Review: Tama Sumo – Panorama Bar 02

Label: Ostgut Ton
Catalog#: OSTGUTCD10

Tracklist:

1. Tin Man – Constant Confusion
2. John Daly – Birds
3. Nina Kraviz – Voices – Jenifa Mayanja Remix
4. Steffi – 24 Hours
5. Lerosa – Plesso
6. Prosumer & Murat Tepeli – U & I
7. John Roberts – Blame
8. Trus’Me – W.A.R. Dub
9. Kassem Mosse – Zolarem
10. Shed – Stiff Job
11. Newworldaquarium – Trespassers – Redshape Trespassed Mix
12. Mike Huckaby – Wavetable No.9
13. XDB – Jet
14. Levon Vincent – Late Night Jam
15. Lucretio – Good Words
16. The Oliverwho Factory – Together
17. Basic Soul Unit – Things Pass
18. Marcus Mixx – Without Makeup – Ron Hardy Mix
19. Ost & Kjex – Continental Lover
20. Tama Sumo & Prosumer – Alien Mutts
21. Soundstream – All Night

Buy here

With the discussion of mix CD’s general necessity, an output of two of them in one year may seem as a dare move for a record label, especially one held in such high regard as Ostgut Ton. What makes the Ostgut mixes different from many others is the amount of ambition, idea and talent behind every mix – something that is hard to show through just the music itself. Provided with that, the anticipation is risen to a higher level; but at the same time the tolerance of track selection is lower, giving a expectation of almost extreme proportions.

Over three years has passed since Cassy’s Panorama Bar 01 was released. At that time, many of my friends and myself had never experienced something quite like that CD – it was so unique and very inspirational. Highly limited records where mixed together with extreme precision as well as the futuristic sounds of, by that time, the only four to six year old (depending on how you see it) dubstep genre.

As the news of a second Panorama Bar mix got out, “everybody” was expecting something that continued in the path of the first mix, following the same sound but with fresh ideas. With this reference, it’s very hard to showcase something that means a lot to the DJ behind the mix – I guess this is the case for Tama Sumo. Going off with tracks such as Ost & Kjex’s ‘Continental Lover’ together with The Oliverwho Factory, XDB, Shed and Kassem Mosse on the same CD, it seems very difficult to maintain a certain consistency that is in fact the groove of the set. I never hesitated that Tama Sumo is a very talented DJ and I really appreciate the Ostgut label managers to choose her for the second mix, but there’s something vital missing with this release.

The ingredients are there and the emotion of Panorama Bar is certainly there – but that very undefinable feeling of time distortion, sweat, hard work, extreme track selection and a pursuit of a “higher level of conciousness” is not there. It’s more like a shell that, surely is a good mix, but not a lot more unfortunately.

For what it’s worth, the effort with this mix is something that should be considered when buying it and it’s something that will grow with time – the one thing that would probably dissapoint the most is the direct impact it does not have at the first listen.