Various - Toxic

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 21 / 8 / 2006

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Review

Toxic is an uber-hip Parisian club night, run by Reanimators, two DJs with a background in hip hop, who started the night in 2002 as an alternative to the commercial dance clubs around the city. As well as cutting edge and old school hip hop and electro music, the club also plays post-punk, new wave and funk, making for a pretty varied night. This compilation is an 80 minute taster of the sort of music the club plays, a selection of the Reanimators favourite acts and tunes popular with the Toxic crowd. This is mainly hip hop and electro, particularly the latter, both the original acts and modern tracks. Judging from the tracks on the compilation, Reanimators obviously prefer to play instrumental tracks, judging by the inclusion of instrumental versions of tracks by Wu Tang’s Masta Killa, late 80s rap group Tuff Crew and avant-rappers Anti-Pop Consortium. Most intriguing are the tracks by all-but-forgotten bands (in mainstream circles anyway) from the early 80's. The Fearless Four, for example, were one of the first rap acts to be signed by a major label, but are rarely mentioned in hip hop histories. Lesser-known Factory Records band the Royal Family and the Poor’s 1981 single ‘Art On 45’ is also featured, which sounds like a disco version of the Fall. Spanish Industrial trio Esplendor Geometrico are perhaps the most surprising find on the compilation, with their danceable slab of art ‘Moscu esta Helado’. Another great find on the compilation is Swedish band Revl9n, who play a kind of electro disco punk, with bassy synths and dirty garage rock guitars. You have to be fan of instrumental hip hop to get the most of this compilation, but if you approach it with an open mind it you get discover some of the great lost artists from the past three decades.

Track Listing:-

1 Reanimators- Toxic Bird Cage
2 Jel- The Livestock Rock
3 Beans- Bubonic (Instrumental)
4 The Fearless Four- F-4000
5 Masta Killa- Digi Warfare (Instrumental)
6 Tuff Crew- My Part Of Town (Remix)
7 The Juan Maclean- By The Time I Get To Venus (41 Small Stars Remix)
8 Antipop Consortium- Dystopian Disco Force
9 Jackos- They Live We Sleep
10 The Royal Family & The Poor- Art On 45
11 ESG- Bam-Bam Jam
12 Esplendor Geometrico- Moscu Esta Helado
13 Revl9n- Someone Like You
14 The Octagon Man- Elff
15 Maggotron- Computer Funk
16 Maurice Starr- Electric Funky Drummer
17 Justice- One Minute To Midnight
18 Dabrye- So Scientific
19 Funkaho- Bootay
20 Mike Ladd- Stereoladd