Lee Burridge finds the [perfect] balance

In 2001, Lee Burridge gave us his installment of Global Underground: NuBreed, a compilation so far ahead of its time it either confused us to the point of despair, or it managed to slip by, largely undetected. Years later however, his sound is exonerated as Balance 012 catapults us headfirst into the sound waves of the future.

Amidst this latest house music interpretation, Burridge grounds a plethora of ambient sounds with haunting riffs that shift like liquid between pulsating and undulating rhythmic bliss. We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, Burridge thrives on diversity.

Dissatisfied, the DJ broke out of rural England in 1991 and made for Hong Kong, where he saturated himself in the ever-growing progressive underground house scene he found there. Over the next decade, he rose to the rank of “international DJ” with projects like 24:7 and Global Underground, his experimental nature keeping him at top mast while other high-billed DJs unwarily headed for the plank. His lates triumph, the criticially acclaimed Lost and Found EP, was used by James Lavelle and Cass, among others. Today Burridge continues to diversify, as is reflected in the latest Balance installment.

CD01 takes us through the stages of seduction, love, and rejection, subtly fusing a confident, post-funk minimalism; it boasts nostalgic tracks like the delicious Tristesse by Kollektive Turmstrasse, paints a sleek and sexy backdrop with Ferrer and Sydenham, Inc.’s The Back Door and Hug’s The Angry Ghost, and sends us on a dark and exotic journey through Steppenwolf by H.O.S.H.

CD03, although not quite the more familiar brand of raunchiness of say, Sander Kleinenberg, delivers more of a raw, unfiltered sound. Antioxidation fuses computers and technology in a frantic assembly-line operatic, while Extrawelt Tool’s remix of H’man’s 51 Poland Street lifts us into outer space for that moonwalk we’ve always fantasized about. The seemingly polar opposite sets settle on a largely flat-lining compromise that is CD02. The most experimental by far, the second set is carried by heavy hitters like Babyford and Mark Broom’s Bubblebath, and Broke’s Over That.

Long story short, not only has Burridge effectively handpicked these tracks to pleasantly mess with our heads, he’s also put together one hell of an intro for house music’s reinvention. The Lee Burridge Balance 012 International Tour continues through the end of this year.

This review was originally published in full by Edge Publications. Go to the original post here.

~ by cdelatorre on October 9, 2007.