Live At Robert Johnson Vol.7 Ata

Volume 7 of the esteemed and idiosyncratic series of Robert Johnson affiliated mixes finally lies in the hands of its very own future sailor, principal and chef Ata. The pros and cons of mixed CDs in a day and age, where the recordings of the last weekend (choose the club, please) are only a mouse click (save traget as...) away, have been debated in length elsewhere. Frankly, Ramona doesn't care much, nor does her soul mate Ata. Never afraid to be different, Ata's first commercially available so called mix doesn't adhere rigidly to the genre's rules. Designed and composed like a good old cassette tape for friends and lovers and rather connected than mixed, Ata presents twelve tracks and songs that are close to him and hopefully soon to your heart. Uncoupled of any urge to be current or hip to the next month's flavour, you will get Italo staples like “Nonline” by I.M.S., capricious cuts like Marsico's “Funk Sumatra” and romantic rockets that will sty forever in your mind. Engames “First, Last For Everything” is such a thing. Ata's selection ebbs and flows, puts the emphasis on cutting rather than blending, makes use of some little special effects stunts here and there and most of all, it spreads that certain aural pleasure only the cracking noise of vinyl can give you. As most tracks have been recorded from the actual platters out of Ata's record box, it is as personal and unpolished as it can get. Some of those tracks have been with Ata throughout his DJ career others have only been discoveries of the last few years, but as distinguished as they might appear, all of them have one thing in common: like asteroids, they are little worlds of their own. Sonically and lyrically. So, you won't have to deal with any fillers, unnecessary bridges or tracks, whose sole purpose it is to be “heard in the mix”. These songs work as much together as they do on their own. Each and every one tells a juicy story. Stories that are as important for the history of Robert Johnson as they are for Ata's DJ heritage. Stories that were told at Frankfurt's long-ago vanished nightlife diamonds like Dorian Gray or Plastik and at clubs that never existed, but always should have been there. Stories that tell the very nature of what a DJ set once was and what it could be today. Stories of pop music, mirror balls, new and old romantics, of the future and the past. Sometimes a mix is just a mix. This one ain't.