Pulseradio / Benji Lehmann

22/08/11 http://pulseradio.net/articles/2011/08/lawrence-timeless-cocoon

It is always something of an odd feeling to scan over the tracklisting of a commercial mix CD and see that a number of tracks you considered to be personal favourites, tracks that you have come across by chance, sought out and added painstakingly to your collection, are included. On one hand there is a pleasant feeling of camaraderie with the compiler who shares your love of those tracks. On the other hand there is the worry that if the mix is too good you may never be able to listen to those certain cuts again in any other context. So when I received this mix CD to review and saw that Lawrence had included not only Soul Capsule ‘Overcome’, one of the magnificent Trelik Records’ defining moments, but also Trelik label owner Baby Ford’s ‘Ambo' and Schatrax’ ‘Overcome’ (no typo here, there are indeed two tracks of the same name on this CD), I was myself overcome with exactly those mixed emotions. Would this prove to be the point at which I could no longer play those beats without feeling that they always sounded better the way Lawrence put them together?
My main criticism of most mix CDs is that they are technically so over-engineered that you lose all the drama of a live mix. The crackles and pops of the records are often absent today, and little can be said about that which has not already been said. However even when a mix is put together digitally there is still a question of whether it retains that tension of live performance, or whether it has been re-constituted and re-edited so many times that it sounds flat and dull. In the case of this mix CD, for once in fact I felt that the track listing was sublime. From start to finish Lawrence weaves a deep tech selection of tracks together in a way that only the Germans can, overflowing with that jaded Berlin vagueness, the miles upon miles of deserted freeway punctuated by afterhours clubs on the river Spree and the sight of emaciated Berliners walking between them stultified. This is the modern afterhours CD to end all afterhours. If anything, though, it is under-engineered, I found. For the average listener trying to relive something of the weekend at his or her desk on a Monday afternoon there is not that sense of detail and timing that recreates the excitement of those life-affirming nightlife experiences in a more sober context.
There is no doubt that this is one of the best mix CDs to come out of the Cocoon stable and that the tracklisting breaks boundaries in terms of representing a whole swathe of under-represented music. It isn’t perhaps an instant classic, but as the title Timeless promises it captures a certain moment in music and preserves it for the future. Difficult to fault but not quite the earth-shattering experience I both hoped for and feared.