This Month

This Month's Mackie's World Record Reviews

[5/5]

Les Rhythms Digitales - Darkdancer

Wall Of Sound

80's concept albums don't get much better than this

Jaques Lu Cont (Jack The C***) is actually Stuart Price from Reading, and he's scared of potatoes - he's obsessed with all things 80's and his new album is a reflection of that - bringing in influences from all aspects of that decade's various types of dance music. Stand out tracks include previous singles Music Makes You Lose Control and Hey You (What's That Sound), plus great new retro tracks like Dreamin', Hypnotize and Take A Little Time - this album is full of old-skool sounding tracks, yet made in a way that they can sound retro and fresh at the same time.

[5/5]

Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl

Freestyle Dust

The original big beat superstars make a triumphant return

More Info

This is the first taster of the Chemical Brother's third proper album, Surrender, which is schedualed for release on June 21. This superb 4 minute track features everything you've grown to love about the 'bros', and some unexpected housey refrains - if this is what the rest of the album's gonna be like, then we're in for a chemical future

[5/5]

DJ Eric presents We Are Love

Distinctive

Dance floor cross-over smash in waiting

REVIEW COMING SOON

[5/5]

Lost Witness - Happiness Happening

Sound Of Ministry

6am uplifting house anthem - something special

This is the tune that you've been hearing recently close to the end of the night, which just begs you to wave your hands in the air - its unusual in that it is a house track with lyrics, and yet it still gets hammered by all the top DJs, who usually opt for a dubbed version. Everything will be perfect, tonight and forever it goes, then La La La La La La Laa-La-Laaa - Judge Jules even cut the volume for a minute to let the crowd at Slinky sing it last Friday

[5/5]

Mauro Picotto - Lizard

VC:recordings

Gonna get you, gonna get you, gonna get you and so on

Talking of the whole hands-in-the air thang - it's a reflex action when you hear this track. Forget the radio edit or even the Tall Paul remix - go straight for the Megavoices remix - all that build up, then the cool bit which will ensure that this lizard will never die in clubland - Ibiza here it comes!

[5/5]

Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

Pepper

Catchiest record of the year!

Everybody you meet is either humming this song, or will be as soon as they've heard you singing it, as it only takes one person to say "sweet like chocolate boy" and you're singing it for hours. It really needs no explaination - this is a great track, dead cert. no.1, and the vast majority of its sales will be in London (on its first release it was 95% London that bought it, though I'm sure its sales will be more evenly distributed this time round)

[4/5]

Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free

EMI

Most unusual record of the year?

You either love it or hate it - at the moment I hate it, but I'm sure I'll love it again next time I hear it. You all know it already, and you've already made up your mind, but I think its probably worth getting, simply because its different

[4/5]

Celeda - Be Yourself

Twisted

Twisted are back on form with this top new track

Finally a record that is just about as good as the hype suggests. Danny Tenaglia's massive hit Prancin' + Dancin' from last year, featured Chicago's Celeda, and this could even be bigger, chart-wise. After topping the Buzz, Mixmag, Ministry & DJ Hype charts, plus 5/5 in Muzik, this has already prooved to be THE TUNE. Although the credit seems to be aimed squarely at Celeda for this track, its actually just as much Tenaglia as Dancin' + Prancin.

[4/5]

Chicane & Maire Brennan - Saltwater

Xtravaganza

Our favourites return with this radio friendly anthem

More Info

Irish group Clannad have been off the scene for a while, and Maire Brannan shows that The Corrs aren't all that, by doing guest vocals on Chicane's fantastic new single. After all those years of Mackie's World support (Our first ever single of the week was the original Offshore, before it was ruined by Powerhouse), Chicane shamefully decided to remix Bryan Adams - the ambient version of his single Cloud No.9 even turned into the lead track for the radio. Saltwater proves Chicane are back on form - this could well be Chicane's, and even Xtravaganza'a biggest hit to date!

