Cape Town [Limited]

Dave Seaman's second contribution to the Global Underground series finds the U.K. DJ moving to a darker, less accessible sound than on his previous album. The tracks still carry the tendencies of progressive house and trance, but these tracks seem less uplifting and more dreary, with each of the two discs submerging into a series of bland, hypnotic progressive house tracks before concluding with massive anthems. The first disc moves quickly into the great Futureshock remix of Moby's "Porcelain" -- a totally reworked track that uses little more than the original's beautiful ambient synth hook -- and then straight into the majestic female vocals of Ian Wilkie's "Guten Morgen." Following this haunting track, Seaman moves into a run of non-charismatic tracks that do little but keep the tempo pumping and the mood lulling until the final two tracks: remixes of Above's "New Day Dawning" and Breeder's "Tyrantanic" that conclude the disc with a powerful dose of progressive trance. Seaman composes a fairly similar set on the second disc, starting with the pristine strings of Pete Lazonby's "Sacred Cycles (Quivver Remix)," and dropping into a long run of dull tracks before concluding on an uplifting note with the vocal-driven "No Way Out" by Highland. While this album does function as a nice alternative to the anthem-filled progressive trance one might expect to hear with its rather melancholy trip into dark progressive house, it really needs to be listened to all the way through, unfortunately, requiring the sort of discipline many may not wish to invest. [Also available in a special limited edition.] ~ Jason Birchmeier|