DJ Fresh: Nextlevelism – review

Dan Stein's approach to guest vocalists is to pile them in, turn them up, watch them go. Megastars rub shoulders with unknowns, though all are here to whip up the dancefloor rather than stamp their personality on the track: easy for the resolutely blank Rita Ora, merciful when it comes to Rizzle Kicks' dreadful punning. Only national treasure Dizzee Rascal remains rabble-rousing. For his part, Fresh ploughs through the most physical properties of various dance genres like a bull in Chinawhite's: there is dubstep's growling bass, but without the torpid tempos; the electric energy of drum'n'bass breakbeats without the more complex rhythms; stabbing electro chords without the cool detachment. Nextlevelism is bereft of dynamics or subtlety, but at its best (The Power, The Edge, Turn It Up) it's a refreshing antidote to the mood-over-moves aesthetic currently rampant in electronic music.