Anthony Child, who DJs and mixes under the nom de club Surgeon, is one of a growing army of techno producers who are throwing off the chains of genres and simply creating whatever variety of electronic dance music most appeals to them at the moment. This is not to say that he doesn't have roots -- his minimal techno past is still audible, and even when his selections range across a wide spectrum of electro subgenres, his style is fairly unique and personal -- but only that he doesn't let his roots limit him, and that ...
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Anthony Child, who DJs and mixes under the nom de club Surgeon, is one of a growing army of techno producers who are throwing off the chains of genres and simply creating whatever variety of electronic dance music most appeals to them at the moment. This is not to say that he doesn't have roots -- his minimal techno past is still audible, and even when his selections range across a wide spectrum of electro subgenres, his style is fairly unique and personal -- but only that he doesn't let his roots limit him, and that means he can spin together a 30-track set that both consistently satisfies and offers the occasional surprise. After a more-or-less conventionally bouncy start, his contribution to the Fabric series starts settling into a seriously thumping house groove with Marco Bernardi's "Giro (Exium Remix)," which sounds like a club night for alien insectoids; by the eighth track (an original composition titled "Bad Hands Part 2 [Drums Only]"), things start getting darker and heavier, and when Robert Hood's "Superman" kicks in, there's a definite sense of foreboding in the air. Around track 21, the rhythms start changing up, and Greena's "Tenzado" generates something of a soca vibe with lots of funky syncopations dancing around the four-on-the-floor house beat; it then segues into Starkey's excellent dubstep exercise "Spacecraft." The program ends in a lighter, funkier mood, hitting something of a high point with Mark Broom and James Ruskin's excellent "No Time Soon." Danceable and listenable in equal measure, this is a very impressive DJ set from a legendary figure in electronic dance music. ~ Rick Anderson, Rovi
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