Cream by Sandra Collins
Cream is Sandra Collin’s latest DJ mix work for Kinetic Records and probably one that is the most extensively promoted on that label. Tabbed as Trance for a wider demographic, Sandra’s mix of thumping patterns exploits the public’s appreciation for the deep bass and groove accessible on urban dancefloors. But in reality, Trance is more of an experience and religion than a party. And for the die-hards, even though Cream is entitled after some collective ideal, it is in reality a progressive house mix with its thumping and grinding rather than true, ethereal, mind encapsulating trance. Whatever classification however, Sandra’s collection of songs fails in their overall blandness and undifferentiating heaviness and doesn’t quite match up to the progressive house styled trance mix on Kinetic’s Transport 3.
Score 60

Transport 5 featuring Quivver
Quivver aka John Graham is the latest protégé on the Kinetic’s Transport trance mix effort. It’s a darker and colder effort distinct from the previous albums. Quivver’s selections almost embrace the industrial German techno classics with its synthetic sounds and regular patterns. Highlights towards the end of the mix adds some pizzazz and spunk but its too late to save the tremendously tedious progression towards them. The pendulum has already lulled us to sleep.
Score 50.

Global Underground: Los Angeles by John Digweed
Purveyors of true trance claim John Digweed’s Hong Kong album a must have. And the Los Angeles album is said to be not far behind. So the idea behind these albums hopes to capture the essence of the artist’s experience and performance in the club tours of each host city. Los Angeles’ nightlife is a mystery to me but I could imagine the Hollywood recreations on TV and the movies to be that such a life is high class, high art, or even high snob, or at least elusive from a dark and mysterious underground. Such a picture contrasts the overly bright and plain daytime life of the city’s smog, population and more population. So Digweed’s collection of songs are a step above most that I have reviewed from Kinetic’s collection. And I get the feeling that Digweed’s stuff is quite exclusive and exclusively not from any pedestrian, bland and mass produced, US collection. Ha! It’s an eclectic buildup where there are the few splendid songs of splashing vibrancy yet not enough of them amid such a long double album. Could such a mix portray the mysterious LA underground? Could this represent the occasionally rare episodes of real life brilliance associated with the city of Los Angeles and their police chase videos? Without the raver posers and e-tard’s variety of performance enhancing chemicals, this would too much of a hassel - much like the traffic jams on I-405.
Score 65

/author/ Alzn