CD Reviews

Nick Warren

Paris | Global Underground

By MICHAEL FREEDBERG | February 13, 2007

3.0 Stars

Paris

As a jet-setting resident DJ simultaneously in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, and Athens, and with a recording career already in place, Nick Warren has proved himself worthy of this two-disc DJ mix. Do not, however, look in these 24 tracks for more than the occasional dirty beat, soulful diva, or harsh acid sound. Neither is there much that you’re likely to hear in Paris discos. (Unless Warren is spinning there.) The first CD is given to a dreamy, orchestrated sadness more typical of Mylène Farmer than anything disco. If like most Warren fans you prefer active beats and faster rhythms, you’ll enjoy only the second CD, in which he moves the music from laid-back electronica (Blue Fountain’s “Sweep”) to psychedelic trance (Essenvee’s “Head Down (Jay P)”), electro-house (Pole Folder’s “B Side”), rhythmic monologue (the 16 Bit Lolitas’ “Neptune” and “None Verbal,” the most memorable track), dub reggae (Habersham & Kazell’s “Paradise Rockers”), techno (Moldan & Ismae’s “Fivefivezero”), and back to electronica (Ohma’s “I’m Lost”) and trippy funk (Tannen’s not-so-black “Blackout”). Moving from style to style is unusual in DJing, but it ensures that the music will never have time to catch its stylistic breath. Dancers will enjoy this despite the absence of any recognizable dance-floor hits.

On the Web
Global Underground: www.globalunderground.co.uk
Nick Warren: http://www.djnickwarren.com/

Related: Sultan, Dark Globe, Flower power, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Mylene Farmer

| More

ARTICLES BY MICHAEL FREEDBERG

DONNA SUMMER, 1948-2012 | May 22, 2012
Donna Summer, Dorchester born and always Boston-loyal, died last week, reportedly of lung cancer.

DANCE MARATHON | March 04, 2008
A full brigade of House Nation citizens turned out for Victor Calderone’s marathon spin session at Therapy last Saturday.

HOUSE HEADS | February 19, 2008
The lounge at 33 Restaurant & Lounge on Stanhope Street in the Back Bay may just have Boston’s tiniest dance floor. The upstairs restaurant isn’t much bigger.

SANDER KLEINENBERG | January 22, 2008
Kleinenberg’s 28 selections were made by names not well known — the classic strategy by which a DJ projects his own sound, one unmistakable for anyone else’s.