I hereby humbly present my Justin Berkovi Mix [.mp3 removed], featuring several of this UK producer's innovative techno tracks from the late '90s/early '00s. I thought the Village Voice was being perverse comparing techno to bluegrass a few years back (actually it was the other way around, and it was disparaging) but the second track "Gaddster" makes the connection explicit--much more convincingly than the The Grid's early '90s one-off "Swamp Thing." Berkovi doesn't just superimpose a banjo over a dancefloor beat, he actually uses electronic instrumentation and studio wizardry to mimic the rhythm and feel of a thumping hoedown, or maybe "holedown" since the track keeps plunging into the sonic equivalent of the Ketamine hole. Here's a track listing, all mixed live from vinyl EPs:

"Dark Clouds" from "The Storm" (Predicaments 11)

"Gaddster" from the "01273 Predicaments" (Force Inc.)

"Thass Raaht Baaahbee" from "Tanned Lumps With Lipstick" (Predicaments 9)

Track 2, text side, from Nightrax "London" EP (with Ibrahim Alfa)

"Dark Clouds" reprise

- tom moody 6-02-2004 6:45 pm