Review: To celebrate its 100th release, long-established label My Best Friend has put together a mammoth compilation. Featuring classic MBF releases like Cosmic Sandwich's "Man in a Box" and Dirt Crew's "Rock Da House", 100 is also notable for unearthing some lesser-known killers. There's Crowdkillers' "Miss Jones", an awesome stripped back house track powered by lithe Latin vocals and a disturbed female vocal, and the deep, haunting synths of Florian Meindl's "La Nuit". Even when My Best Friend follows more conventional sounds, as it does on "Get Down" by Filthy Rich and Danny Serrano's "Likenobody", the tribal drums are loose and organic, the filtering subtle and the vocal samples atypical.
Review: Florian Meindl is no newcomer to the house and techno domain; the artist has been around since the early 2000's, and has been a prominent figure throughout the development of the two genres' various mutations and developments. Originally from Austria, Meindl has put out a vast majority of his music through his own Flash Recordings, but he's been a difficult one to pin down thanks to his constantly shifting array of sounds and new fascinations with dance music. Time Illusion sounds like one of his most accomplished pieces yet, and there isn't a moment on here where the listener is faced with predictability; instead there is a noticeable feeling that each new track will bring something new to the table. For instance, the switch from bleeping, acid-laden techno to breakbeat-driven nu-jungle between "Isometric" and "Space Traveler" is a masterclass in style and pace, and the same goes for the passage between the Axis-style techno of "Wild Sequence 2" and the deeper, more magnetic hypnosis of "Loader's Number". What an outstanding LP from the veteran!
