I don't keep up with music very well.
Over 4 years ago, I was going crazy when I heard the news about Sasha and Global Underground teaming to bring something new to the Electronic music scene. The hype leading up to Involver was overwhelming for me. I actually found the entire album on some torrent site, downloaded it, and listened to it constantly. I loved every second of it.
It was very much the soundtrack to the Summer of 2004 for me. I listened to it while driving from Minneapolis down to Chicago to see Sasha at Soundbar for his North American tour (pics). I listened to it while in Cleveland, Ohio driving around with Justin, waiting for Josh to get married. I listened to it nearly every day driving back and forth to work at the Pharmacy. Ah Memories...
That's in stark contrast to today where I didn't even realize Invol2ver existed until I saw some forum post on hybridized 2 days after Invol2ver was released. If I knew about, I probably would've been going crazy. But oh well. Later that day, I found Invol2ver quite easily at B-side Records on State St. ^_^
Invol2ver is very much in the same theme as Involver, but has a slightly different feel that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Involver was a summer diary for Sasha. Each track signified a moment or a sound that he shopped around to each venue he visited from the months prior. He selected his favorite tracks, tore them completely apart and put them back together. His work on Involver was much more than a simple remix. It was really a reconstruction like a full-on production album.
Before reading about and catching up on Sasha, I didn't really feel like Invol2ver really lived up to the Involver name. Some of the tracks felt very mute. I didn't quite understand what the point was, or what these tracks meant. The beginning just melted itself into something like Fundacion with little hints of Airdrawndagger. The album did, eventually, pull itself into the Sasha Involver style.
For some reason, the little booklet didn't have any description or proof of concept like the first Involver. But Global Underground had the description I was looking for. And reminded me of what Sasha was up to lately.
The first half of Invol2ver is a diary of his emFire Collection. It's very chill and nature. The emFire collection is a soundtrack to a bunch of surfer videos. But it eventually builds into his DJ experiences as of late. The second half and ending brings me back to how I felt when I first heard Involver. Very distinct melodies built off the underlying bass and movement.
Overall, I think Invol2ver accomplishes its goals, but the 2 different feelings of the emFire collection and his DJ experiences clash quite heavily.
For a mix album, it may have been better to have the Day and Night cycles on two separate discs, rather than mixing into each other. It does form a story though. Starting from daylight, at the beach, then watching the sun set on Miami, and then going to a club and dancing into the late night.
I guess that's why the 2 is smack dab in the middle of the title. Invol2ver.
It's unfortunate that Sasha isn't touring in the midwest for his Invol2ver North American tour. I'd really like to see what his set says about his CD release. Though, I suppose for June 2004 it was very much in the style of Fundacion than Involver, so his North American might not say much of anything.
I saw him back in April 2008 for his Spring Tour with John Digweed, but I'm not sure when I saw Sasha before that. His style has become very undistinct for me lately and June 2004 was the beginning.
The ending of Involver 1 really felt like this was the direction he was going. The final song just trailed off into the distance. But the ending of Invol2ver put a very distinct cap on the album. I'd like to see if this means anything. ^_^