Track Listing
Collide (Intro Mix) – Matt Fax Noir – Genix & Judah Blazing Sun -EchoFly Altered State – Grum Free Love – Genix & Sue McLaren Surrender (Genix Remix) -Above & Beyond pres. Tranquility Base The Next Chapter -Mat Zo feat. GQ Another Angel – Above & Beyond Stay (Genix Remix) – Grum Giant Steps – Genix sun 2011 (Genix Techno Update) – Slusnik Luna Kinetic (Genix Remix) – Golden Girls Love Is Not Enough (Fatum Remix) – Above & Beyond feat. Zoë Johnston All In (Sunny Lax Remix) – Fatum, Genix, Jaytech & Judah Rave Daze – Genix Zuul – Genix Ba55 Camp – Genix I’ve always been a big fan of the Anjunabeats Worldwide label. While I admittedly was not a fan of the 06 edition, Grum and Oliver Smith both brought a unique and interesting flavour to this series, effectively setting a benchmark for other artists to try and reach. The former layered a gorgeous progressive musical journey across the hour while the latter brought a record box of dancefloor destroyers and a more euphoric feel to proceedings. Now onto its 9th iteration, the empty turntables and spotlight turn to tech-trance/progressive guru Genix, who brings with him his usual trademark style across an hour that mostly delivers an impressive mix, even if there are a few hiccups along the way. Alongside the launch of this album, Genix released an accompanying statement that’s certainly worth noting here. “I don’t want to be labelled trance, or any other music genre, I want to be known for a unique sound.” When it comes down to it, these Anjuna Worldwide CDs have been an artist showcase as music as they are about fresh and new music, and this much absolutely shines through here. While big fans of the Anjuna label will have absolutely no surprises about the track selection, the musical journey works really well and the CD blends techno, tech-trance, progressive house and deep vibes together really well for the most part. The album itself opens very strongly, with a 7 minute Matt Fax intro called ‘Collide’. This eases seamlessly into the darker synths of ‘Noir’ before adding some vocal flavour in ‘Blazing Sun’. This ultimately serves as the turning point of the mix too, as Genix turns up the heat and follows this up with the absolutely stunning Altered State, a track I’ve been raving about since it released on Grum’s Deep State album last month. The album essentially hits a defining fork in the road around the halfway point of the mix with the inclusion of Above & Beyond’s new track, ‘Another Angel’. This song, admittedly, feels tonally out of sorts with the rest of the album too and although the actual track itself is fine, the euphoric feel and long breakdown, leading to a real peak-set feel, slams on the breaks and falling back into the same style as before, with Genix’s remix of Grum’s ‘Stay’. I can’t help but feel Another Angel would have served much more effectively toward the back-end of this CD, especially given the show-stopping remix of ‘Kinetic’ that shows up here. A track I’ve had on repeat more times than I’ll care to admit while writing this album review. That’s to say nothing of the Sunny Lax remix of ‘All In’, the original of which standing as my tune of the year from this label. I had the pleasure of attending Group Therapy 350 this year and alongside Spencer Brown, Genix absolutely stole the show. I love his unique live-set sound but at times I do feel on this Worldwide CD there’s such an emphasis on delivering filthy, dirty tracks that some of the more euphoric offerings, like the aforementioned ‘Another Angel’ and ‘Love Is Not Enough’, feel a little out of place here. While I still think Grum holds the crown for best Worldwide mix, Genix nestles himself in nicely at joint second with Oliver Smith’s effort. Worldwide 09 is a perfect showcase for Genix but it’s also one that benefits from multiple listens too. It took me a second run-through to really get into that musical journey and the fluctuations between light and dark tones but overall, this is a really good album. The artwork is, as per usual, absolutely gorgeous, and the entire album lives and breathes that unique style Genix is so well known for. It’s filthy, dirty, head-bopping stuff and Genix bows out 2019 with a real winter-warmer in Anjunabeats Worldwide 09.