Southern Fried and Tested 2 review

...and here's another one:

Ten years is a lifetime in dance music, so you have give credit to Southern Fried Records’ longevity as they celebrate 15 years in the game. Norman Cook’s label started off as a vehicle to release his own productions as Mighty Dub Katz, the Pleased Wimmin and that Freak Power tune from the Levi’s ad with the bald guy singing. Fast forward a decade and a half and Fatboy is releasing the second of his Southern Fried and Tested mix series, compiling some of the imprint’s successes over the years. This time label producer, sometime Chemical Brothers tour DJ and fan of musicals Nathan Detroit steps up to showcase a batch of back-catalogue classics. The premise is simple – fit as many tracks in to 70 minutes as humanly possible, while retaining a cohesive mix rather than the disjointed cut-up style usually adopted for this type of cram-it-all-in project. Think of it as an extended Annie Mac 5-minute mash-up.

With tracks by staples of the Brighton music scene Caged Baby, Radio Slave and Norman himself in his Brighton Port Authority guise, star names including Armand Van Helden and Touche, plus remixes from newer artists such as Laidback Luke, Herve and Tim Green, there’s plenty to be getting on with. Despite the press release claiming they’ve trawled through the label’s back catalogue, most of the records have been made in the last 3 years, and the list of people involved, particularly Riva Starr, Boy 8 Bit, Jesse Rose and Switch, suggests they’ve tried to remain relevant by pitching the mix at the fidgit sound made popular in recent times by the producers on labels Made to Play and Dubsided. It’s probably for the best that there’s no real concession made to Southern Fried’s more commercial releases, they’ve wisely left out the frankly dreadful remix of Elton John’s Are you Ready for Love, but after the tenth wobbly bassline in 15 minutes you’re left longing for a change of pace.

The problem lies with a lack of variety and the inability for the mix to develop. By trying to pack as many tracks into one CD as physically possible the individual songs get lost in the process. When a track is filled with as much sonic lunacy as the Crookers mix of Dusty Kid’s The Cat, if it’s only given just over a minute to play and no time to appreciate the huge drop you lose the full effect. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fairly innocuous, fun mix. In fact, it’s the perfect soundtrack for a load of hyperactive 16 year olds at a GCSE results party pissed on Cinzano stolen from their parent’s cocktail cabinet jumping around pretending to be in an episode of Skins. But for the rest of us there’s just not that much to get excited about.