Global Underground is a label and genius marketing
concept that often brands mix-CDs with exotic locales and superstar-DJ
endorsements. Its stable of DJs and producers have been pushing the
envelope of late, with UNKLE churning out a gorgeous artist album of
digital rockism (last year's Never, Never, Land) and Sasha dissecting
the mix-CD with software-based surgical tools (FundacionNYC). Bristol,
UK, native Nick Warren finds his own angle with Shanghai: It's a testament
to the globalization of electronic music production. The Way Out West
member and former Massive Attack DJ mixes tracks, many of them unsigned,
from producers based in Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Malaysia, and even Texas
(God bless). The compilation is meant to celebrate the reemergence of
Shanghai as a world destination and its rise as China's gleaming techno
city. But ,i>Shanghai also proves that, as long as young people have
laptops, an Internet hookup, and fluency in the international language
of beats, this electronic dance music phenomenon ain't about to stop.
Feel the world spin on Warren's turntables.
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