Stereo Sushi

Stereo Sushi 13

Stereo Sushi 13 -

Track Listing

Brief Review

The 13th edition of Stereo Sushi features an excellent blend of funky, deep and soulful tracks fused together across two CDs. The real gems of this CD are definitely 'Now Or Never' and 'Unbelievable' that make this CD shine. A brilliantly original blend of sounds on the first disk is soured slightly by the lack of variety on the second disk and the vocal-heavy beats suffer for it. The CD is best used for a mellow house party so it might not be to everyone's tastes.

Full Review

The first disk kicks off with the funky vocals of Marc Tucker and Barbara Tucker fused together to form a bouncy house track 'We Are' before the soulful house trickles into the mix in the form of 'Reach out for love'. The track is oozing soul and funk as it drifts onto the speakers seamlessly. 'Lift him up' follows suit with a more uplifting feel to it, featuring a bouncy synth and a driving bass before the brilliant 'It's yours' hits the speakers. This CD is such a feel-good album that you'll find the tracks zooming by but to be honest it's best used as background music during lazy house parties!

This track is an old classic given the funky treatment and it works wonders here. DJ Fudge does a brilliant job to remix this song and make it relevant for the CD with a deep bassline and some random male lyrics before the brilliant female vocals hit the speakers blended perfectly with some brass instruments.

All too often CDs drift into a monotonous blend of similar beats and sounds but the great thing with this CD is the variety of instruments used throughout. Although the sound is predominantly deep house, the range of instruments and types of tracks help to keep this CD fresh and exciting to listen to throughout and nowhere is this more evident than with the diva tracks on display.

'Now or never' is one of my favourite tracks from the first disk with a few woodwind instruments thrown in for good measure and it helps to alleviate this funky vocal track and makes it stand out from the majority of tracks here before 'Find Our Way' and 'Open Your Eyes' come and go in a wave of female vocal fury. The tracks are good and definitely head-boppers but in my opinion have nothing on 'Now Or Never'.

The male soul influence returns on the first disk with 'It's Not Over' delivered with such passion that the vocalist demands your attention over the lazy house beat that deceits the track.

The rest of the disk rises in temperature and tempo to funky house territory, teasing with male and female vocals from 'Stay With Me' to 'Wondrous' before closing the disk with the vocal-heavy 'Solid Ground'. Overall the first disk was good but the main selling point with this CD is listening to it as background music at a lazy house party than a driving bass-heavy party CD.

The second disk kicks off with the classical-driven 'People Make The World Go Round' which is an interesting vocal track that features a hook that feels like its been ripped from the middle of a symphony and dripped in soul to fit to the tune. However, it works really well here and makes this one of the standout tracks on the disk.

The first portion of the second disk consists of vocal-heavy soulful tracks ranging from the good ('Can't live Without Your Groove') to the monotonous and boring ('Truth Is'). That's not to say the second disk is entirely samey as there are some good tracks here its just they're few and far between and the uniqueness to the first disk and the way each track felt fresh and new just isn't evident here which is a shame as individually, these tunes are brilliant vocal delights. Together though, it results in a slightly samey feel.

'I Wont Let You Go' is still a vocal track but the mood shifts somewhat with a key change that helps to set this average tune out and oozes with a deep, funky beat before the vocal delights of Tara McDonald shine on 'Love Crazy'. Unfortunately the words themselves are daft and been done a million and one times so although the singing is good, the words aren't unfortunately.

'Freeze The Frame' is a decent house track that zooms by before, in my opinion, the best tune on the second disk kicks in 'Unbelievable'. The track has some gorgeous vocals over a piano-driven hook and a decent funky house beat that makes the song incredibly addictive and catchy resulting in serious head-bopping.

The last 3 songs aren't anything special to be honest and zoom by just as quick as they came onto the speakers.

So a good effort from Stereo Sushi 13 but the lack of variety on the second disk prevents this CD from being the great item it so easily could have been. It's a shame too as there's some good tunes here. 'Unbelievable' is the pick of the bunch for me followed closely by 'Now Or Never' that are definitely the standouts for me. Well worth a listen but only if you're planning a lazy house party.