Affiliates Work - Invol2ver

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Manufacturer: Global Underground UK

Average Customer Rating:

Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0828272130221
Label: Global Underground UK
Manufacturer: Global Underground UK
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Global Underground UK
Release Date: 2008-09-09
Studio: Global Underground UK

Related Items
Global Underground: Lima Transitions 4 Renaissance: The Mix Collection A State of Trance 2008 In Search of Sunrise, Vol. 7: Asia

Editorial Reviews:

Invol2ver is no ordinary mix CD. Its's a painstakingly created blend of mix and artist album in which a world class DJ pushes his creativity to its very limits, helped by a crack team of studio experts. This is Sasha cutting loose. Taking a diverse collection of the widest tracks imaginable.
Picking them apart. then weaving them into a colourful tapestry that is completely his own. Involver 2 is the sound of one of the world's finest DJs at the peak of his powers, mixing you the future.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: every track isn't a winner but the majority are
Comment: Not all tracks are keepers, but you should be able to get a full CD worth of awesome tracks if you burn what you like off CD 1 and 2. Great mixing of the tracks as few can do. One of the best CDs out this year AND BEST YET... it's tracks that you'll only find on this CD vs. hearing on other compilations. Very original work.

For perspective I also enjoy Markus Schulz, Gabriel & Dresden, Above & Beyond, Cosmic Gate, Tiesto, Andrew Bennett, Sander Van Doorn, etc.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A satisfying achievement, following more on FUNDACION NYC than the first volume with its electro vibe
Comment: It has been over four years since Sasha released Involver, a hugely successful single-CD set consisting entirely of his own remixes of notable and lesser-known tracks. In 2005, he released Fundacion NYC, a document of what he was playing in clubs at the time on his bespoke Ableton Live software, which sadly attracted little attention in spite of being in my opinion a major artistic high point. Encouraged to provide a follow-up specifically to INVOLVER, Sasha gave us INVOL2VER in mid-2008. Again, the set consists entirely of Sasha remixes, but the overall sound reliably reflects his electro interests of recent years, as against the progressive house and guitar pop mixture of the original INVOLVER.

Like FUNDACION NYC, the mix begins with ambience especially created by Sasha under his "Badger" moniker. This then falls into the fun electro pop of Telefon Tel Aviv's "You are the Worst Thing in the World". The mix of Sasha vs Adam Parker's "Lowlife" into Charlie May's "Midnight" is sudden and incongruous, and yet strangely beautiful and effective, much like the shoehorning together of Breeder's "Tyrrantanic" and Luzon's "The Baguio Track" on the Sasha and John Digweed collaboration COMMUNICATE back in 2000. Other reviewers have commented on Sasha's treatment of vocals in some of the tracks, distorting them to the point that they produce little more than a melody with little textual significance. This is generally a wise move, as lame lyrics have always been a weak point of the dance music genre.

Ladytron's "Everything You Touch" provides the only really disappointing moment of this mix, with its annoying distorted female vocal loop at the beginning, though the track gets better from there. The real climax of the set comes with Thom Yorke's "The Eraser", which is brief but absolutely searing with its ice-cold production and vaguely threatening wording. Sasha winds the set down with one of his own recent tracks, "3 Little Piggys", and then gives us some appropriate exit music with Engineers' "Sometimes I Realize".

Though I still think Sasha's best performance of this millennium is FUNDACION NYC (ignore my Amazon review of it, I was thinking stupid at the time), INVOL2VER is an impressive achievement. In my opinion, it certainly beats the original INVOLVER, which often out of touch with Sasha's real tastes and talents.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Mind Music
Comment: Just ordered it, and I've been listening to it quite a bit since it arrived. I especially like the track "3 Little Piggys." On my first listen, I thought disc one as a whole was decent, but had certain highlights. In listening to it again all the way through the next day, I like it even more. Very immersive.

Once I'm done with disc one, I'm usually still wanting more...so it's nice that this is a two-CD set, and I can just roll into disc two without stopping!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Either a Master, or a Master of Deception?
Comment: I have always had a strange relationship with Sasha's studio productions. Either he is a true mixing master or is the beneficiary of a lot of hype. I still haven't quite figured out which even after listening to the follow-up to the first Involver.

This latest effort is incredibly detailed, with so many smooth transitions going on, and is so full of atomsphere that the word that comes to mind while listening is "elegant." It is elegant trance music. None of the harsh, jarring and head-crushing dribble that keeps permeating the dance scene after all these years.

Involver2 is not soft. It's not lounge. It is dance music to be sure -- but it is also to be listened to, and really absorbed. Is it unique, NO. Is it new, NO. Is it innovative, not really. Is it good, yes. It's excellent in fact. But it still seems like it is only half - the softer half - of the classic work he did with Digweed (whose Transitions 4 is superb, by the way). So it seems incomplete, as if some ingredients are missing from a great meal. Good songs, good mixing, but directionless.

Sasha has either created something new: a detailed and intricately mixed atomsphere of danceable trance, or he is just throwing similar sounding tracks on a disk, mixing them well and selling it as a complete work, as with Fundacion (3 stars) and the first Involver (3 stars).

With Involver 2, Sasha has produced creative music that we all will eventually catch up to or he has us all fooled.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Letdown!!
Comment: A true letdown from the original Involver! Nothing jives in this new CD. Don't get me wrong, Sasha rocks, but there is much work to be done here. Sorry! The ladder part of the CD starts coming together and you start to feel... and then it ends making you want more. Cheers!

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