Artist: Various Artists (Mixed by Sasha and John Digweed)
Title: Northern Exposure 2: East Coast Edition Year: 1999
Label: Ministry of Sound
Genre: Progressive House

  1. Gus Gus - Believe
  2. Furry Phreaks - Soothe (Chicane Remix)
  3. Mantronik and Violet - Burn the Elastic
  4. Prana - Geomantik
  5. The Acoustic Hoods - Cycles of Time
  6. Frontside - Dammerung
  7. Doi-Oing - Blue (Original and LP Mixes)
  8. Spooky - Little Bullet (Part One)
  9. Uberzone - Botz
  10. Fluke - Reeferendum
  11. Lost Tribe - Distant Voices (Angel Edit)
  12. Gus Gus - Purple (Sasha v The Light Remix)
  13. Hybrid - Symphony

This was originally the first disc of the Ministry of Sound-issued 2xCD compilation, titled simply "Northern Exposure." However, time has passed and new distributors thought it more economically viable to split the discs up. Thus Northern Exposure 2: East Coast Edition and Northern Exposure 2: West Coast Edition.

This CD is great at many things. It is a true representation of progressive house, a seamless mix of revolutionary tracks that at the time defied genre. It was also not digitally altered in any form - it was mixed live, straight from turntables. In the liner notes of both editions, there is a warning alerting listeners to the possibility of static/pops from the vinyl.

Believe it or not, this is a great chillout CD - the euphoric breakdowns and the relaxed nature of the beats lead to a very nice listening experience for the end of the night. It has a permanent spot in my car CD changer, and I listen to it whenever driving home from a night of hard club beats.

Simply put: If you're into lush, organic-sounding electronic music (i.e., not detroit techno), buy this CD now.


On a side note, I once put this CD on play while I was on shrooms. I filled nine sheets of paper with thoughts of what I could swear was the movie that this CD was the soundtrack was for. Here's a cleaned up plot summary of:

NORTHERN EXPOSURE 2 EAST COAST EDITION: THE MOVIE

Tracks 1 and 2: The cool, calm introduction of our (very funky) protagonists, the humans. The whole situation is very Terminator 2-esque: the humans created the machine armies that eventually turned against them.
Track 3: The sounds of Geomantik begin to leak through. The dark bass sounds and robot voices begin to leak though... the robots are coming! They're just over the horizon. The fight is inevitable.
Track 4: The first battle between the robots and the humans is over... the evil-sounding chord at 3:06, the drum line that seems more like a robot marching beat than anything else. The robots have won the battle, but the war continues.
Track 5: The noises of the robot society that have begun to take over the surface of the earth. At 2:33, a human voice breaks through, causing havoc with the machines...
Track 6: The heavenly voice combines with others as the uprising is coordinated below the surface. The beautiful strings add to the hope of the effort. The hard drums that come in at 2:29 signal the beginning of the preparations for the next battle, the final battle for control of the earth.
Track 7: The humans and robots have each other in their sight, each waiting for the other to make their move. The robots begin their defense plans with their voices at :51. The attacks begin at 5:53.
Track 8: The mood of the battlefield is tense as both sides take heavy initial casualties. The humans lose a high-up leader at 4:56. The strings mark the mourning of his death.
Track 9: The machines take advantage of the distraction to mount a sneak attack under the cover of darkness. Initially devastating the unsuspecting human camps, the humans begin to regroup and mount a defense.
Track 10: The tide of the battle changes at :54, when the machines are finally turned back. However, the sneak attack still weighs heavy on the morale of the troops.
Track 11: The humans have revealed a key weakness in the robot battle plan, and put into motion a plan to exploit said weakness. Morale skyrockets, as the attack is initially a success.
Track 12: The hope of the human forces collides with the icy determination of the machines. The battle begins to deteriorate into a human slaughter. The humans regroup at a new location as the robots advance, as the human forces assemble and prepare for the final battle.
Track 13: The battle that will determine the fate of the war between the robots of the humans. The orchestral soundtrack goes well with the dramatic fighting action. The humans are eventuall victorious, and you can hear the last robot voice being silenced while the strings accompany the relief of a final victory...

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