Oftentimes, soundtrack albums seem indulgent, even ridiculous endeavors, ploys to make a few quick bucks with little or no effort. Used CD bins fill up with movie soundtracks you'd never dream existed and that nobody wants to hear.
Groove, however, is a different kind of soundtrack. This one has heart and serves multiple purposes. Of utmost importance is the fact that this is not merely a collection of various artists' songs taken from the film. This is a mix CD with expert transitions from song to song and from genre to genre.
Wade Randolph Hampton, a.k.a. Wish FM, musical supervisor for Groove and one of the DJs who makes an appearance in the film, was granted the honor of creating the first in a proposed series of mix CDs "inspired" by the movie. Being the first of the lot, this mix needed to represent the full spectrum of the music used in the soundtrack while still maintaining the integrity of the DJ's personal vision. Hampton, who has released four mix CDs of his own prior to this, with another on the way, has valiantly sacrificed his own tastes to satisfy the demands of the project, as his preferred genre of drum 'n' bass is largely overlooked here in favor of more trance- and house-oriented fare. Hampton makes up for this loss, however, with the inclusion of several personal projects in the mix, including one of his own songs and a few tracks released by his label, Domestic (co-run with partner Stephanie Smiley, music publicist for Groove).
One of Hampton's personal projects on the disc, W's "Duke's Up (Joshua's Dubwise Mix)," is a sweet, atmo-jazz house number with lots of ambiance and enough funk to keep your booty shaking. "Duke's Up" is not the W track featured in the film and it's not as straight-up house as earlier cuts on the soundtrack -- "Girls Like Us" or "You're the Lucky Ones" by Groove actor and Haight Street DJ-producer Baby D Love, for example -- but it should definitely keep the crowd moving. As for the two domestic cuts, one is Protocol's angst-ridden electro-breaks "Symbiosis," which actually starts the film out, though it's relegated to the back end of the set here. The other cut, "Beachcoma" by Protocol labelmates Hybrid, is a dark trance 'n' breaks track.
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| Click here to read our interview with Wish FM |
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Broken down, Wish FM's mix is half actual soundtrack music, accompanied by the more important opening and closing cuts; San Francisco-based producer Scott Hardkiss' aptly named Aural Hallucination Mix of Alter)Ring's "Infinitely Gentle Blows" is presented at the end of the CD. This is fitting because, honestly, it's one of those songs that can't really be followed by anything else; it's so perfectly a "last song," the perfect aural accompaniment to watching a sunrise after a full night of dancing. Other tracks are similarly evocative. "Heaven Scent," the anthemic hit song by Bedrock that producer-DJ John Digweed spins as the closeout of his set in the film, was wisely included here as well. The use of this spacey trance track in the film classically captures the epiphanous feeling of spiritual release experienced by dancers at the breakdown point in a song, during the high point of a party. And Wish FM's transition into "Beachcoma" right after is really quite nice.
Towards the middle of the set, Hampton spins several tracks that aren't from the film but represent some of the more renowned talent of the underground dance scene, such as Orbital, who provide their gorgeously catchy classic "Halcyon + On + On" and a version of popular trance producer BT's track "Calling Your Name" by Libra Presents Taylor (remixed here by Ferry Corsten and retitled "Anomaly -- Calling Your Name."; pretty confusing, yes?). Both of these tracks highlight sweet vocal samples -- something that DJs know the ladies like. Hampton was sure to include a nice variety of vocals sprinkled throughout the set, sometimes featured and other times in a more subtle, sampled way.
This first installment of the Groove soundtrack mix CDs rather brilliantly captures the energy and flow of the movie while providing a nice collection of fairly recent and relevant songs and artists representing the unique San Francisco underground dance scene, all packaged as a smoothly mixed DJ set. Next up on the Groove list is a set by John Digweed -- let's just see if he can top this!
Anji Bee | July 11, 2000
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