Annie Mac: Annie Mac Presents
Annie Mac: Annie Mac Presents
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Friday, 23, Oct 2009 10:02
Island Records, released October 26th.
In a nutshell...
The mistress of mash up returns.
What's it all about?
Presents is Annie Mac's first release on Island and is a double disc selection of her finest cuts from the world of dance, grime, dub step and drum 'n' bass.
Who's it by?
After a long stint as the nation's warm=up for the night out, Annie Mac's legendary Mash=Up show has finally earned the prestigious 7-9pm slot on Radio One thanks to her endless quest to search out and splice together some of the most forward thinking tracks in the world of dance.
As an example...
Dizzee's Butterfly is no Shakespearian sonnet but let's be honest, the Mash-Up is less about lyrical content and more about huge tunes and getting yourself psyched for a night on the tiles.
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
As accomplished as this mix is, Miss Mac is much more likely to be the one at the helm of the after party at the Grammys treating the suited and booted to a bass-driven feast.
So is it any good?
Disc one of Presents is opened by the current grand duke of grime, Dizzee Rascal, with a VIP version of his bouncy, bass-warped Butterfly and is a solid start to this pre-club power up.
Dizzee then gives way to Major Lazer - MIA collaborators Switch and Diplo - with their quirky dancehall fusion that has made them favourites of the mash up.
We are then taken up a few rungs on the tempo ladder via Fake Blood and on up into the world of old school vocal led house classics from the likes of Steve Angello and MSTRKRFT before being propelled forward by DJ Zinc's remix of Bulletproof. This track may not quite compare with Skream's dub step re-working of In for the Kill but the straight forward wobbled-bottomed bass line turns this pop classic into a prime example of what the Mash-Up show has come to represent.
We are eventually led into the plodding sub underworld of dub step rather untactfully with Rusko's How Lo Can You Go but it is Joker's mean half time slow rave re-work of Simian Mobile Disco that is the real stand-out track on side one.
Disc two starts promisingly with a Crookers remix of Miike Snow's Animal which merges nicely with Leo Zero's take on Florence and the Machine's Rabbit Heart.
The middle section of disco two drags its feet slightly and tracks like Blinded by the Lights and Subscape's Nothing's Wrong, which are monolithic dub step masterpieces in the club, feel a little sluggish and add little in the way of dynamic or spice to the mix.
Despite several listens the last five songs are utterly unremarkable and drift by without leaving a single impression which is a disappointing end to what is a otherwise pleasing mix and leaves you feeling like your killer night out has ground to a rather depressing halt.
7/10
Ross McTaggart