Very highly commended album and I bought it as a cheap throw in on a large order after a mediocre ‘In Sides’ by Orbital.  The album starts and ends with a boring 2 minute vocal loop – ‘When time becomes loop’ is quite clever but long enough.  ‘Planet of the Shapes’ is a noisy mish mash of shapes, so at least it keeps to the name.  When ‘Lush 3.1′ kicks in things are redeemed but the track doesn’t really go anywhere in the end and leads straight into ‘Lush 3.2′ which again fails to get much better than the first few bars.  Again right into ‘Impact’ which has the classical Orbital sound but sometimes becomes very harsh and loud, the same thematic continues until ‘Halcyon’, the only brilliant track on the album that begins beautifully but begins to get a little harsh again and lasts too long.

So a rather negative review, why?  Because the tracks would be good if they were cut down to 3 minutes.  The music introduces itself quickly then fails to improve, sometimes becoming tedious and loud, I found the same in ‘Out there somewhere?’ in ‘In Sides’.  I don’t know what the hype is about and much prefer smooth sounding, real electronica – Digweed, Dreadzone, this is just not kind on the ears.  4/10

Since I loved the dreamstate that the original Involver could put me into, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the long awaited and cleverly named In(vol2)ver.  It begins much like the original with a ‘Grand National’ in ‘You are the worst thing in the world’.  I was slightly disappointed as the mix slowed down a bit from there and nothing much happened in the next few tracks, but it picks up again at Charlie May’s Midnight.  The Felix Da Housecat moment happens again with ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’ with some horrible grating vocals and you would’ve thought Sasha had learned from the original but all is redeemed when M83’s ‘Coleurs’ comes on, a brilliant track.  The mix ends well with the also fantastic ‘Three Little Piggies’ and The Engineers.

Overall, I’m just a little disappointed.  Involver 1 was amazing but 2 is very different, being electronic and boring in places to equal the original.  However, it still has a great ‘white’ and neutral dreamy feeling to it that can hypnotize you like the original and I highly recommend this mix. 8/10

I haven’t written here for ages and since I have ordered many more CDs and explored many more artists!  Shpongle is just one of them.  An amazing blend of psychedelic trance and world music, the album begins with Dorset Perception, an awesome, fast, jungly track that you will find on mix albums such as Sasha’s Involver.  The album slows down afterwards and becomes very random and is perfect for entering a certain state of mind.  The amount of samples and strange atmosphere on the album makes it one of a kind, except the first of their albums, ‘Are You Shpongled?’.  9/10

I bought this purely from the recommendation of members of amazon.co.uk, as usual.

It’s different. Different, in an amazing way. With old English samples, accordions and all sorts of instruments it feels familiar and peaceful. According to minister-of-dub of amazon.co.uk:

Second Light is like a spliff – fuelled trek across the English Countryside, taking in caves, oceans and sailors (could just be me!)with Mr. Kipling at your side. Theres an even more spititual feel about this album; it is so chilled out it just fills you with a sense of peace and well being.

I agree, it’s a beautiful album and definitely worth it if you like something very different from any dance you’ve heard before!

My rating: 4/5

Amazon rating: 5/5

This is a compilation of Daft Punk’s work plus a few remixes, so in a way I’m reviewing all of their work (though some of their best stuff is left out). Interestingly, Daft Punk fell way below Justice in the Top 100 DJs list, even though Justice imitate them.

Unfortunately, the tracks not a continuous in the mix CD since it’s a compilation, so the jumble of tracks leave it far from Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 album which is brilliant. Also, many of the tracks aren’t Daft Punk’s best, ‘Musique’ and ‘Something About Us’ for instance include a lame robot voice and are uninteresting. ‘Robot Rock’ has potential to be brilliant but in 4 and a half minutes Daft Punk hardly change a thing. ‘Da Funk’ is great, along with ‘Around the World’ and ‘One More Time’. The remixes suck. Buy Alive 2007 if you like Daft Punk, even if it costs much more.