Bassbin Sessions : Bassbin Sessions

Subtitled 'the heaviest bass, breaks, and beats,' the difficulty in handily classifying the genre of this two-CD compilation is reflected by the blurb on the back, which describes it as containing 'Drum & Bass to House, Hip Hop to Dub, and...Dancehall to the darkest U.K. Garage beats.' Listeners might not all agree on what to call it, but everyone knows the kind of music, generally speaking, this is. It's heavy on stuttering, clattering electronic beats; pulsating basslines; overlays of spooky electronica; unearthly haunted-sounding vocals that echo into the ether; and various miscellaneous effects that often, like the other elements, repeat over and over like a defective CD stuck on a particular audio snippet. All 26 tracks are from the mid-'90s right up to the 2006 release date of this anthology, and while a few of the artists have made some impact with the greater pop audience (DJ Shadow, Jungle Brothers, Goldie, Leftfield, Todd Terry), many of the names will be mostly familiar to dance music/electronica aficionados. With two hours and 20 minutes of music, this will be too repetitious for many non-aficionados/general pop listeners to handle, but for those who dig such sounds, this could serve as either a good varied comp or a decent introduction to some other paths to explore. For one thing, it's a good value: each disc is crammed with almost 80 minutes of music. For another, there are some different spins to be heard on the mixtures of these elements, whether it's a little dub here, a little disembodied Third World-influenced vocalese there, some sexy chanting, a bit of outer space synthesizer action, and so forth. Some more traditional melodic musical flourishes can be heard on occasion as well, but the beat and insistent throbbing (and often low'n'bassy) tones are really what carry the day on most of the material. ~ Richie Unterberger, Rovi