The dust may have settled a little since March's Winter Music Conference in Miami, but still no one track has emerged as this year's big tune in style of Stardust in 1998 or Moloko last year. This 18-track mix CD from garage indie Azuli should help fill the gap by pointing to some of the bigger tunes at this year's event.
Ensuring an appeal beyond the specialist dance market, the CD kicks off with current smashes from Basement Jaxx, Moloko, Joey Negro and Madison Avenue. Higher by Moca - aka David Morales and Albert Cabrera - leads the way among the upfront tracks, and though it doesn't quite match the mass appeal of its predecessor Needin' You it's still a stormer.
Elsewhere, the album' s bias is heavily towards the funky garage sound of labels such as Subliminal, Yellorange, Defected and Azuli itself. Afro Medusa's summery Pasilda adds a Latin edge to proceedings, while other highlights are Johnny Corporate's irresistible Sunday Shoutin' and Sessomato's disco-flavoured ESG cover Moody. On an underground level, it's good to see DJ Rolando's hypnotic, emotional Knights Of The Jaguar (played across the board from MAW to trance parties) make an appearance.
The mix could be faulted for largely sticking to the traditional WMC garage sound and ignoring the impact of darker tracks as Luzon's Baguio Track and Danny Tenaglia's reworking of Green Velvet's Energy Flash. However, the event is now becoming so wide-ranging - drawing in genres such as trance and drum & bass - that it's perhaps impossible to cover every aspect on one CD.
Meanwhile, licensing costs no doubt prevented crowd-pleasers such as Black Legend's You See The Trouble With Me (big with Tony Humphries) and Bob Sinclar's I Feel For You (hammered at the Maxi and Subliminal/Defected parties) from appearing on the CD. These and other tracks will no doubt make their presence felt in the months to come. In the meantime, Azuli succeeds in giving a taste of the sound of the WMC.
