Toolroom Knights, Toolroom Records annual mix compilation album, this year is much different from previous years. Gone is the house, and in is a mixture of electro, dubstep, drum ‘n bass, breaks, and, well, almost everything.
Skills is undoubtedly one of the mix DJ’s on the last decade and can rightfully so rub shoulders with legends such as DJ Yoda. In fact, many prefer Skills, almost for his sheer audacity that which is evident in this album. Initial evidence of this is the sheer number of tracks packed in, 39 in fact. The CD includes his new exclusive tracks Potential Super Violence and 9 Levels Of Power, alongside production partner DJ@War.
There are some brilliant tracks in the album but sadly the mix suffers from the same problems many mashups do – there’s also some really, really bad tracks. To start off with the good, Pornstar by TC is always welcome, the double Bart B More dosage of Brap and So It Goes work the ears well, as does the inclusion of Hatiras, Mark Knight, Koen Groeneveld, Cassette Jam and Digitalism.
But to move onto the bad, The Law by Tantrum Desire is a bit naff, and what the hell is Noir’s My MTV doing in here? It’s a horribly irritating track with horribly irritating vocals. It’s rescued a bit by Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson’s The Strings of Life, but I still just can’t ignore the annoying vocals.
The mash up skills presented really are sublime but it’s almost too polished, it doesn’t have the rough cut appeal I love about a mash up, and it’s much too long. It would have been better cut down, the best mash ups for me tend to be 45 minutes or less – this runs well over an hour. Which when you consider how frequently it cuts and loops is a bit much.
Jaguar Skills is exceptionally talented with his mixing, presenting an uncanny ability to mash up multiple tracks in such a manner that were you not to know, you’d be none the wiser. However some of the tracks in this compilation border on the irritating, and Jaguar seems too keen to pack in a quantity of tracks, creating more a mix tape which shifts quite quickly from one track to the next. Technically brilliant, musically ever so slightly rusty.
A must buy most likely for mash up fans, more of a pick up for a fiver for everybody else.
Tracklist
- Up In the Club (Original Club Mix) – Terravita
- Pornstar (Original Club Mix) – TC
- 9 Levels Of Power (Original Club Mix) – Jaguar Skills & DJ@War
- Alchemy (Original Club Mix) – Funkagenda & Michael Woods
- 21st Century(Accapella) - Dave Spoon
- Brap (Original Club Mix) – Bart B More
- So It Goes (A Day In The Life) (Accapella) – Bart B More Feat. MC Flipside
- Twist Em Out (Original Club Mix) – Dillinja
- Ginger Pubes (Original Club Mix) – Cookie Monsta
- Bright Lights (Rockers Mix) – Die & Interface Feat William Cartwright
- The Nervous Track (Original Club Mix) – Nuyorican Soul
- Yin (Original Mix) – Wolfgang Gartner & Francis Preve
- All About (Original Club Mix) – Don Rimini
- The New Jam (Original Club Mix) - Hatiras
- In The Beginning (Accapella) – Hool V Bruckheimer
- Drug Music (Accapella) – Mark Knight
- Me & You (Kamuki Remix) – Nero
- Bare Night (Original Club Mix) – Torqux
- Torn Apart (RUN DMT Remix) – Down Jones
- Tarantula (Original Club Mix) – Pendulum Feat. Fresh, $Pyda & Tenor Fly
- Strings of Life (Original Club Mix) – Christian Prommer’s Drumlesson
- My MTV (Accapella) – Noir
- Potential Super Violence (Original Club Mix) – Jaguar Skills & DJ@War
- Rockafella Skank (Original Mix) – Fatboy Slim V Koen Groeneveld
- The Law (Original Club Mix) – Tantrum Desire
- Shut The Lights Off (Adam F & Sigma Remix) – Adam F & Horx feat. Redman
- Organ Grinder (GreenMoney’s ‘Lighter’ Remix) – Trevor Loveys
- Hey Homo (Original Club Mix) – Cassette Jam
- Stand Up (Original Club Mix) – Friction feat. Camo, Krooked & Dynamite MC
- Never Stop Believing (Nicky Siano Jaguar Remix) – The KDMS
- Afterclub (Accapella) – Funkagenda feat. Big Ed
- Gabriel (Original Club Mix) Roy Davis Jr. feat. Peven
- Sinnerman (Original Mix Sean Miller & Daniel Dubb
- Blitz (Original Club Mix) – Digitalism
- Judas (Dem Slackers Remix) – Mom & Dad
- Do You Feel It (DJ Tool) – The Hedgetrimerz
- Nitro (Original Club Mix) – Michael Woods
- The Curse (Original Club Mix) – Unknown Error
- Warface (D-Minds Remix) – Jakes
