Renaissance Ibiza: The Masters Series Vol.2

Renaissance Ibiza is the ideal antidote to all the generic 'Trance Nation X' albums vomited up to us the public by the likes of Gatecrasher, Ministry and Cream. Away go the monotonous one note basslines, the awful synth melodies and breakdowns, the terrible 'screaming blonde bint x' vocals. In comes a deeply crafted yet no less pumping mix of quality. As soon as Pink Cigarettes starts playing, you know you've hooked into something beautiful. One of the all time best ways to start a mix off. The mood of the mix is deep deep electronic house, with leanings towards trance minus the cheese. Lush synths punctuate the tracks set against grinding mechanical percussion. The deep intro tracks of disc 1 move into the etherial vocals of Tracey Thorn on Temperamental before the new updated version of prog house classic Kinetic really thunders along. Bassy! Several big tunes from the Deep Dish stable punctuate, the massive anthem in the form of their remix of Sven Vath, the lush spaceyness of The Flying Song, the dark thunder of 16b's remix of Morel. All quality.

Where disc 1 starts off deep and builds up, disc 2 carries on from where it left off. A Timo Maas marathon sets the tone for the mix, lots of funked up, thumpy progressive house grooves from a time when Timo was firing on all cylinders. Danny Tenaglia pops up with his classic remix of Green Velvet before BT, ECVM and MRE drop all the main letters from their names and provide the very progressive trance end to the mix. A perfect antidote to all those just plain sick of Milk Inc, Lasgo, Scooter, Genric Trance Band #32. And don't be put off with the usage of Ibiza in the title, its about as far from the generic Ibiza compilation as you can get! I found this mix exciting and fresh, easily worthy of putting up on the pedestal with the more funky house of their Yoshiesque 1. Top form Deep Dish.


A clever well worked mix with quality stamped all over it   December 26, 2000
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Deep Dish have come up wih a sophisticated mix that needs to be listened to carefully from start to finish. The music is worked from the beginning with each track a carefully considered masterpiece. The first CD features tracks such as Tonuri's Hope through to EBTG's Tempramental before it explodes with Commie's mix of Kinetic by Golden Girls. If there was a mix CD that could make you cry this would be it (Well Disc 1 anyway.) The second CD has much more of a tech-house feel to it, including 4 tracks made or remixed by Maas. Disc 2 also features Tenaglia's mix of Flash, a tune not to be missed. All in all Dish have hit the nail on the head with this mix, I have not heard a better mix CD.


Compleatly enthralling from begining to end   October 13, 2000
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

One of very few dance albums that you can lie back and listen to, also one of very few that give an accurate depiction of clubs sounds around britain. No commercial rubbish here, just pure deep house and trancey sounds at it's best.


The true spirit of Ibiza perfectly captured by Deep Dish   August 28, 2000
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

When Renaissance unleashed their first compilation CD upon an unsuspecting public, who could have guessed at the tide of imitations that have followed down the years. Sasha and Digweed's effort will still go down as one of the best mix albums of all time, but recently Renaissance have decided it's time to enter the fray again. As always with the midlands club, the attention to detail is superb and once you have held the beautifully illustrated box-set you too will appreciate the effort that has gone into making something just a little bit removed from the norm. All this would mean nothing though if the music did not meet the requirements. Again, Renaissance have stuck to their deep, progressive music policy and enlisted Washington DC's Deep Dish to compile and mix the album. Moving through the smooth narcotic house of Tonuri's Hope to more elevating moments from BT, Timo Maas and Moby, the mixing is seamless, giving the listener a special insight into the Renaissance experience. Fans of the club will be well catered for, and anybody who prefers their dance music a little on the underground side should look no further for a slightly more credible summer compilation.