James Holden - 'At The Controls' (Resist) Released 27/03/06

James Holden first made his name in the dance scene back in 1999 at the unfeasibly young age of 19 with his eclectic smash ‘Horizons.’ Since then he has carved out an illustrious reputation for himself with waves of quality productions, topped perhaps by last year’s brooding anthem ‘Come With Me.’ Very much the DJ’s DJ, Holden has continued to defy genres with the music he concocts and plays, taking in anything from prog-house, techno, electro and even elements of that dirty word ‘trance’. Following on from a couple of well-received mix albums, we now have the double-disc ‘At The Controls.’ Typically a hybrid of different styles, it’s a subtle and clearly carefully mapped out work that doesn’t play on the formulaic build-up/release style of most mix albums, instead taking us down unpredictable avenues.

The first disc starts off slowly with the hazy atmospherics of Aparrat’s ‘Wooden’, before soon weaving towards the stoner’s classic that is Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor’s ‘Trinity Three Dub.’ After the celestial chimes of ‘Anita Barber’ by Death In Vegas’, the first real dance moment is provided by the hammering electro grooves of Petter’s ‘Some Polyphony’ – things are soon spliced up again before we reach the mix’s pinnacle, the techno monster that is ‘Trace Infusion’ by Midimilliz. Very, very nice indeed. Yet just when you’re thinking Mr Holden is going take us to an ecstatic, hands-in-the-air climax, he swiftly drops the tempo with the lovely ‘Watussi’ by Harmonia. Bastard. From then on, it’s a foray into more electronic spine-tinglers capped with the brilliant ‘Charlie’s House’ by Nathan Fake (easily the best tune Orbital never made) and the string-ladden, breaks gem ‘Angels on your Body’ by Lucky Pierre.

After the spaced-out, aptly named ‘Opening Titles’ by meta.83, the second mix kicks into life a bit quicker going from the ominous (Paul Kalkbrenner’s ‘Gebrünn Gebrünn’) to the deep (Motivi: Tuntematon’s ‘1939’) to the insanely gorgeous and affecting (Malcolm Middleton’s breathtaking ‘Solemn Thirsty’). Things then a bit weird namely with our man Holden vs. Milky Spots’ stuttering electro number ‘Sun Spots’ – typifying this brief yet bizarre segue’s almost anti-dancefloor rumblings. After the trance-tinged ‘Big City’ by Lazy Fat people, the mix transgresses into tunes laden with all-consuming swathes of looping bass lines, proggy beats and big atmospherics – very much the staple of the man’s live sets. The portentous sounds of Holden’s own uncompromising mix of Black Strobe’s ‘Nazi Trance **** Off’ stands out, all before the unlikely final tune of AFX’s (Richard D James) ‘Every Day.’    

With ‘At the Controls’, James Holden has crafted a highly intriguing and intelligent mix album. Subverting and the norms and challenging the listener throughout, there’s little doubting that only dance or electronic music aficionados will ‘get’ this album and become fully absorbed. The rest stand no chance.