Artist: Luke Solomon
Album: Cutting Edge mixed by Luke Solomon
Label: D-Edge
Release Date: 02/07/2012
When this (rather rare) mix album from Luke Solomon dropped onto the Spotlight welcome mat a little while ago we knew two things. Firstly, we'd be covering and most likely enjoying the contents in due course, and secondly there would be wall-to-wall boompty boomp beats heard along the way. At least part of that preconception proved accurate.
Just as suspected then this meld of electronic dancefloor stuff is entertaining, and rarely drops off- indicative of an almost perpetual right choice of next track. However, despite the man's association with Music For Freaks alongside Justin Harris, and Classic, which he co-runs with Derrick Carter, there's a darker edge at work than one may have expected, almost from the outset.
A few tracks in then and bomb number one hits, sounding like Kris Wadsworth's heavy, stripped lyrical slammer Lime & Pink. It's got all the hallmarks of groove-laden vocal house fare, only as realised with the punch of an far weightier kick, a la that remix of DJ Assassin's A Face In The Crowd. So that's rolling, reverberating basslines, and electro edges, only in this instance the theme is tech, not garage.
It's a route we continue down, via breaks and lackadaisical fours, soon arriving at Kink & Neville Watson's wholly Detroit inspired Metropole. There's a faint air of the epic about as the synth, refrained notes and twinkling keyboards build, albeit whilst enough funk is retained so as to ensure we could still opt for either of America's greatest gifts to the club world. As it happens we fall seamlessly into the percussive, tribal-ish Preset from Crooked Man, welcoming hypnotic beats and echoed, soulful words- again straddling tough and groovy with deft skill.
Staying on the same concept, contrast is pretty much everywhere throughout the entire compilation- whether that's in terms of the actual tracks themselves, or its playlist- but this is achieved in a logical way. With the exception of one or two instances things are either rolling, or giving us a rest from such rhythms, creating a club set feel throughout. Somewhere in between 2AM and six then, it's precisely the kind of thing that's going to cause some damage at the after session.
