Dubfire: Taipei

Dubfire, also known as Ali Shirazinia, one half of the Grammy award winning duo Deep Dish, joined forces with Global Underground to release Dubfire Taipei, the 31st volume of the venerable mix series. Disc one features an excellent, if not exactly groundbreaking house mix. Dubfire has an ear for funky house, and a knack for putting tracks together so that it’s hard to hear them in any other combination. For example, I can’t imagine playing Kerri Chandler’s “So Let the Wind Come” without mixing it into “In White Rooms” by Booka Shade. Despite disc one’s obvious charms, it’s disc two that really sets the mix apart. On the second half of the mix, Dubfire takes a spin through some darker, more industrial beats than the happy house fare Global Underground normally traffics in. After a somewhat non-descript intro, the mix segues into Dubfire’s own remix of Nitzer Ebb’s industrial classic “Control I’m Here”, which retains the throbbing bassline of the original while easing the track’s rougher edges. Other highlights include “My MTV” by Noir, and a couple of previously unreleased mixes: “You” by DJ Vibe, and the Dub Remix of the Depeche Mode chestnut “Everything Counts” by Oliver Huntemann and Stephan Bodzin.