ES

by Rick Anderson Satoshi Tomiie released his previous mix CD nearly three years earlier, and he returned to the game after having been greatly influenced by the darker, deep house sounds of his European colleagues. This album, the first in a two-disc series (the second, ES-B, was released simultaneously), features a rich variety of progressive and tech-house flavors. While ES will obviously appeal mainly to those with a predisposition toward Euro-house, people who generally avoid house music may be surprised by how enjoyable much of this material is. Coburn's "We Interrupt This Program" makes wickedly clever and funky use of vocal samples, and Avenue D's charmingly titled "You Love This Ass" nicely incorporates both over-the-top vocoder effects and lots of cute retro synth squelches. Even Chab's "You and Me," which is pretty tedious on the surface, manages to remain strangely compelling throughout its seven-minute length. Then there's the album's closer, a cool and funky song by Slok titled "Lonely Child," which wraps things up very nicely. Recommended.