It's always nice to be able to pick up a sampler geared toward a genre of interest and be treated to an assortment of promising new or established artists in the mix. Taking a look at Worship Together's new electronic compilation Cathedral of Sound: Global DJ Experience, the listener is offered a moderately bland experience as a whole.
The record opens slowly and uneventfully with Daniel Lozinski's somber and lifeless "Phaze One." While a decent track alone, it's too slow of a mix to start off such a project. It has its moments some time into the track where a live drum loop livens up the tune a little, but overall it's an unimpressive effort. Node's "Reflux" doesn't exactly fare too much better as the only thing this simplistic track has to offer is an all-too-common fast beat that utilized a little more efficiently could liven up any other track but feels wasted in its efforts here. Kenny Mitchell's "Angels" doesn't step up to redeem the project as it feels like the intro that never quite matures into a full song and features haunting vocals that do anything but help the track. "Free At Last" from Mark Edwards starts to offer a little hope for the project and is followed up by the much more engaging "Amazing" from DJ Andy Hunter. A little more soaked with pop sensibilities than preferred, "Amazing" still offers more life and promise than anything else offered up until this point. Hunter actually composes a song and not just an electronic mess with "Amazing," and even offers vocals provided by Christine Glass Byrd, although the song would probably be just as effective without them.
Pete Lozinski's quirky "Sweet Rose" is somewhat of a retro early-90's flavored track that you can almost imagine the Newsboys using on their Not Ashamed record and has enough change-ups and layers to keep it interesting. Doug E. Ross's "God Screams" is an excellent techno offering with a fast-tempo pulsating beat that propels the track into high gear while Mark Edwards redeems the lackluster "Free At Last" with his second offering in "Vision of You." The charm of "Vision" is it's drum loops and multi-layered elements that keep it interesting. "Vision of You" is definitely one of the highlights of Cathedral. Adam Skillz shows some skills with "Waiting," a little flavor I've definitely been waiting for. An almost hip-hop beat thumps through this laid back tune supported by a tasty soulful rhythm. Kenny Mitchell moderately redeems himself with the more upbeat "Wonder" but the overall feel follows "Waiting" just a little too closely. It sounds a little too much like the previous track which Skillz pulled off a lot more effectively.
Cathedral of Sound: Global DJ Experience is a disappointing compilation of original DJ mixes and offers only eight different artists and ten tracks where only a few really stand out and are memorable. In a market where we could really benefit from some solid DJs, it'd be tragic if this is the best we've got. On the bright side, the record does serve as decent background music if you want some tame ambient noise to just fade into the background. But if you want something to spice up a party or jazz up your car, keep looking.
- Review date: 2/10/03, written by John DiBiase
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