The Others

Album Review

Italian DJ and producer Mauro Picotto built a name for himself with the massive reptilian trilogy of trance hits, "Iguana," "Lizard," and "Komodo" (as in dragon). But if you haven't already stopped reading, then hold on one more moment, because Picotto has made the rather unconventional shift from trance histrionics to chugging techno thump.

Almost every selection on The Others utilizes the rapid tribal-loops of Swedish techno to achieve maximum dancefloor velocity. However, unlike the staunch DJ tools that have come out of Sweden in the past, Picotto turns simple track mechanisms into overblown epics that swell and crest like his most popular work. To techno purists, this makes Picotto a sheep in wolf's clothing, but to trance crowds looking for a harder rush, it makes Picotto exactly what they've been waiting for.

"Back to Cali" and "Pulsar #" deny all of these propositions, reworking 1995 trance with aplomb. There's no mistaking these routine arpeggios and synth stabs. But the rest of this album deftly walks the line between rugged beat tracks and epic dancefloor fillers. The coin flips continuously throughout each selection.