Under The Influence

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In the wake of 11 September, Post-Renaissance Man Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, introduces his new mix CD by stating that, "In this day and age of terror and uncertainty, and of mutual incomprehension between cultures, the mix and clash of civilizations is what seems to be the main motif of the era". Miller himself is an advocate of a new world order in which nothing is foreign and everything can be understood and absorbed, whereupon he proceeds to confound all fundamentalisms by mashing up a broad spectrum of his favourite sounds from Moby, the Anti-Pop Consortium, Future Sound of London, Mix Master Mike, Sussan Deyhim, Sonic Youth, Ryuichi Sakamoto and a slew of "underground headz" and other seemingly disparate musical styles.

The first in a series of DJ mix albums launched by Six Degrees records, 'Under The Influence' is a dazzling tour-de-force of the art, as Spooky pushes the sound from leg-jiggling techno to ambient chill to trip-hop, before twisting the middle third of the album into a mind-blowing collage of intelligent hip-hop, toasting and rap. Fourth world music from Ground Zero, this is just as much an impassioned plea for pluralism as it is a stellar example of what all DJs ought to aspire to in their art. And with it, Miller further enhances his well-deserved reputation as one of the most important artists currently working.