Horns echo over broken beats and voices ping and pong as
DJ Spooky
takes all of the releases in
Thirsty Ear
's
Blue Series
and gives them some serious crinkling, crumpling, and stretching on
Celestial Mechanix: The Blue Series Mastermix
. The challenge of the
is to take artists from different genres and break down the stylistic barriers between them. Heavy in concept for sure, but the series has offered up more than its fair share of outstanding records. Many releases have delivered on
's promise of hearing "the shape of
jazz
to come," but
Celestial Mechanix
is all quirky,
illbient
, and echoing
Spooky
. Then again, with such a sprawling selection of tracks that are already unclassifiable, what was the guy to do? The tracks on the first disc are remixes that contain "elements" of different
releases, and it's the lesser of the two discs. If it wasn't for all the flutes, saxes, and the voice of
Saul Williams
, this could be an old
Byzar
or mid-period
Ben Neill
record with that atmosphere-over-direction aesthetic and a good bit of excusable noodling (the exception is
's moving, melancholy, and purposeful take on
Craig Taborn
"Shining Through"
). Had the mix on CD two been placed first, the collection would work a lot better.
's disc-one constructions pay off on the "anything goes" mixed disc two. It's like listening to some undiscovered late-night radio station where the DJ has excellent taste in music along with a digital delay, and the station's program guide just lists the show's genre as "freeform." It's murky but goes somewhere, and
has somehow come up with a flow to these wildly divergent tracks. Things start with
rap
,
electronics
, and
dub
but end on the jazzy, organic tip with a slow, smooth transition. The whole trip has less to say about the possibilities of music than other
releases, but as a dubby, guilty pleasure for academics, it works. Slaves to the esoteric, come get your fun. ~ David Jeffries