Various Artists: Gatecrasher: Live in Moscow

I suppose if you were there, when he played, you’d have a different opinion of this: and it’s likely true that these Big Dance Label mix CDs are driven, economically speaking, by two things: a big name DJ and the advertisement of a certain experience. That through listening to this CD, you too can be part of the euphoria of thousands of sweating, peaking Russians. The mood, effectively sustained over the course of two CDs by a consistent, syncopated techno beat has all the trappings of Big Club trance madness. Back in the ’90s when Bexta was doing similar things in a smaller way in Sydney we, as 19 year olds, thought things couldn’t get better –- but for fans of the big-in-Europe sound of hard tech trance, Lawrence is both more consistent and self-confident. He never wavers from this tough-headed outlook –- from the buzzy beat of “Tabriz” to Lawrence (in combination with John ’00’ Fleming)’s screeching anthem “Beyond the Limit”. Though there’s little innovation in this music -– we’ve heard softer versions of the same schtick from Tiesto and George Acosta for years -– Lawrence is singular in purpose, and that counts for something. It’s a fans-only affair, but we knew that going in -– so if you’re all about with previous Lawrence mixes, you’ll be on familiar territory.