Following on from Guido Schneider's enigmatic ‘Focus On’ Album last year, Poker Flat are especially proud to introduce the next in the series, in the scintillating form of Focus On: Argy.
Comprising partly of new and exclusive produc- tions by Argy with a strong handful of well known and upcoming names, and highlights from his backcatalogue of releases and remixes, the mix acts as a showcase for Argy’s unique style, taking influence from strong, energetic peak time house through to deep and spaced out percussive journeys. Hot collaborations with Solomun, The Mole, Maral Salmassi, Dj Gregory, Jerome Sydenham and Bayoga all open up various mindsets, various avenues of Argy’s musical passions, as we traverse through an impeccable selection of modern house music.
Not wishing to conform to the rules of a mainstream house Djcompilation, Argy takes a bold and clear stance when it comes to the structure of the mix. The ?rst three tracks start things running strong, as if you’ve just arrived in the middle of a peaktime set, with the phasing chord stabs from Argy’s Remix of Jerome Sydenham’s Ebian melting into the powerful bass of ‘The Storm’. It’s a soaring, urgent introduction that’s wonderfully unconventional and captures the complete spirit of Argy’s idealology. These tracks were designed for the dancefoor, and it spells out the intentions of the mix with style and honesty. From there on things become more cerebral, with Argy’s debut hit on Poker Flat, ‘Love Dose’, introducing a passage where time is frozen and the party begins to unfold at its own heady pace. From there on we are simply left in the delightful and submissive position of the Listener, as the introduction also serves as a contract between Argy and his audience. We are now completely under his spell... locked in and Focused On. Each track is clearly introduced with a mixing style, announcing each new moment to the audience and making a spectacle of the variety and depth of music on offer.
‘I would never dare to approach an album without a concept,’ Argy divulges, and its clear from listen- ing to both the exclusive vinyl tracks, and the hour long mix, that he means what he says. Each brand new and exclusive track featured on the vinyl release is a fresh collaboration between Argy and another producer or musician, and the concept dictates that both must have an active part in the recording of the track. Argy wanted to try something new, something very rare, which is to group together collaborations with various other artists in the form of an album, and is a highly focused album at that, exploring as any different dancefoor possibilities as are possible within his sound.

review by: Poker Flat