Synergia 01

*Breaks, Blips and Beats from Independent Dublin,* is the sub-title.It sounds promising but this turns out to be a bit of a mixed bag.

Jimmy Behan's 'Gate 28' is a piece of ambience that's so pointless I'm grateful it's so short. Inphase start the collection proper with the cleverly dubby and housetastic 'Medicine Man', a good idea with an infectious vocal sample spoiled only by being a bit heavy on the bass. Calc's 'Backache' is a hypnotic trance ditty that just about misses it's ride and ends up going nowhere (for ages), while 'Palm Anders' by Ambulance is a slightly funkier journey.

DJ Wool ups the ante while continuing the funkadelic vein with 'Globalhashfuturegraff' while making clever use of some oldstyle scratching. Zero Tolerance's 'Transfer' is jungle in feel, 'Santa Factory' is incidental movie music a lá Killing Zoe, then again the mood is changed by EN's pleasantly different 'Tragic Man'.

Dave Donohue, supplies 'Just', a qualified end-of-nighter that evokes thoughts of rising suns and ebbing buzzes. Nice.

There is, though, a distinct absence of bangin' tunes on offer; some of this stuff is lovely, but it's all very *five-in-the-morning-'ave-ye-got-any-skins?*. If Dublin can produce this we should be able to produce 'Burning Flame' or 'Sandstorm'. C'mon guys, howabouit?