For DJ/Producers Anton Bass, DJ Sted-E, and Anthony Fonseca (who comprise the NYC trio Speakerbox), the latest dance act to experiment with combining elements of House, Rock, and Electro together with the hope that it'll catch on to the masses, after producing the 2004 hit and kinda miss, "Hit The Bass," they're back in 2007 with featured female vocalist Michelle Shaprow on "Time." This coarse, rock-sounding element which features, of all things, a repetitive guitar riff and accompanying bassline, repetitive synthesized keys and femme (but not necessarily) fatale vocals isn't a sure-fire welcome to the club scene but has some standouts sprinkled to and fro. With a dozen or so eclectic club remixes spanning all three genres that, while the first half of the single is boring and a bit repetitive, it's not until the bottom half that the selection of remixes sounds pretty good.
With over 78-minutes of a variety of Club mixes and Dubs from the likes of DJ Sted-E, Wideboys, Ray Roc, Hybrid Heights, and Milly Demon, these current collaborative uprisings of Electro blended with other genres within dance music has, thus far, been steadily gaining popularity and momentum- and this latest incarnation works on a few different levels, but it did take me quite a number of listens in order to commit several tracks to my own personal playlist.
The inclusion of an Acapella version (Track 6) in the middle of the single was a nice touch for the DJ who might want to overlay the vocals on some other track, although the vocals aren't that inspiring. Alright, so, perhaps these are minor annoyances, but for the most part this maxi-single provides plenty of interesting choices for the aspiring DJ or aficionado to work into a set.
Otherwise, and for the most part, I liked this single, though it took me a little bit longer to get into a majority of the mixes— something that, for the first time, threw me for a loop because I dawdled with this review instead of concretely deciding if I liked it or not. Then again, I'm not a hardcore fan of Electro being paired with Rock—something that was, perhaps, the reason behind my apprehensiveness. There is also Speakerbox's 4-track "Time EP" that contains their Radio and Club mixes as well as the Wideboys' Radio and Club mixes ---you know, to cut to the chase.
Track 7 – (The Wideboys Remix): Jim Sullivan & Eddie Craig's Remix is perhaps the best of the Club mixes out of the entire 12-track set. This is because there isn't a hint of the silly guitar riff that is predominately heard mostly throughout the other club mixes, something that bored me rather quickly. This not only works but is as true to the hardcore Club sound as it gets. Also check out The Wideboys' remix of Rhianna's "Don't Stop The Music."
Track 8 – (Ray Roc's Trackworks Club Mix): Another hardcore Club sound that's uniquely different than the other mixes, courtesy of Ramon R. Checo's deep bass-pounding production.
Track 9 – (Ray Roc's Trackworks Dub): If a particular club mix is kick ass, so should the Dub Mix as is the case here of Ray Roc's lyric-less re-envisioning.
