY REVIEWS |
| D. Edge Just got Chilled Out City this morning...damn, this rocks hard!!! You wouldn't think for a minute that most of these trax were from ejay, save for those odd recognisable samples...but this is a work of art m8! If i could, i'd send you a bottle of Bud thru the post... ;) The mix takes you on a sonic journey for the first half, and kicks in on the dancefloor for the second half... It's a sonic experience for sure. it also gives you an opportunity to hear what eJay artists are capable of... |
| DJ Mezzer Great job on the cd man :) I had a listen last night whilst painting my room and was very happy with it.You mixed my tracks in very well:)) The whole cd is very well put together and the mixes blend really well. Good job Al |
| Groundio "The journey" is just the right word to this peice of art. Most of artists in this album are "well-known" in the Ejay community. Few of them have had success in many different kinds of projects and mp3-sites. So, this is a high-quality album, that says the namelist itself. Mixing is done very professionally and you hardly can spot any low points from this set. Sound quality works for all purposes and there is minimum noise in the backround, which makes F2M wonder, how EJ2DJ did this.-After all, most of the tunes are downloaded in 128 mp3-files (or higher). And that is one point, that there should be more noise....Very good EJ2DJ. This album shows all one very important point, there is many good artists around this world, but so few opportunities to get their name in big wheel. EJ2DJ is doing small, but important job in this area, and its job is very hard. Meaning that, that there is many good artists, so little time. Lets continue our journey. After intro this album grows and gets bigger little by little, very softly and very ambient. There are some interesting tunes around the corner and before you know, they come straight to your ears. You get into your mood before mid-point is reached and you feel relaxed. Then starts long way to very beautiful end. You are about to come more relaxed, close to "falling asleep" and hole surrounding "real world" disappears. You find yourself from another place called "Chilled Out City". After listening to this set, F2M begins to believe in Ejay community and its artists. This shows all to us, that one point to start making music is Ejay itself. Then you naturally grow and most likely you leave Ejay to your memories, BUT, this album shows what you can do, even though you are not "professional" in musics. Very nice tunes, very professional mixing, very ambient. |
| HIP HOP HEROES REVIEWS |
| Jules Verne claimed to have done it in 80 days, I've just completed the same journey, effortlessly in just 60 mins, thanks to the wonderful Hip Hop Heroes CD. It captures the imagination, with flavours and styles from around the world. You get a mighty sense of cultural influence, just from the artists themselves. This album would not be possible, if not for the power and potential of the onlne community. DJ MuzikAL has done a remarkable job of remixing the tracks, I could say not 1 drum beat is out of place, but I would be lying, it's more truthful to state that not 1 single cymbol is out of place. The mix is so good! Hip Hop is not the easiest style to mix, in fact how many hip Hop mix CD's do you see in the shops? Virtually none for the simple reason it takes a lot of love and care to acheive such perfection. If you want a refreshing change from your standard dance mix CD's, you got to give this CD a try. I'm constantly amazed at the talent that stems from such a close nit and friendly community. Paradise Decay |
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