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Can it be? Misstress Barbara defying her intense namesake on her latest mix
CD, Come With Me? Not to worry; the mix still delivers the cutting-edge
sort of techno we've come to expect from one the genre's foremost players.
Barbara keeps busy running her label (which changed its name from Relentless
to Iturnem), making music and touring relentlessly - no pun intended.
Through the late '90s, she made a name for herself not simply as a female DJ
that played hard (despite her handle, reports of her other career as a
dominatrix are erroneous), but simply as a DJ that played way hard,
ear-bleedingly so. However, over the last decade, and if Come With Me ∑ is
any indication, Barbara has mellowed - this CD is her most mature and
sophisticated to date. Starting off with the electro-samba of Sebo K's "Too
Hot," Barbara spares speed for a greater sense of groove, wending though
stripped-down minimal funk from Lorna, plucky tech house by Andrea
Bertolini, grinding and tweaky Trentmoller tunes and the darker side of ‚80s
nu wave courtesy of Zdar's "Don't U Want." On the studio side, Barbara's got
the touch: "I Love You" is a double-threat, a really well-programmed track
that build in intensity, while still throwing in all kinds of dissonant and
abrasive synth lines - the track sounds like Chicks on Speed on acid.
Contrastingly, "Eleven O Seven," her other tune on the mix, is more more
sparse. Its simple, deep and atmospheric melody rides along clicks and
pitter-pat percussion and blends beautifully into the wobbly machine funk of
Nathan Fake's "Dinamo" and the merry-go-round hypnotica of Alex Under's
"Aditah, La Granjerita." It's a mix CD that isn't just techy, which you'd
expect, but sort of trippy, too. Ironically enough, "Come With Me" is the
kind of mix that you leaves you uncertain about just where Barbara's taking
you. You will, however, be glad to be along for the ride. www.iturnem.com-- review by Yuri Wuensch
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