Back to Mine

by Dean CarlsonUnlike his many mixes for Global Underground, Nick Warren's time up at the Back to Mine bat was spent with a soft stash of bass-heavy, clanked-up late-night gems. No time for the aseptic stirrings of progressive trance, Warren focused instead on his downtempo tastes, which were surprisingly strong, and he consistently made it feel like winding through drowsy acid house, Latin techno, and British breakbeats was a perfectly sensible idea. Sequential's "The Mission," John Beltran's "Guitaris Breeze," Glide's "Space Van," and Craig Armstrong's "This Love," featuring a welcome appearance by Elizabeth Fraser, made for a dark and chilled experience but free of distracted lounge kitsch. Like late-era Massive Attack, Warren's Back to Mine cared only about the appeal of a slow, hard beat, offering a smart and unconfrontational mix safe from pre-dawn noise complaints.