[4/5]

Jose Nunez featuring Octahvia - Hold On

Sound Of Ministry

SOM bring us yet another club classic

Tromendous follow up to the big club hit In My Life, this cut should fair a bit better. It has a great bass line, and uplifting vocals, and comes complete with remixes from Jazz-N-Groove (That's Studio 'Freak It' 45 to you and me).

[4/5]

Nas - Hate Me Now/Nas Is Like

Columbia

Nas is like, back, with a top class double a-side

Nas recorded one of my favourite singles of all time - If I Ruled The World - with Lauryn Hill, but his subsequent releases have been somewhat dissappointing - with the blatent exception of Nas Is Like - the coolest hip-hop track of the year, which has been tragically ignored by a lot of the British media, and more importantly, the record buying public. Hate Me Now, with Puff Daddy has nothing on its B-Side - why Nas needs Puffy to launch is superb new album is puzzeling - but hip hop acts always guest on each other's tracks - can't they ever record a track on thier own?

[4/5]

Ozomatli - Ozomatli

Almo

The international ten-piece give us a very diverse debut

This is a perfect summer album and a great way to end this century. It draws inspiration from all over the world, and is refreshingly different to the drivel that some of the other trendy bands are producing at the moment - with more instruments on this record than you can shake a maraca at, this is definately worth a purchase.

[4/5]

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Scar Tissue

Warner

First new material since Love Rollercoaster is red hot

It may take a few listens to get into this track, but soon you'll realise that it is just as good, if not better than Blood Sex Sugar Magic's classics like Give It Away and Under The Bridge. Although the new album isn't all that, this song is a gem. Its also great to see they've kept their great logo for this release - the two crosses superimposed - like that asterisc only better

[4/5]

Pete Tong - Human Traffic

Essential

Superb soundtrack to this year's Britflick

Half unmixed, half mixed by Pete Tong, this is a perfect snapshot of UK clubbing - future dancefloor (and chart?) hits, current clubland smashes, and a selection of classics. What really lets this down is the inclusion of tracks from the Essential Spring 99 collection - including Armand Van Helden's Flowerz and Maddkatt Courtship - My Fellow Boppers. It Ain't Gonna Be Me by CJ Bolland is a superb track, whcih will be the tune for the summer, but there are also a few hidded treasures, like Olmec Heads' Spirtualized. Also its a clubbing compilation without ATB - 9PM Til I Come on it, which is an achievment in itself (Yeah, I know its Mackie's World's club track of the year so far, but its reached the ultimate level of commercialization this week - its not even been released but its managed to get into the chart in two seperate positions on seperate import sales alone!)

(9PM) TILL I COME ATB
Club Tools

N
E
W

(9PM) TILL I COME ATB
Dancenet

[4/5]

Tall Paul - Be There

Duty Free

The tall one shows us why he's DJ of the year

Gallery resident Tall Paul's new record is released, as usual, by the record label housed in the same venue as The Gallery - Turnmills. Duty Free records release the first in thier series of Keep Duty Free mix albums from Tall Paul next week, and both the mixes of this single feature prominently on there. Tall Paul is never one for compromising his recordings, for commercial appeal - both the Tormentor & Sentinal remixes are over 8 minutes long, and there is no radio edit. I hope this is a hit, as Tall Paul is our favourite DJ of the year so far.

[3/5]

DJ Sakin & Friends - Nomansland

Positiva

Sakin couldn't really follow up that Braveheart monster

Whereas its predecessor had commercial club & house/trance superclub & chart radio crossover appeal, this single seems to have mainly beenp icked up by the commercial clubs - I cannot recall hearing either the mediocre radio edit or the typically epic Lange remix on the radio or at Slinky or the like. Not destined to be as massive as Sakin's debut, but still worth a purchase, if just for the Lange remix, and the ludicrously short Lange remix of Protect Your Mind.

[3/5]

Indian Ropeman - Elephant Sounds

Skint

Not exactly what you expected from skint, eh?

