Album Review - Radio Slave presents Creature of the Night

Eskimo have long been pretty much the finest providers of electronic mix albums since Eskimo Volume One came out back in 2002, but things have been a little quite of late. Here to shatter that silence like two fanatical Nintendo characters smashing a Wii are Radio Slave.

Opening with P Diddy's acapella from DJ Hell's 'Let No Man Jack' Creature of the Night demonstrates an interesting combination of darkness and funk from the beginning, with Diddy's screams echoing over Sly Mongoose's boogielicious 'Snakes and Ladder'. What's more, in the form of 'Wrong Galaxy' Shit Robot deliver one of the most exciting tracks BlackPlastic have heard all year. Acid crescendos give way to stabbing synths, reminiscent of T.H.D.'s excellent 'Hippies In Da Houze' (as heard on Miss Kittin's Radio Caroline Volume One).

The Kills turn up with the getting ubiquitous 'No Wow', this time mildly tweaked by Radio Slave, a track that even when played in its original form somehow manages to sound neither as though it is played through real instruments or electronic equipment, conjuring a mixture of glitch house and rock music. X-Press 2's 'Kill 100' (again, messed with by Radio Slave) takes things somewhere even moodier and Green Velvet's 'Shake and Pop' is typical Green Velvet, somewhere between House and Techno and very likable.

Ricardo Villalobos' mix of 'Behind the Mask' by Señor Coconut is as bizarre as it sounds - a kitsch, techno-latin romp that gives way to Corey Hart's eighties classic 'Sunglasses At Night' (more recently covered by Tiga). Stopping off for some more kitsch with The Osmonds, Creature of the Night ends with Dennis Parker's almost Bond-like 'Like An Eagle' (you'll recognise the sample as the hook from Par-T-One's 'I'm So Crazy'.

Creature of the Night is as you would expect, dark, funky and, since it's Eskimo, a damn fine mix album.

Comments

[acidbearboy]

Sorry I couldn't find a better way to contact you but I don't see you around on rllmuk and your site doesn't appear to have any contact details.

Creatures of the Night was a bit of a grower for me. The first few listens were not so great. As for the Eskimo thing, I've really not heard much of their output, a few Lindstrom & Prins Thomas bit aside. The new Cosmo Galactic Prism is a pretty fine mix though, have you heard it?