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My grasp of German is extremely limited but I’m told ‘Raven’ translates as the verbto rave. Clever stuff but even better than that Cajuan, a DJ veteran of 80’s hip hop and acid house, interprets the buzz of NME nu-rave frenzy for day-glo darlings, the Klaxons, for a house crowd on this instrumental electro-house version of ‘new’ rave.

In truth I get excited about anything marked up Moog mix and this homage to Dr. Robert’s synth gets out the knobs, cowbells and warpy house. There’s enough keyboard work going in the Metro mix but neither tracks is your typically house or rave (you could say that they err on the side of prog-rave).

Now if that’s not enough, Tigersushi’s top man Joakim Bouaziz, provides an Antwerp Rework almost ten minutes long. Equally at home with deep house, nu-jazz, techno and electro, Bouaziz is another DJ who gets to travel all over the world, gets his hands on loads of remix work (see Clor, Annie, Seelenluft etc) and now plays in his own group, Ectopasmic Band.

In fact, all the tracks sound as if there is a healthy number of ‘real’ instruments in the mix. Not exactly the bangin’ riot in Belgium, but Antwerp must be a rather percussive city at the moment judging by the breaks on this one.

It’s been twelve months since Cajuan’s last 12” but don’t expect ‘Raven’ to be a repeat of the ‘Dance, Not Dance’ (also on Fine). That track ended up going worldwide via DJs like Mylo, Markus Enochson and Darren Emerson. ‘Raven’ is more of a grower and the better for it from my point of view.

Expect ‘Raven’ to fly into all the best night spots (a pun too far? -ed.) as it’s an easy cross-over hit.

Hectic Mix nomination: All stunning.

Reviewed: Cajuan — Raven (Fine) Cat. No. 88697017701 Release date: 5 February 2007

Tracklisting:
1. Raven (Cajuan’s Moog Rave Mix) (5:50)
2. Raven (Cajuan’s Metro Rave Mix) (6:26)
3. Raven (Joakim’s Antwerp Rework) (9:41)

Links:
www.cajuan.com
www.myspace.com/cajuan
www.finerec.co.uk
Dr. Robert Moog: Inventor of the Moog synthesizer. May 23, 1934 — August 21, 2005
www.bobmoog.com
www.moogfoundation.org
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
www.spiegal.de
www.myspace.com/klaxons