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There’s a delicate balance between aging gracefully, staying young at heart and growing as an artist. DJ and producer Robbie Rivera tips the scales on Juicy Miami, an overweight, overwrought and over-the-top double CD of tribal thunder, hard house and big-room cheese. It’s sort of frustrating because Rivera’s been at this so long, it would have been nice to see some kind of evolution to his sound. Success, however, often depends on formula. Over the years he’s been solicited to perform remixes for pop acts like Madonna, Ricky Martin and Kylie, and more underground ones like Funky Green Dogs, Moloko and Faithless, the foil is that they’re all sort of getting the same blurry, indistinct treatment. A Rivera remix, or production, never seems to deviate from being big and banging and, as a result, sort of boring, too. This is the story of Juicy Miami, named for Rivera’s label and hometown, rife with his original productions and remixes of artists like Steve Smooth, DJ Rooster & Sammy Peralta and Mixin Marc & Alex Peace (with the truly annoying synth line and vocals on “Frequency” – “the frequency is out of control …” Boo!). A few years ago, A DJ’s filling up a mix compilation with their own tunes and custom edits might have been a novelty. Since then, however, every DJ and their dog’s been doing it. That he can fill a mix with his own tunes is sort of admirable. That his productions always end up being so one-note is not. In short, Juicy Miami is old and tired, no matter how many beats per minute included in Rivera’s unrelenting approach might otherwise seem to dictate. www.robbierivera.com-- review by Yuri Wuensch
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