Global Underground: Reykjavik

Amazon.com
With the esteemed Nick Warren (a.k.a. Way Out West) on hand, we should know what to expect on Reykjavik, his fifth entry in the Global Underground series. However, Warren's ear has picked up new sounds, and GU 024 may surprise those seeking the usual thump. The consistency provided by John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, and Danny Tenaglia has made Global Underground a brand in itself, one associated with the highest end of progressive trance and house. But Reykjavik often hovers around the beat, more interested in ambient crackles and Boards of Canada-like wanderings than the usual rhythmic grandeur. For much of the two-CD set, especially on disc 1, Warren spins light, sparse wax that rambles through electro and Orb-ish atmospherics and refrains from predictable peaks and valleys. Later, after the dance floor ignites on disc 2 with bouncy tracks like Aquaculture's "Don't Play the Game," it's clear that disc 1 was just the dreamy eye of a hurricane. Still, when DJs like Warren and Sasha (with his endlessly interesting Airdrawndagger) are looking forward and being creative, those who still have hope for the oft-derided trance genre should be encouraged. --Matthew Cooke

Product Description
The 24th installment in the Global Underground series features 21 tracks from the likes of Avatar, Substructure, Atlas, Ulrich Schnauss, Shuffle Heads, Boards Of Canada, Yunx, Planet Funk, & many more. Warren's rumble through icy breaks & spooky trance is as wild & windy as Iceland itself. 2003.

Global Underground: Reykjavik,Nick Warren,Global Und. [Studio],Dance,Dance Music,Downbeat,Downtempo,Pop,Progressive House,Progressive Trance

Average customer rating: hmmmm well Nick Warren's Greatest Evolutionary Jump as a DJ Experimental, minimalistic masterpiece and prospective classic The Music Behind the Beat Taerleiki! (Brilliance!)

Global Underground: Reykjavik Nick Warren Manufacturer: Global Underground ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Global Underground: Shanghai Global Underground 030: Paris Global Underground: Miami Global Underground 013: Ibiza Global Underground: Paris ASIN: B00007L6RO Release Date: 2003-03-18

Tracks:

1. Avatar Dub In Time
2. Substructure Firewire
3. Atlas Compass Error
4. Ulrich Schnauss
5. Nobody's Home
6. Shuffle Heads
7. Roll Call
8. Boards Of Canada
9. Happy Cycling
10. Yunx
11. Thinking About Your Next Move
12. Planet Funk
13. Tightrope Artist Tale
14. Momu
15. The Dive
16. Mastermind
17. In Every Truth
18. Justin Simmons
19. Helga Moller
20. Burufunk
21. Outsider
22. Global Communication
23. 14 31
24. Mot
25. 110 Mistakes
26. Grayarea
27. Yewminyst
28. Glimmer Of Dope
29. Love Last
30. Tocharian
31. Awakening
32. Juan Recoba
33. Head Start
34. Aural Imbalance
35. Aural Navigation Part 2
36. Vector
37. Rise
38. Aquaculture
39. Don't Play The Game
40. Dream Traveler
41. Headpusher
42. Rambient
43. Karma
44. Starkid
45. Crayons
46. Subsky
47. Strawberry Fields
48. Kris B
49. Last Minute Flight
50. The Freaks Come Out

Amazon.com

With the esteemed Nick Warren (a.k.a. Way Out West) on hand, we should know what to expect on Reykjavik, his fifth entry in the Global Underground series. However, Warren's ear has picked up new sounds, and GU 024 may surprise those seeking the usual thump. The consistency provided by John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, and Danny Tenaglia has made Global Underground a brand in itself, one associated with the highest end of progressive trance and house. But Reykjavik often hovers around the beat, more interested in ambient crackles and Boards of Canada-like wanderings than the usual rhythmic grandeur. For much of the two-CD set, especially on disc 1, Warren spins light, sparse wax that rambles through electro and Orb-ish atmospherics and refrains from predictable peaks and valleys. Later, after the dance floor ignites on disc 2 with bouncy tracks like Aquaculture's "Don't Play the Game," it's clear that disc 1 was just the dreamy eye of a hurricane. Still, when DJs like Warren and Sasha (with his endlessly interesting Airdrawndagger) are looking forward and being creative, those who still have hope for the oft-derided trance genre should be encouraged. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

