Taka Taka

by Andy KellmanJust a couple months prior to the release of Alcachofa, his first production-oriented full-length, Ricardo Villalobos put out his second mixed set of lustrous house goodness. Much more varied but just as steadily flowing as Love Family Trax, Taka Taka is as winning as Dan Bell's The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!, and it also sits alongside that disc and Tobias Thomas' Smallville as glowing showcases for microhouse circa 2003. Like those mixes from Bell and Thomas, Taka Taka is rooted in a particular production style, and throughout, that style is linked to a series of minor but unexpected deviations that make for some of the most exciting moments. Take, for instance, the way Brothers' Vibe's "Años Libre" -- a lightly charging stomp with a rolling Latin percussion grafted on top -- is melded into the cold metallic waves of Vainqueur's "Elevation 2" for over four minutes. Shortly after "Años Libre" evaporates, Walter Jones' deep house track "All God's Children" rolls in with a punishing human-drummer beat that's eventually joined in tandem by a programmed one. This frenetic shake-up eventually gives way to another brick of quirked-out microhouse, including tracks from Villalobos, False, and Luciano, but the set winds up being capped off by a trio of productions that fall in line with more traditional, full-bodied, less-clipped house -- all without falling victim to overtly sophisticated smoothness. Those who have been privy to Villalobos' turntable performances should be easily won over by this natural display of slick selection-making and mixing. There are few in his realm.