House of Om Presents: DJ Sneak [Digipak] (CD - 2005)

Audio Mixers: DJ Sneak; Mark Blakkat Bell; Blakkat.

Audio Remixers: DJ Sneak; Chuck Daniels; Thomas Sahs; JT Donaldson; Phil Weeks.

Recording information: Filthy Daniels Distillery; Virtual Studios, Toronto, Canada.

The acid test (as it were) for a house compilation is always how well it rewards listening on the part of someone who isn't dancing. DJ Sneak's contribution to the new House of OM series of compilations passes that test -- maybe not with flying colors, but it's a solid pass. Make no mistake: if all you need is good, serviceable dancefloor thumpa-thumpa, Sneak has got you covered and then some. His beats are clean and crisp, and he does an admirable job of working within the strictures of the genre to bring a relative variety of flavors to his sound. The long scat intro to DJ Spettro's "Family in Mind (Crack a Tempo Mix)" bodes ill for the remainder of the track, but it ends up being a bubbly riot of burbling bass and crunchy beats; the Lawnchair Generals' "The Truth (DJ Sneak Remix)" doesn't offer much beyond a simplistic rhythmic structure, but the Jason Hodges remix of "X [What You Want]" shows that with the right ingredients, it's possible to make quite a bit out of a minimal investment in musical elements (and that with the wrong lyrics, you can almost ruin the recipe). Elsewhere, jazz samples are used to brilliant effect on Roomsa's "November Jazz," and on the hypnotic track by Inland Knights called "This Belongs to You (Mike's Garage Mix)." Best of all is the album's closing track, a gloriously decadent, faintly Caribbean-sounding number called "Latin Trip" by one Chuck Daniels. A fine party disc. ~ Rick Anderson minimize