The 24th installment in the Global Underground series features 21 tracks from the likes of Avatar, Substructure, Atlas, Ulrich Schnauss, Shuffle Heads, Boards Of Canada, Yunx, Planet Funk, & many more. Warren's rumble through icy breaks & spooky trance is as wild & windy as Iceland itself. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

hmmmm well .......2007-05-24

First Cd was trippy/ spacey not bad...I was diappointed on the second cd I expected him to pull out some good beats but..it came up short..




would not buy again..

Nick Warren's Greatest Evolutionary Jump as a DJ.......2007-03-22

The end of 2002 saw Nick Warren change "DJ gears". His record collection started to fill with many more progressive trance and progressive house tracks while his predominantly techno albums from the previous four years finally began to gather dust.

Why the change? Age? Tired of the glowstick scene? Unknown, but I think I speak for most of Nick Warren's massive fan base in saying...Thank god!

Global Underground 024: Reykjavik marks the zenith of Warren's genre change. I had abandoned collecting Nick Warren's compilations in the early 2000's since I've never been a fan of techno.

While perusing an HMV music store in Leeds, England, I came upon this album. On a whim and by recognition of a few great tracks listed on the rear cover, I decided to buy it. I don't think I can remember being more pleased with a random purchase of music in my life. When I first popped in disc 1 on my drive home, I was expecting...well I don't know what I was expecting but it was not these sweet tracks!

Disc 1 is definitely the milder of the two discs. If it were not for the last three tracks, I would probably list disc 1 as my favorite. However at track ten, disc 1 severely loses its brilliance. My opinion of course. Three more tracks to continue with the haunting theme set out by the previous nine would have made for one of the most flawless mixes to date.

Disc 2 is near perfect. Track selection and layout is amazing. The lack of techno puts a smile on my face.

Disc 1 gets 4/5 stars (5/5 minus track 10 to 12) and disc 2 5/5 stars.

Nick Warren continues to evolve as a DJ today. I think GU024 really solidified his brilliance and adaptability as the greatest DJ mixing today. If you ever hear this guy live or even live on radio...you will always noticed that the hosts (ie John Digweed from Kiss FM in London) will comment on Warren's record collection and his unmatched ability to find tracks or mix tracks that have most other DJ's scrambling to find after listening to his set.

Experimental, minimalistic masterpiece and prospective classic.......2007-01-14

This is a long review and I hope it is worth your time. Happy new year by the way.
Quick review (if you don't want to waste your time): It is an anomaly of a comp; full of beautiful, strange and intelligent records, records that make you think without knowing to. (End of quick review)
It has been a while since I've actually listened to this compilation from start to finish. This review is somewhat retrospective in that I am at present a die hard Nick Warren fan owning his albums with Jodi, his earlier mixes and his last GU pass, Shanghai. Shanghai is more melodic, enthusiastic, and accessible. That said, although Shanghai will give this comp a run for its money it has to be said that this is probably the classiest, mind boggling, head scratching, jaw slacking GU to date and the first I have seen to rival Sasha's Ibiza.

