DJ Sun: Para EP

A A A Comments By Craig Hlavaty Wednesday, Feb 18 2009

Details

With J-Boogie, 8 p.m. Sunday, February 22, at House of Blues (Bronze Peacock Room), 1204 Caroline, 888-402-5837 or www.hob.com/houston.

www.soulargrooves.com

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DJ Sabo

DJ Sun has been the DJ laureate for Houston at large for almost two decades. His KPFT radio show Soular Grooves was required listening for all electro heads through the '90s, and in the process made him a pioneer of sorts. He single-handedly helped created an electro scene in H-Town that led the way for modern collectives to thrive. Sun's new Para EP is the follow-up to 2007's well-received The Monday Drive EP, which saw him going back to the feel of his native Suriname and forging a lush landscape of jazz samples and tribal chants. Whereas Monday Drive cuts like "Marksonthekeys" could have been on Tarantino soundtracks, Para strikes out on its own for the chaotic tropical jaunt of busy marketplaces and whiplash snare showcased on the title track. If Para got anymore hypnotically lounge, we would have melted into the front seat of our car. "Dubai" brings the spirit of the Arab country and its multicultural leanings to the 713; the plinking xylophone sample is the perfect comedown jam for a lazy afternoon outside sipping on a mimosa. "Free" closes out the EP with a good five-plus minutes of fuzz that bring to mind the lost mini-masterpieces that the Avalanches were so good at around the turn of the century. The disc is rounded out by remixes of "Dubia" and "Para" by Sun acolytes like DJ Sabo and J-Boogie, who both muscle up his originals with frantic synths and to frenetic heights. This one is best enjoyed on vinyl, always Sun's preferred milieu next to his storied live work. Every crackle and pop comes out clean during each rotation.