DJ Icey

Essential Mix

(Sire Records)

Florida breaks authority DJ Icey has returned with a more melodic creation on his latest release, inappropriately titled Essential Mix. Just when it seemed Icey had successfully carved out his own distinct niche in the electronic realm, complete with funky breakbeats and fresh electro sounds, his most recent opus falls short of the usual polish and imagination found in his previous works. Among the customary repetitive hip-hop-tinged breaks tracks, Icey throws in less than stellar remixes of trance classics such as the millionth reworking of Kay Cee’s "Escape," a song which loses its original splendor while gaining horrid novelty through the cold, tacked-on electro percussion. The combination of varying genres placed carelessly throughout Essential Mix also causes disunity in the whole. Perhaps in an attempt to catch a ride on the latest bandwagon, it appears as if DJ Icey has lost himself in a sea of weak and boring mixes and reofferings. While his mixing skills have always been impeccable in the past and continue to be so, DJ Icey has proven that poor track placement and selection can determinably hinder the strength and quality of any set.

—Arbell Camron