Christian Smith – Tronic Treatment

Christian Smith
Artist: Christian Smith
Title: Tronic Treatment
Label: Moonshine
Rating: 9.5/10

My first introduction to Christian Smith was on a hot and humid July night about a year ago. I remember walking into the club hearing someone on the decks scratching, EQing the highs, and repeatedly unleashing hard funky beats to the audience’s delight. I remember saying to myself, “This is what I have been looking for.” For two hours I was in complete awe of the arsenal of talents displayed by Christian Smith. What separates Smith from all the other techno DJs is that he’s not afraid to take a chance with his live sets. Often he will quickly switch gears from funky house to big sounding tech-house with a flip of the cross fader, never losing control of his audience, only drawing them closer to his vibe. Tronic Treatment truly captures Smith’s style and natural live mixing abilities.

I have been waiting for this record a long time and I’m happy to say it’s everything I hoped it would be and more. Smith comes armed with three tables, twenty-eight of his favorite tunes, crafty programming, and a good dose of scratching and ripping. The entire pace of the record is masterfully compiled. The first fifteen tracks present the funky techno sound Smith usually lays down at the beginning of his night. A2’s “Do You Like The Way You Feel When You Shake?” paves the way, building the bridge for “United Groove” by Junior Sanchez and Smith, and The Hacker’s “Fadin’ Away” (Oxia remix). The record does a complete 360 with the Latino-tech-house beats of Ben Sims’s “Remanipulator” throwing the groove into a different gear and then pushes ahead with hard driving tech-house at its finest.

From the remix by DJ HMC of DJ Rob Little’s “Pulsate” to the ending beat of Metier’s “Body Electric” (remixed by James Ruskin), this record captures a master in his element and gives the best live interpretation of the energy Smith can truly create for a two-hour period. I love the raw moments on the recording when you can hear the needle hitting the dust on the vinyl as Smith uses his technique on three decks to rip and manipulate the tracks into one cohesive sound. He rides the steady cymbal of “Pulsate” to the edge before his instincts kick in, telling him to drop in the bounce of Chester Beatty’s “Levanon”. The timing is so precise it’s silly. If you have been looking to find those classic tracks, “Move”, “Visions of You” remix, and “Endzone”, from the duo Smith and (John) Selway, they’re all here!

Two of techno’s biggest superstars, Richie Hawtin and Carl Cox, give praise to Smith for carrying the flag of tech-house by adding a foreword statement about his career. They have been around the block and they know Christian Smith is a rare talent progressing slowly into the limelight of the techno world. Tronic Treatment gets the solid gold seal of approval because it’s not like many of the highly accessible DJ-mixed CD’s being pumped out, hoping to cross into the mainstream. The music and talent on the record sell themselves.

+sarzyniak


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