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Christopher Lawrence is no shrinking violet. During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, he used DJ gigs to actively campaign against President George W. Bush’s re-election by wearing a “ReDefeat Bush” T-shirt. Even though Bush won, I admired Lawrence’s willingness to challenge dance’s sometimes non-confrontational norms and say something that might have proven unpopular. Speaking of popular, at the time of this writing, Bush’s approval rating amongst Americans was at 37 per cent, the lowest ever for a president in U.S. history. It makes Lawrence, already a forward-thinking DJ and producer, seem all the more prescient. Wow, all this talk of politics and I haven’t even scratched the surface of Lawrence’s new mix, Subculture 01, celebrating the launch of his new label, Pharmacy Music. Matching Lawrence’s political resolve (though it remains to be seen whether he is in fact moving to Australia, which would be an ironic move for America’s favorite trance DJ and producer) is a mix that doesn’t pull any punches. Lawrence spares the fluffy, melodic breakdowns trance is sometimes prone to and instead keeps this 71-minute, 14-track mix kinetically charged and gritty. I’m by no means a huge trance fan, largely because of the poof factor, but I dig on Lawrence’s style. As trance goes, it’s also a window to the world for Americans (less than 20 per cent of you own passports – get out there, man!), with a diverse range of international talent represented on the mix: Holland, Denmark, Brazil, France and, best of all, Israeli psychedelic trance courtesy of Astrix, who’s featured with three tunes in a row. Good on, Lawrence for latching onto tunes coming out of Israel, whose dance scene just gets better and better. And so too, it seems, does Lawrence; Subculture 01 is one of his best mixes yet. – review by Yuri Wuensch
www.systemrecordings.com -
www.pharmacyelectronic.com -
www.christopherlawrence.com -- review by Yuri Wuensch
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