Producer 06

by Kingsley Marshall Although Swedish producer Sebastian Arhenberg signed exclusively to Good Looking from 1996 through to 2001, his inevitable defection and subsequent outings for the Idioma, 720, and his own Secret Operation imprints demonstrated his ability to operate far outside the constraints imposed by Bukem and his coffee table-obsessed compadres. That said, Seba's time at GLR was well spent, with this collation of the majority of his recordings for the label testament to his skill -- even "So Long," his debut for the label recorded with fellow countryman Steffan Soderman, has lost little of the magic it held on first being released. In a fast-moving genre, six-year shelf lives are virtually unheard of, yet much of Seba's work captured here -- from the vast intro of "Universal Music" through to the spine-tingling key work that graces "Planetary Funk Alert" -- shows a melodic dexterity and nimbleness of arrangement that easily outmaneuvers the majority of contemporary releases. A grandiose swan song that celebrates both the end of an era while simultaneously signaling the beginning of a whole new body of work.