Josh Wink - Profound Sounds Vol. 3

Genre electronica Publisher Thrive Records External Links Official Josh Wink Website Official Thrive Records

Philadelphia-based Josh Wink is one of the most famous electronic dance artists to hail from America. A prolific producer, he's been releasing records since the early 1990's; 1995 saw his most famous track-- the legendary "Higher State of Consciousness," an enormous acid-house anthem-- find mainstream success. "Higher State" makes an appearance on the latest installment of Wink's DJ Mix series Profound Sounds. There have been some changes in the art of DJ'ing in the three short years since Volume 2; as Wink points out in the liner notes, tracks are now entirely mutable in the hands of a DJ equipped with Ableton or other similar software. Track IDs are therefore now a matter of convenience for the listener and a pain in the ass for the DJ, since how do you determine where one track starts or another stops when a track's components - from a simple kick or snare sample to an entire eight bar phrase or more - can be relocated, eliminated, or combined with any segment part of any other track. DJs from Richie Hawtin on his DE9 series to Sasha in his Fundacion guise (and dozens of lesser-knowns) now use this technology. When it works well, the result is a re-imagining of sounds and tracks. When it doesn't, the end product is a smooth, seamlessly blended mush that forgoes the energy generated by simple or even abrupt transitions: the well-timed release of stylus on vinyl boasts an incredible power to seize attention.

With that in mind, the primary task of a DJ remains selection. The first disc of Profound Sounds Volume 3 is titled "Subconscious" and the second "Conscious," which suggests several possibilities: first disc more subdued, atmospheric, cerebral, haunting; second disc more overt, concrete, corporeal, obvious. Do the mixes reinforce these classifications? Yes and no. "Subconcious" starts out on an engaging minimal tip with Run Stop Restore's "Corporal" and the B-side of Donnacha Costello's "Blue" 12". The latter is a delicate track that sends radar pings out over a astral landscape which grows more and more rugged. The perfectly off-kilter "Rancho Relaxo" has appeared on several successful recent mixes and fits in well next. Around a third of the way in, after quiet tech house from Sten and minimal techno from Hardfloor, the mix downshifts and drifts through a morass. The melodic techno of Los Hermanos' "Lines of Nazca" picks things up only to slam into Wink's remix of Radiohead's "Everything In It's Right Place," a track that stands out for its singing amidst mostly vocal-less techno, and as a reminder that Josh Wink is participating in the ongoing collision between the worlds of mainstream, above-ground, populist techno and of (previously) underground micro-scenes. It also seems like an attempt to re-position Radiohead with respect to electronic dance music, considering that the rest of the lineup represents a cross-section of electronic dance artists: respected producers like Guido Schneider and John Tejada; legends like Jeff Mills and The Orb; names from back in the day like DJ ESP and DJ Skull, whose old-skool acid house anthem "Don't Stop The Beat" takes over from Thom Yorke. After that it's Wink again with, of course, "Higher State of Consciousness," as remixed by...Mathew Jonson, the Canadian producer of minimal-techno stompers. An unlikely but intriguing possibility, it utterly fails to live up to its potential. "Higher State" demands to be the towering pinnacle of a build of great labor, but Jonson's version tames the famous acid riff with the curious choice of an Eastern motif, and repeatedly backs away from the track's ecstatic climax. Some credit goes for trying to do something new with an extremely familiar track, but more credit would have been given for eliminating it entirely. The follow-up, Mathew Jonson's "Love Letter To The Enemy," ends the mix on a dull note.

If "Subconscious" ultimately failed to launch, then "Conscious" has its job cut out for it: to shake off the torpor of disc 1 and re-engage the listener. Wink partially succeeds. Tracks by Alexi Delano & John Selway (playful, acid-tinged "Nowhere"), John Tejada (sweet "Sucre"), and Octave One (Alter Ego's euphonic Vocal Mix of "Blackwater") deliver in their own, various ways. On this disc the effects of Ableton-era mixing really become apparent: the blending style gives the tracks a consistency, like when the Orb track "Masterblaster" is bolstered by percussion and rhythm taken from its neighbors. The continuum is unbroken, but is that always desirable? Maybe its partly why the middle of disc 2 seems again to drop gear, with several ambient tracks ("ElectroFluxx" by Subspace, "Dusk (live)" by Steevio) - again supplemented with borrowed percussion and rhythm elements - right where the rising action should begin. Jeff Mills' track "Expanded" rolls the ambient section to an elegant finish, but a classic Mills banger would be more welcome. Richie Inkle's "Perspective" and Mateo Murphy's "Shadows" inject some energy into the last minutes of the mix. It's not enough to save Profound Sounds Volume 3 from being a mild disappointment, a mix that, despite comprising many substantial, worthwhile tracks, never climbs to a climax worthy of its elements.