Why? Simple. It is different. Indeed, it is too different. There are times when this compilation falls flat on its own ambitious momentum (it is at this point your finger starts tapping the skip button) Even so, the tracks I don't appreciate (probably because of my own inexperience) I feel on some level I understand. This GU's brilliance also relies on luck. Most prog DJ sets try unconsciously or otherwise to capture the spirit of the location. Sasha's now legendary Ibiza was mind numbingly danceable, sweaty and sunny but slyly subliminal (at least on the first disc) Digweed's LA was boring, Seaman's capetown was tribalistic without being bombastic. Sasha's SF came pretty damn close to capturing what it is like to be drunk on booze you somehow managed not to pay a single penny for and to be warm and happy and ecstatically playful with your mates at a major club in SF. Even Oaky's New York 007 ( very old so not very popular), had that sleek you don't know this but it will still f**k you up feel to it which pretty much sums up anything "new" and innovative in New York. This Comp actually succeeded. It has more to do with the mixing style, the application of pads and a thousand over tiny things we never notice until we really like a track and we go back to it over and over. From the cold isolating Dub in Time by Avatar to the gorgeous encompassing beauty of the atlas track to the pedantic crescendo of Ulrich's classic to Board's of Canada's earlier stuff this comp, when it finally gets you will blow you off your feet. It is that good. It was through this comp that I found Sacred Machine by Baby ford and the Ifach Collective and had me paying more attention to Holden and Adam Spears, as well as the genius subsky. I am not kidding you or trying to be tedious. Whether you buy it or not, or it simply is not your style and do not agree that this is one of the only four GUs that truly transport you to the location it claims is up to you. It does not matter whether you hat it and find it boring. You will still have to admit that there is at least one mind numbing track and it is this track that will keep you going back to it until eventually you are at your computer at 2 am in the morning, trying unconsciously or not to express gratitude to someone who is simply doing what he truly loves.

The Music Behind the Beat.......2006-12-26

I want to begin by saying that this is one of those priceless GU sets where one cannot help but make the assumption that the music was entirely influenced by the setting in which it was performed. The music feels like it belongs in the hauntingly lush gray-blue backdrop of Reykjavik, Iceland. The music is as unique as the locale, and that speaks very well of this set and of Nick Warren.

That being said, there is no other GU quite like this. Though several Global Underground releases deviate from the norm of progressive trance and progressive house - examples including Emerson's Uruguay, Lavelle's Barcelona and Sharam's Dubai - it feels innapropriate to include Warren's GU024 amongst the other deviations; this is, by all means, progressive trance music, and in that light, fits well with the series. What makes it so unique is that there are very few discernable peaks (and yet the album never gets boring or repetitive) and the album is so "dreamy". And not in that shimmering, magical sense like Warren's Shanghai release; no, this set has a spiritual, dubby and meditative flow to it. It is not about the traditional slow build-up, peak, a couple afterglow songs, on to the next disc. This is a linear landscape of sound that flows as consistently and fluidly as water in a stream, with every bit as much beauty.

Disc 1 is, without question, the more out there of the two; it is also my favorite. This IS dance music - but more to the point of upclose and sensual body movement than bouncing around on a dancefloor chanting anthem lyrics and waving your arms in the air. Disc 1 is also perfect for creating a lounge-ish environment, similar to Kruder & Dorfmeister or Thievery Corporation at times. I tried using this disc to induce sleep one restless night, but was so involved in the intricate beats that I wound up listening to the whole album and falling asleep to the sound of rain instead.

Disc 2 has the same feel to it, but it is also fundamentally different. It flows, it is dreamy, but it has more of an upbeat dancefloor vibe to it. For a GU release, this would be typical, and in a way it is; the only difference (and an important one at that), however, is the fact that Warren is still concentrating most of his heart and soul on the 'music behind the beat'. Which essentially sums this album's driving purpose up. I feel that, however much raising the bpm on the second discs of these 2-disc releases makes the second disc more favorable, in most cases it is also somewhat disapointingly predictable. It is for this reason that Warren's focus on the *music* in conjunction with the beat stands its ground so well; completely coherent, yet oozing with pleasure and unpredictability.

However thrilled I am that he decided to extend his Global Underground catalogue by one more, this would have indeed been a fitting and triumphant close to perhaps the Global Underground series' most successful participant DJ.
Five stars. I didn't have to think about it.

~Lex

Taerleiki! (Brilliance!).......2006-03-30

GU024:Reyjavik is perhaps the best GU release of all time. This piece, which was supposed to be Nick Warren's last before retiring from GU to focus on Way Out West, is one of the most unique albums.

CD1 starts with slow ambient pieces by Avatar and Substructure and electronic pieces by Atlas and Ulrich Schnauss. A short (!) mix of Happy Cycling by Boards Of Canada speeds things up. Tracks by Yunx and Planet Funk add a funky groove. Helga Moller starts the breaks and we end with Love Lost, a spaced out acid trip.