An excellent collection of songs, with varying styles, and some very big beats along side the Ropeman's funky sitars and tablas. There are some superb tracks, like Sunshine Of Your Love, which has FUTURE SINGLE written all over it - fantastic. This debut LP features brand new single 66 Meters, with the heavenly vocals of Smack My Bitch Up's Shahin Badar.

[3/5]

Jamiroquai - Canned Heat

Sony

So Jay Kay hasn't progressed at all in the last 3 years

Well, maybe that's a little unfair, but this single (apparently not one of the best tracks from the forthcoming album Synkronized) sounds just the same as everything from the last LP - as everyone loved thier last LP, everyone will probably go out and buy this new single, which is currently netting well over 1200 radio plays a week (Jamiroquai gets upto 50 squid a time lest we forget). Jay Kay may be commersial, but he makes a great record - just sort out that attitude, OK?

[3/5]

Powerhouse featuring Duane Harden - What You Need

Defected

You don't even know he was the no.1 geezer in February

Duane has a great voice, and its great to see him following up from his success doing the vocals on Armand Van Helden's You Don't Know Me. This great Powerhouse track could well chart higher than the pitiful 18 of the Armand's Flowerz follow up - which incidentally is not nearly as good as What You Need. Lenny Fontana provides the best of the three remixes, though Full Intention & Richard F both make commendable efforts.

[2/5]

Younger Younger 28 - We’re Going Out

Indie anthems don't get much more commercial than this

Hoping to be a big hit because of its chorus (Lipstick, Cigarettes, Packet Of Three, We're Going Out), sung in a way that echoes Billie's Because We Want To, this track has been hyped in the indie rags for weeks. Indie kids love songs like this, even though YY28 seem nothing more than the indie Spacedust or Steps - designing thier records just to be big hits, while the people who buy the discs believe that the artist is just as genuine as a five-year-old girl who idolises the latest pop-act ("Prescious are better than Britney Spears because they can actually sing" I heard yesterday).

[1/5]

Vonda Shepard - Baby Don’t You Break My Heart Slow

Epic

What can I say - its aimed at Ally McBeal viewers

Admitedly, I do watch the show every now and again - the music is the most sickening part. I prefer to sit there and laugh at all Ally's misfortunes, and the bits where you're supposed to feel sorry for whoever she's defending (notice how they ALWAYS win?!). The parts which are designed to be funny seldom raise more than half a smile from me. But all that is irrelevant, as this is a record review. Infact, Vonda Shepard's new track is not even from Ally McBeal - it is from her forthcoming album By 7.30, and is obviously just as dispoable as Songs From... Well-written & well-sung lyrics, and great production make this ideal for commercial radio, but it really isn't a record a bloke could get into - or infact anyone who likes excitement in thier music.

[0/5]

Boyzone - By Request…

Unniversal

If you like them, you'll have all these super songs, anyway

There is little point in my reviewing this - if you want this record, you'll buy it regardless of what I right, and there certainly isn't any way I could (or would want to) convince anyone who doesn't like boyzone, to buy thier greatest hits. As best of's go, this is quite good if you're a fan, as it features 19 tracks (14 top fives, and the new Ronan track from Notting Hill OST), but you're probably better off buying the OST, and getting a load of new tracks by better artists thrown in for free.

[0/5]

Precious - Say It Again

Chrysalis

We really need a new way of choosing our Eurovision act

Very poor imitation of the All Saints - if you think the girls' voices on the digital copy are bad, just wait 'til you hear the live version - it'll make you cringe. Bet against this winning! This is so not representetive of the UK - it's an embarresment.

Reviews Coming Soon

Jamiroquai - Synkronized, On The Floor Of The Big Beat Boutique 2, FSUK4* - Cut La Roc, Makin' It Hot - Cut La Roc, Redman - I Got A Seecret, Cypress Hill vs Jason Nevins - Insane In The Brane, DJ Eric - We Are Love, DJ Jean - The Launch, Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom, Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication, Skinny vs Norman Cook - The Weekend, Delirium - Silence