M.A.N.D.Y.: Body Language Vol. 10
Get Physical

The tenth edition of Body Language finds Get Physical co-founders M.A.N.D.Y. (Philip Jung and Patrick Bodmer) manning the controls for a scenic trip through multiple groove-based checkpoints. Having produced the very first Body Language volume as well as Fabric 38 and Renaissance: The Mix Collection, the lifelong friends and DJs are old hands when it comes to dealing with the challenge of assembling a mix. A generous number of hand-picked tracks surfaces along the way, with Brandt Brauer Frick, Ramadanman & Appleblim, Model 500, Marc Houle, and Nicolas Jaar among those serving up deep house, hard-wired electro, and jacking techno.

The sixty-seven-minute mix takes flight on a surprisingly jazzy note with rambunctious piano playing and percussion courtesy of Brandt Brauer Frick's “Paparazzi,” before surreptitiously slipping into a funky Jaar overhaul of Maceo Plex's “Gravy Train” that uses a sensual after-hours groove and ululating trumpet to cast its spell. Jung and Bodmer show themselves to be smooth operators indeed as they move seamlessly from one cut to the next, in this case effecting a segue into the bass-and-cowbell-powered disco-funk of Kid Bliss's “Discoshit” with ease. Deep dub is up next, thanks to Extrawelt's “My Stupid,” after which M.A.N.D.Y. and Booka Shade collaborate on “Home,” a hard-grooving slice of melodic house music that bears the unmistakable Get Physical fingerprint. The mix digs deeper into its funkier side as it moves through Elon's fabulous “Clap Back” before tackling Carl Craig's overhaul of Ramadanman & Appleblim's “Void 23” and Roman Flügel's makeover of Darabi's “Top Drop.” “Der Wallach” loosens things up when oddball vocal samples and general wackiness announce DJ Koze's arrival, after which Patrice Bäumel's electrified “To Insanity and Beyond” reinstates some semblance of clubby normalcy and Model 500's “OFI” brings the jacking-electro heat to the proceedings. A mix high point occurs when a sleek and shiny Robin Porter & Subb-an remix of De Signer's “Suicide Girl” surfaces, followed by trippy cuts from Houle (“The Next”) and Jaar (“Space Is Only Noise If You Can See”) and set-closers by Rocco Caine (a bouyant Estroe remix of “Fatand 50”) and Kollektiv Turmstrasse (“Addio Addio”).

M.A.N.D.Y.'s mercurial mix never stays in any one place for too long—not an unwelcome maneuver generally speaking though there are times when one wishes a given track (“Clap Back,” for example) would stick around longer. All things considered, Body Language 10 doesn't rewrite the rulebook but remains a quality production nonetheless.

May 2011