Balance 025: Danny Tenaglia
Balance Music
One of the true legends of the US house and techno scene, Brooklyn’s Danny Tenaglia, here honours the Balance label’s 25th edition with his first mix in over six years.
After 35 years behind the decks, at 53 years of age, there were rumours Tenaglia was retiring. But you can’t keep a good man down, and this mix is testament to that, as he returns to remind everyone why he’s regarded as a DJ’s DJ. This double mix CD showcases Tenaglia’s tough, heavy side: tribal tech, acid funk, bone-rattling house, the stuff of late night sessions, all churned through the mixmaster.
CD1 quickly declares his intentions with the deep bass throb of 04LM’s Tragicaller. It’s a complexly woven tapestry and he’s re-edited most tracks to suit his needs. The trackpoints don’t mean much with Tenaglia almost constantly mixing in the next track. The huge, grinding riff of MRI’s Es Geht Um Mehr makes an impact. There’s spaced out, old school sounds from Gabriel D’Or & Bordoy, Michel Cleis’ dubbed out rub of Basement Jaxx and Thomas Schumacher’s peaking I’ll Do You.
CD2 has more of a techno groove – Tenaglia charges through the first half, before the old school breakbeat of Dax J’s Dreamscape floats in, leading into Garnier’s epic remix of Gregor Tresher’s Nightcolors before a hard and twisted final section. Essentially, it’s a mix only Tenaglia could have pieced together, as he seamlessly tears through 18 tracks in an hour, on each disc, at breakneck speed. Timeless, classic, uncompromising, underground and, above all, real.
4/5
ALFRED GORMAN
