Re: Balance 010 - Jimmy van M
I've heard the compilation a few times, since I've had a promo for two weeks now. Short version: I liked it a lot.
It is three discs. Disc one is "Downtempo". There are beatless sections and others with slow laidback beats. Many of the tracks are from the mid 90s, from Future Sound of London, Boards of Canada, Laika, Coldcut and Union Jack. It's a nice chill mix. There are a few good vocal tracks.
Disc two is "Midtempo". Think of it as a warmup set. You could dance, or not. You can't dance to the early Cocteau Twins and Speedy J tracks, but you can dance to the later Aphex Twin, LCD Soundsystem and Saint Etienne. Nicely chosen and mixed.
Disc three is "Uptempo". This is the peak time set. It begins with two versions of Djuma Soundsystem's "Les Djinn". Everybody's heard the wicked Trentemoller remix already, I'm sure. The mix is on the techy side, and it's nearly all new tracks, not like the other Balance discs, which take older tracks. It has Ellen Allien and Apparat's "Jet", surely a track of the year, Tom Pooks "Docker", and some other good ones like Gui Boratto's "Like You".
If you want to replicate a club night, listen to disc two first, disc three next, and disc one last. But 1, 2, 3, works too.
Can't really compare it to Chris Fortier, since all of those discs were uptempo. I can say I like it more than Desyn Masiello's or Paolo Mojo's. I liked those discs, but this one is better.
Hope that enlightens you, and whets some appetites.