The Beat Technique

Album review

Less house and techno-oriented than most of British DJ Tall Paul's other albums for the U.S. market, The Beat Technique is both Tall Paul's first continuous DJ mix (as opposed to a curated compilation) and a return to the style that he's best known for on the continent. While The Beat Technique is not purely a trance compilation, this 74-minute mix settles in early to a mid-tempo bliss-out groove and only rarely deviates from it. Mixing bespoke remixes like Tall Paul's collaboration with Dave Audé, "Common Ground" (another version of which appears on Audé's Audacious, released on the same day by the same label) and the closing deconstruction/mash-up of Alabama 3's "No Submission" with tracks by Cyclone Rangers, Jaytech and other young turks of the British progressive house scene, The Beat Technique isn't flashy and it makes no pretense at being a definitive snapshot of U.K. progressive house circa the summer of 2006, but it's a solidly entertaining set.
© Stewart Mason /TiVo