Trance in your pants - PLAYBACK by Scott Garceau

• Dave Seaman

• Cape Town

• Global Underground

There’s a cut on the second disc of this excellent set by DJ Dave Seaman that will no doubt have Filipinos scratching their heads, if they’re not too busy shaking their butts: it’s called The Baguio Track by the group Luzon (remixed by Bedrock), and it’s been making the rounds here on other compilations, in various forms. (I’ve yet to figure out if they’re local or just fond of exotic locales, but they’re found on Deep Dish’s Yoshitoshi label.) Two or three minutes into the pulsating trance cut, a nifty indigenous chant starts up, and doesn’t stop for a good nine minutes or so. The chantress doesn’t sound particularly Igorot, but Filipinos will definitely appreciate the title and its reference to all things groovacious in the Philippines.

Seaman, who was here recently for a gig in Malate, recorded this set a couple years back in Capetown, South Africa, and it’s a good enough example of what makes him one of the more compelling trance DJs still hanging fire. Oh, yeah, trance purists will claim he’s already too commercial or this or that; but it’s hard to argue with a couple solid hours of great dance music that occasionally dips down into the cold ether of hardcore trance, without forgetting to soar back up to melody and tune at just the right moments.

Seaman is best known for his sets at London’s Renaissance Club (his discs on the Renaissance compilations are standout). That’s the banner under which he came to Manila, and excuse the hype, but it’s probably worth your while to check him out.

Disc 1 of Cape Town builds up nicely, hitting its first commercial peak with Moby’s remixed Porcelain (that omnipresent track from The Beach). But it’s not until Mandalay’s Deep Love (track 6) segues into Cascades of Colour (from The Ananda Project) that Seaman’s set hits a deeper groove. I also like the way New Day Dawning (by the group Above) burns off its electro-rhythms and gradually thrums its way into Tyrantanic (by Breeder) to close the first CD. The momentum carries on through Disc 2, winding down finally with Junkie XL’s Zerotonine and Highland’s clubbier track, No Way Out.

Seaman seems to prefer female vocalists on his sets, such as the aforementioned Baguio Track and The Fall (from Way Out West), which highlight Disc 2. But the ratchet rhythms of Peakin’ (also on Disc 2) are, to me, what deep trance and techno are all about. Sound-sculpting is something that trance sets are way better at than more house-oriented compilations (from, say, Ministry of Sound).

Better people than I have attempted to define trance music. One overenthusiastic endorsement on the CD cover goes: "TROPICAL FUNK AND STORM CLOUD TRANCE LICKS MAKE ENERGY LEVELS RISE LIKE THERMALS, FLASHING LIKE FORKED LIGHTNING OVER TABLE MOUNTAIN." Ahem. I’ll just say trance is techno that chooses a more meditative path, slipping into insistent repetitions of theme and rhythm that can be mesmerizing to the mind and body. Dave Seaman is one of the better-known spinners of trance, and while purists may carp at his more commercial tracks, you will rarely find a dud song during his sets. It’s as simple as that.