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Traxman

Da Mind Of Traxman Vol.2

Chicago Footwork veteran Traxman, whose discography also includes many classic Ghetto House and Juke releases going as far back as the mid '90s with music on labels like the legendary Dance Mania. He describes his own style as ''funky, soulful and a bit eccentric.'' A number of the tracks here show off the high-speed micro-edited possibilities of Footwork, that end up bringing the sound closer to a faster, hands-on, mpc-punched version of micro-house, bringing out a jagged, fitful character that keeps you on your toes. Tracks like ‘Time Slip’ echo SND, but cut with hip hop breaks and flying snares, while ‘Blow Your Whistle (Tha Out Of Here Remixx)’ chops up a short vocal and whistle noise to ridiculously energetic effect. Other tracks pull on a techno edge, ‘Computer Getto’s galloping game of hide and seek with Kraftwerk, ‘Bubbles‘ electronic arcade game blips, or ‘Under Cover Jack‘s 303 groove, remind one of the house origins of this music, while ‘Can Nutin Hold Me Back’ has a leg in soul’s history, with its detached accapella chopped into twitchy choruses. Later on ‘15146’ cuts up barked numbers over sprightly woodwind while ‘Gone and Hit that Shit’ reduces words to rhythmic shapes, darting around meaning. ‘ The mind of Traxman dazzles again.