Tom Middleton: ‘The Sound of the Cosmos’
April 28th, 2002 by freddie96
B I G C H I L L R E C O R D O F T H E W E E K
30/04/02
TOM MIDDLETON
The Sound of the Cosmos
(Hooj Choons)
Tom Middleton needs no introducing here. The one and only Cornish Jedi Knight has played every single Enchanted Garden, not to mention two hugely memorable stints in Naxos and headlining a couple of Big Chill Winter Concerts. Then of course there are his weekly radio shows, online sessions and countless DJ slots all over the world. The man plies his trade hard, and with consummate professionalism.
Those who have had the pleasure of meeting him – and by now there must be several hundred chillers out there who have done so – will know that this high work-rate has nothing to do with ego. Tom works as hard as he does because he is a man driven by a fierce passion for music that clearly has to be acted upon at every available opportunity.
So it should come as little surprise to learn that he has now produced a mammoth three CD, three-and-three-quarter-hour mix. In some hands, such an expansive canvas could readily have been an excuse for monstrous self-indulgence and lack of focus (vague thoughts of ‘Sandanista!’ floated through my head on first seeing this), but that is not the case here. It’s not called ‘The Sound of the Cosmos’ for nothing – it represents, quite literally, a whole world of music.
That’s not to say that Tom delivers one of his peerless eclectic sets here. Far from it – this is a predominantly electronic mix, showcasing ‘some of the rising stars in electronic music that more often than not don’t get a mention’, as he puts it. (That’s typical Middleton for you too – of the forty-seven tracks included here, only two of them are his, and you have to read the very small print to work out which.)
The mix is divided into three parts, each flowing into the other. The first, ‘Rhythm’ – as you’d expect – is a thoroughly addictive journey through the beautifully smooth, the funky and the downright danceable. It opens with nine long glorious minutes of Lovelife’s ‘Odyssey’ (that’s one of Tom’s two contributions), moves through a bang-up-to-date splicing of Tiga & Zyntherius’ ‘Sunglasses at night’ with ‘Blue Monday’… on through lots of smooth moves to the two-step groove of Landslide and Roots Manuva before easing out with some lovely stuff from Blue Effect, Envoi and Swag, all new to me, but all equally alluring to the ear.
Part two – ‘Melody’ – is, if anything, even deeper and smoother. Again, it opens with a lovely feelgood sequence of tracks that set the scene: Jody Watley’s ‘Saturday Night Experience’, seamlessly moving into Yann Fontaine’s ‘Open your eyes’ and Telepopmusik’s ‘Breathe’. If ‘Rhythm’ is the warm-up, ‘Melody’ is that part of the evening where you simply give yourself up to the music, body and soul. For me, it brings back lovely memories of dancing through the small hours under the stars in Naxos… this mix has got that kind of deep, enveloping warmth that can work its magic even at low volume. (Turn the knob up high, though, and you will blow your bass bins – there is truly bass from outer space on here.)
In his liner notes, Tom says he loves ‘music with depth and clarity, soulfullness and funkiness, evocative melodies and warm harmonies’, and this part of his mix is simply dripping with all six components: there’s some John Beltran, Herbert’s ‘The Audience’, Milton Jackson and, finally, Charles Webster’s ‘Forget the past’. I imagine those who like more broken beats might complain that the mix is too seamless and smooth but that surely would be to miss the point…
The final part of this musical odyssey is entitled ‘Harmony’. As you’d expect, this is where Tom’s more downtempo side is allowed to shine. Like ‘Melody’, it has a good deal of that Naxos feel to it – or wherever it is that you go to feel the love – only it’s for that part of the evening (or very early morning) when you are danced-out and need simply to listen. It is still very much an electronic mix, only with more variety of pace and tempo than the preceding two CDs: you really need to listen to it all the way through a few times to get it, as it is very carefully put together. Amongst the highlights included here are Fenomenon’s ‘Pacific memories’, Alucidnation’s ‘Beautiful house’, Mandalay’s utterly haunting ‘No reality’, and FC Kahuna’s ‘Hayling’. But there really isn’t a duff track in sight.
All in all, ‘The Sound of the Cosmos’ is that rare thing: a DJ mix with real heart and soul – and one which privileges the listener’s pleasure over and above any professional obligations or commercial imperatives.
Freddie B.
You can hear Tom play at EG2002…
[galleryurl=http://www.bigchill.net/gallery.html?id=20]Find Tom in the Lulworth Castle photogallery[/galleryurl]
