Swayzak: Route de la Slack
!K7

Upon its release, many regarded Swayzak's 2004 Loops From the Bergerie as a high point in the group's career, which only makes Route de la Slack, a double-disc set of remixes and rarities, an all-the-more frustrating listen. Instead of new material, we get a middling collection that arrests the forward momentum James Taylor and David 'Brun' Brown cultivated with the last release. Too many of the comps' twenty tracks run on too long, and the appealing concision of Loops' song-based structures is exchanged for a less satisfying fixation on run-on grooves.

Route de la Slack starts strongly with the makeover of Quark's “Acoustiques Paralleles,” a subtly rendered fusion of atmospheric trip-hop and minimal tech-house, but the 'remix' disc sags when “Tic Toc” and “Human” overstay their welcome, and remixes of Systemwide and Mighty Math aren't particularly memorable either. Thankfully, no trace of the dreaded “Smoke on the Water” theme emerges during the Señor Coconut track, with the focus instead on panning horn blasts and percussion rolls, but again an eight-minute duration grows wearying. There are positive moments: Swayzak's mix of George Sarah's “Sonata For Petra” offers an elegant if non-propulsive interlude, the 'Darkfarmer' mix of Tahiti 80's “Changes” deftly merges a percolating house pulse with a memorable vocal hook, and Theorem's “Devil of Rotations” is distinguished by an infectious house feel and glistening arrangement.

Similar weaknesses emerge on the 'rarities' collection of 1994-2005 tracks—excessive length, run-on grooves, and too little compositional development—but, lacking the contrasting character the remixed artists add to disc one's contents, the second set also suffers from an overall sameness of sound. “Ease My Mind” and “If I Didn't Care” ride their grooves incessantly while “Lokal” drives its two chords into the ground for eight minutes. Again, though, there are redeeming moments like “Blufarm,” a breezy cocktail of dubby house from 1998. Encouraging to report, too, that the disc's strongest cut is the fulminating 2005 banger “Mike Up Your Mind,” hopefully an indication of the quality level we'll find on its next release of new material. On the whole, Route de la Slack might be essential listening for Swayzak completists but others may regard the hefty set as far less exquisite than Loops From the Bergerie.

April 2006