Zirkin - Dance Show 3 (Doof Records, 2006)

ZIRKIN – DANCE SHOW 3

1. Frizzly Jungle Dog – 7:25 (xxx BPM)
2. The Bedouin Monks – 7:18 (xxx BPM)
3. Marcus Aurelius – 7:22 (xxx BPM)
4. Age-Roll – 6:36 (xxx BPM)
5. Sonic Chant – 6:34 (xxx BPM)
6. Super Song – 7:07 (xxx BPM)
7. Burning Blue – 7:40 (xxx BPM)
8. Mental House – 6:53 (xxx BPM)
9. I am The Dude, Man! – 7:59 (xxx BPM)

We start this album of Zirkin (the 3rd one released on Doof records) – Dance Show 3, with Frizzly Jungle Dog, a very powerful track, it mainly focus on the work with kick and bassline, some nice tricks with brakes, and totally dance floor orientated – not very filled with leads, but it will work on the dance floor I can guarantee it.
Track nr. º 2, the Beduin Monks, start with some female voices, reggae type, if I am not mistaken, and at 45 seconds we get this baby pumping. This track also includes a funny sample at 3:53 seconds “is that a gun in your pocket, or you are just happy to see me?” ; the track flows very well, with some dynamism but not much. It also ends with the starting female voices.
Track nr. º 3, Marcus Aurelius, starts with someone tuning a radio, we can hear it going over the frequencies, I find this track to be one of the most pumping, dynamic tracks of the CD, lots of brakes, work on the percussion elements and the leads are very well chosen. Without being a massive track it fits very well to a more “aggressive” (in the good sense of the word) type of Dj.
Age Roll is track nr. º 4, this one didn’t put my ears on alert, I mean, some leads are very fine, but in the overall I didn’t enjoyed this one much – some sounds, I think, didn’t fit to well on the track. I think it is because of the build up that starts at about 4:00 minutes, that I didn’t enjoy to much that particular sound.
“The Beduin Monks of the Almagred mountains developed a system of sonic chanting, the sound of their chant, would bounce back of any obstacles, and using the high tunes they could paint a mental picture of the path ahead….” ;this is the opening sample of track nr. º 5, I wonder were Zirkin picked up this sample, maybe in documentary or a movie, wherever he picked them up, they go very well; he also uses some more samples through out the track related to the opening sample. This track is maybe the more “confusing” one of the album, great leads, good acid lines, and lots of dynamism.
Super Song starts with a philosophical question - “who’s your daddy? You know who’s your daddy is?” and Zirkin also gives us the answer “is me!”, “how come I am your daddy? Cause I got to see yo mamma, yo mamma…”  it has some more samples in the beginning of the track, and they are spoken by a funny voice, I find it amusing – different but funny. This track is very groovy, the baseline and leads are orientated to that effect.
Track nr. 7 Burning blue, is to me, the more night orientated, good hypnotic elements, not outstanding sounds, in fact, not many oscillations in terms of sounds, I am not sure but I think I can hear a piano at about 2:15 minutes, disconcert ting...I like it! at 2: 54, we have kind of a slow down of the track, less sounds, but the lead is delicious, after that we can hear it turning up again, with a female voice saying “slowly, slowly…”the track keeps up with this elements and at 5:22, we can hear the sample that gave name to the track. One of my favourite tracks of the album.
Mental house is track nr. º 8, we start this one with some samples of a mental house…definitely, and my favourite part – “…maybe I am not even here…maybe I am just in your head” – very well picked up sample. This track is similar to the opening track, but in this one we have two moments, the 1st part I like it very much, acid lines, crazy leads, psychedelic elements they are there, and the 2nd part is where we get some guitars riffs, I personally would use some guitar sounds but more crazy, I don’t doubt this works on a dance floor, but in my vision, I would have used more wicked and crazy guitar sounds, so this track leaves me a little bit divided. I really enjoy the parts of the track without the guitar, so I think if the guitar sounds were different this one would reach perfection for me.
And here we are in the last track “I’m the dude, Man!” it goes like the album itself, it isn’t too much different of the line of sounds Zirkin used for this album. Maybe different on some elements of percussion, and leads of course, it isn’t a copy of any other track, but the kick and bass are really very strong.
So to conclude the review: this album without being an outstanding piece of art, it is well conceived, sharp production, with some great moments of music. My favourite tracks are: 1, 3, 5(!!), and 7(!!).

A3