Tonedeaf records presents: VINYL CONFLICT No.1
Compiled and mixed by DJ COPPER TOP

I had a real reason not to like this. I had wanted to release one of these DJ MIX CD’s professionally myself - DJ Copper Top beat me to it… I was a little pissed, but then I thought why not give the CD a listen, reserve judgement. I’m really glad I did, because this CD is a veritable feast of DJ talent on disc, and not too shabby a selection of tracks either. Sure there’s a few dodgy tracks amongst them, but what Industrial/EBM album that you’ve bought recently hasn’t at least a couple? (more on that in another article..)
This is a genre defining moment, the first non-stop mix of EBM/Industrial music, and for that we have to applaud DJ Coppertop, but before we get too carried away… To the music!

Dubok –'High In Columbia' sounds as if the mastering was a little too high on this opening track, the track distorts when then bass line kicks in. It’s got a slow start, (but that’s not a bad thing) and when the loud bass kicks in, you get a rambling vocal line, that reminds me not unfavourably, of Underworld, the seminal Techno/Dance band. It’s a good opener for ten..
The mix into TOY starts great, but the TOY track is slower than Dubok, and it makes for a disjointed feel..
Here’s a perfect example of what DJ Copper Top does in this compilation, she makes an OK track great one! I wouldn’t touch TOY with a barge pole, I normally shy away from their brand of electro-pop, but I have to confess in this setting it’s perfect and irresistibly infectious! Needs to be a bit faster though..
Then, an impressive and seamless mix that displays DJ Coppertop’s real mixing talents into Stromkern: 'Perfect Sunrise (Icon Of Coil remix)', a great track, can’t believe I missed it when this first came out! I love the Stromkern’s vocalists rapping style of singing and with the blinding Icon Of Coil programming behind him it really is a highlight of this CD. TOP Notch dance EBM. The end looping mixes nicely into... Cesium 137: 'Regrets (Haujobb 1K remix)'.
I think that this track lets down the pace and quality of the two tracks previous, it’s a shame, because even the great Daniel Myer cannot save Cesium 137. It’s OK. It sounds like Haujobb. But that’s not enough for me, needs some more oomph!!
However, again neat mix into Headscan – 'Silent Running'. “Shaper and Mechanist” album is great to listen to at home, but is it really dancefloor? The jury is out on that one.. Don’t get me wrong! This is a great track, maybe it’s the placing after Cesium 137, it just doesn’t seem to fit here..
In the mix you see the use of looping the end of the track so as to mix in the next, it doesn’t quite work here but just wait for the VNV-to-A23 mix later on!
But next comes Massiv In Mensch with 'Entferner' trying to blur the boundaries between Trance, Dance and EBM. The problem is that the last Trance album they bought was probably a while back and that means that we get stuck with their clichéd version of euro-trance.. Good sounds, but it never really goes anywhere, a weak track, which again disrupts the flow of the CD.
But then I hear the unmistakeable sound of Aiboforcen’s ‘Twilight World’, and then I know that everything’s going to be OK..
Alpha-Matrix top dogs, and rightly so, these guys are amongst one of the top remixers of the scene.. But just as I’m getting into them, they’re interrupted by the dulcet tones of..
Ravenous – 'Lost In the Dark' >> Think Funker Vogt, less talent and zero imagination.. then you’ll have a rough idea of Ravenous, catchy, but annoying.
Mix into Angels and Agony however, spot on! ’Don’t Be Afraid’ is another ‘wish I’d got this!’ track. Really infectious and catchy. Pure dancefloor from the Ronan Harris (VNV nation) produced band. It just gets into your head, pushes all the pleasure buttons… time to get your dancing shoes on! Lovely, (with a capital L.) Pity about the melting into…'Static Age' by Tech9 - Now we’re in the zone.. The DJ has got us on the dancefloor, and for the next 5 tracks there’s no way you’re going to be leaving! This is where the good stuff kicks in.. this is what it’s all about:It’s hard, shouty EBM (Nitzer Ebb style) at its very best, I love this track, it’s the find of the album.
This is where the mixing gets absolutely amazing. DJ Copper Top has obviously found her groove and we get Ronan from VNV in a shouting match with the vocalist from Tech 9.. perfectly in sync. (continues...)