Nexxsound, The (Mixed By DJ Craze)

On the follow-up to his debut album, three-time DMC World Champion DJ Craze takes a break from the original music heard on his first album (although he includes his own "Nothing" in the set) to release the 16th mix compilation in Mixer's United DJs of America series. It is also the first time Craze showcases his drum'n'bass over his hip-hop side, although both are key elements in his make-up, alongside the Miami bass boom of his native city. The album works as both a dance floor-ready mix tape and a compilation of exclusive underground junglist tracks from revered British labels like V Recordings, Undiluted, and Virus. It is also a magnificent exhibition of Craze's way around the decks, particularly the mixer. Both his battling savvy and dance floor wizardry come into play. He expertly moves through paranoid tech-step funk (Trace & Optical, the Pedge) and hard-edged darkside dub (Decoder/Substance's "Rubbery"), to more repetitive and hypnotic breakbeat stylists (Distorted Minds) and ambient sounds (J. Malik's "Solarized"), and finally to almost soulful strains of drum'n'bass (Total Science's "Peacemaker," Supply & Demand's refracted "Show Me") in a virtually vocal-free set that emphasizes the movement quotient over the introspective, easy-listening one. There is nothing easy about the set, but it is sweaty and neon-encrusted, a post-midnight urban cyberscape. It rocks a party hard but also carries an emotional weight. Craze doesn't display his turntablist skills as readily or prevalently as he might during a hip-hop showcase (the only real hint of hip-hop comes during the "Intro" with Mic Rippa and during his single-deck demonstration, "Craze's Tablist Outro"), although his subtle scratching throughout cuts like a precise blade and turns his transitions into minor works of art themselves. He mostly allows his selections to speak for themselves and tell their own stories -- and they speak to the feet most of all. ~ Stanton Swihart|