CD2 starts off with Tocharian's awakening and Aural Imbalance's 12-minute (!!!) long Aural Navigation Part 2. Vector's Rise brings a hit of old British techno, whilst Aquaculture and Dream Traveller pound out relentless trance. Then the clincher: Crayons by Starkid (RIP 1985-2004), a beautiful progressive house track. The mix ends with beat piece 'Last Minute Flight'.

These CD's are expensive but they are worth it. BUY IT!!!

Average customer rating: The no 1 Global Underground CD to date! Warren's best to date his defining album Global Undeground: The Cistine Chapel of Electronica. Global Undeground: The Cistine Chapel of Electronica.

Global Underground: Reykjavik Nick Warren Manufacturer: Global Underground ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music Trance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music General | R&B | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music General | Dance & DJ | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Global Underground: Shanghai ASIN: B00007L6RP Release Date: 2003-04-22

Tracks:

1. Dub In Time
2. Firewire
3. Compass Error - Atlas
4. Nobody's Home: Shuffle Heads: Roll Call
5. Happy Cycling
6. Thinking About Your Next Move
7. Tightrope Artist Tale
8. The Dive: Mastermind: In Every Truth
9. Helga Moller
10. Outsider: Global Communication: 14:31: Mot: 110 Mistakes
11. Yewminyst
12. Lost Love

Tracks:

1. Awakening: Juan Recoba: Head Start - Tocharian
2. Aural Navigation Part 2
3. Rise
4. Don't Play The Game
5. Headpusher
6. Karma
7. Crayons
8. Strawberry Fields
9. Last Minute Flight

Amazon.com

With the esteemed Nick Warren (a.k.a. Way Out West) on hand, we should know what to expect on Reykjavik, his fifth entry in the Global Underground series. However, Warren's ear has picked up new sounds, and GU 024 may surprise those seeking the usual thump. The consistency provided by John Digweed, Paul Oakenfold, and Danny Tenaglia has made Global Underground a brand in itself, one associated with the highest end of progressive trance and house. But Reykjavik often hovers around the beat, more interested in ambient crackles and Boards of Canada-like wanderings than the usual rhythmic grandeur. For much of the two-CD set, especially on disc 1, Warren spins light, sparse wax that rambles through electro and Orb-ish atmospherics and refrains from predictable peaks and valleys. Later, after the dance floor ignites on disc 2 with bouncy tracks like Aquaculture's "Don't Play the Game," it's clear that disc 1 was just the dreamy eye of a hurricane. Still, when DJs like Warren and Sasha (with his endlessly interesting Airdrawndagger) are looking forward and being creative, those who still have hope for the oft-derided trance genre should be encouraged. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

Limited long box multimedia version features two CDs containing 21 tracks, plus a third bonus disc which is actually a PC CD-ROM with two tracks, 'The Freaks Come Out' (an eleven minute film shot on location) & an Image Gallery with exclusive visuals from the city. Global Underground. 2003.

Customer Reviews:

The no 1 Global Underground CD to date!.......2007-02-04

Global Underground 24 Reykjavik is the best in the series to date.
Nick Warren mixes a groovy, melodic trance masterpiece.
Each CD takes you on a wonderful journey. The best tracks in my opinion,
are on disk 2, with Strawberry Fields by Subsky and Crayons by Starkid being the standouts. Another hot compliation by the master - Nick Warren
Buy it you wont regret it!

Warren's best to date.......2004-10-01

This album is pure chill, this is not really an album you can dance too all that well because its more on the trancey ambient side. The beat on track four completely blew my mind, (check the sample on the amazon track listing). If you like warren, sasha or digweed's trancier works, go for this cd you will NOT be dissapointed.

his defining album.......2004-02-18

look...there doesn't need to be an explanation. if this is his last set for GU, then he's going out with a bang. I'm tempted to buy a real copy so i don't have to listen to the one i got from kazaa and hear the "global underground..promo.." every 10mins. for sasha, airdrawndagger was his defining album and left no doubt that he is the best in the game, an absolute genius. for nick warren, reykjavic has the same effect. i was in awe the first time i listened to this set. absolutely amazing, no words to describe it. in short...this album is a defining set for nick warren. it will be a classic, one in which others can only try to emulate.

Global Undeground: The Cistine Chapel of Electronica........2004-01-27

Bards were travelling musicians who through their authentic experiences with the mysteries of other cultures and far off lands created epic ballads of history and people. For centruies bards have died out becoming whiney, obselete, or drunk singers in taverns, at best folk artists that are over looked for their inability to channel the current of emerging music.
Metaphorically, and I suspect literally, Global Underground has flown, driven, floated, and walked quite a ways across this world. A long way. Since Paul Oakenfold has sold out and started his own label, titled, 'perfecto,' Global Underground's syndicate of contracted Dj's has realized it was time to step up to the booth and fill a monster's shoes. At least, that is how the electronic pop public sees it. The truth is, apostles of electronica in its most raw, primal form: Nick Warren and Danny Tenaglia Babysat Oakenfold shaking their heads as he sipped his college can of Keystone to FM anthems such as "James Brown is Dead."

The western music world has always been fascinated with the beats, rhythemic melodies, and chord progressions of middle-eastern, indian, and far-eastern authentic musicians. Genres such as World Beat, New Age, light jazz, and Dance are suspects in a line up that attempts in vain to recreate the ethnicity of these cultures. Electronica has been no exception to this group of alleged culprits of aesthetic crimes. Until Global Underground.

In all honesty GU isnt immune from minimal cultural clichee or monotony in its artists selection of Vinyls spun in all four quadrants and both hemispheres of the globe; these are recorded live sets mixed in the throbbing pulsing depths of clubs half buried in the soil of forign concrete jungles. In light of the growing need for artists to seperate from the bulk and fuse singularily to a set of technics or eachother, One could write volumes on what Global Underground is not. I choose rather to write on what it is, specifically this "Adam and God' section of the Cistine Chapel.

This Cd is a cacophony of assorted beats that span semblances of drum and base, jungle, break beat, progressive house, and trance. Warren opts to open, and subsequently foreshadow his set in Iceland with an ecletic combo of synthetic water noises and an elusive fading and echoing female vocalist. A slow breakbeat harbinges the creamy epoch of the Set.
Ambient, Atmospheric, and subtle electronic sounds are the threads of this magnificent tapestry. Sequences and themes heard in the beginning of this set can be heard congruently through the entire aural myth that Warren spins.
Ulrich Schnauss glides into the mix via song 4 on CD 01. His arrival is much like a bullet train through cascading fog, suiting for his latest Album "far away trains passing by." Ulrich opitimizes the german electronic chill scene providing tonal supplications of longing and bardic mystery. Later in the CD a ranting englishman can be heard, heralding the apocaplyse. His voice as his urgent speech continues rises with passion and fervor, the melodic swell in the background responding like a porche on the autobahn. No idiotic snare swell here, no multiplying of an 4th (speaking in quater second beats)
into an 8th, into a 16th, etc . . .etc. . . No Tiesto-esque or Acosta beat to death B flat 6 prdictable transition in the bass, no roland synth. No no. For you quality music lovers who have been waiting for a druid, a bard, anyone to bring electronica to its current potential. Here he is.

Nick Warren has bards blood coursing through his veins and the heart of a DJ to rhythemically pump and circut the crimson essence the Jews say life is in -- through his soul.

I have over 3000 CD's in my possesion. This boxed set is it. Being careful not to eclipse Debussy or Gustave Holst as artists- Nick Warren is perhaps my choice musical artist ever and invariably the premier DJ of this coming decade.

Aural Prophet, Bard, or just a great mother friggin dj, however you will view Nick Warren is contingent on your purchase of this cd.

Global Undeground: The Cistine Chapel of Electronica........2004-01-27

Forgot to tell you, CD 1 is far better than CD 2. Two has significantly more trance based beats. Its not the norm though and it vapors like iceland itself

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