Lexicon Avenue & Dave Seaman "Therapy Sessions Volume III"

After successful adventures with Oz breakers Luke Chable and Phil K , label head and deck legend Dave Seaman has returned to the UK to team up with Lexicon Avenue for the third installment of Therapy Sessions. Continuing the tradition of guest DJ and Seaman himself each turning in a single disc to the compilation, this release is what you would expect from two of the most recognizable names in progressive music.

DJs Scott Bradford and Mark Armstrong, and their production partner Chris Scott, are Newcastle's own Lexicon Avenue. Famed for their early deep and tribal sound, the new incarnation of Lexicon Avenue is techy beats and acid house. Beginning with the Spirit Catcher mix of Satoshi Tomiie's 'Glow', the mix starts off with a nice housey feel, but the energy picks up quickly with the funky Zoo Brazil mix of 'Me' by Laid and the Mirabeau 2006 take on Underground Sound of Lisbon's 'So Get Up', with its stirred vocals preaching to make much of time, but they play the techy and flat Nick and Danny Chatelain for too long before mixing into the more melodic and stronger tracks from Cubic and Ame. The Radio Slave remix of 'Hello There', with blip beats and repetitive layering, would again lose energy if it weren't for the emotional Cagedbaby vocals and full effects peppered the base.

Lexicon Avenue's own mix of Dylan Rhymes that follows is perhaps the stand out track on their disc. Full strings, deep swelling bassline, inspired lyrics, and just a lively beat breathe new life into this disc and carry you into their new wave acid house that follows. It's a fun ending that accentuates the full progressive melody of the Nick K track, shows that Plastikman still sounds exactly like Plastikman no matter the context, and ends at the dramatic finale of Klement Bonelli feat. Dragonfly.

Unlike Volumes 1 and 2 where the guest DJs seem to actually outdo the Brother in Rhythm, in Volume 3 Dave Seaman turns in the better disc of the compilation. His mix flows better, journeying through his distinctive blend of dynamic beats and rich melodies. Beginning with the Martin Buttrich mix of 'Nothing Is Real' and its fun house mirror grip on reality, Dave is a master at setting the mood. He weaves through the progressive edge of tech house with Habersham's 'Aceide' before the bass heavy, steady paced 'Zoom In' by Kupon — technically the King Unique mix but it sounds very similar to the original. Then with his typical smooth transitions, Seaman finds the sci-fi 'Teething' from greek Stelios Vassiloudis, aka Stel, and its dreamlike delays and accoutrements into the pads and pole dances of Lewie Day's 'Striptease'. Each track continues to build on the last. Translated from Your Personal Good Luck Melody, Freeform Five's mix of 'Ihre Personliche Glucksmelodie' is features pizzicatos with delays and square wave bassline.

The mix then turns to Vancouver duo Shiloh for a couple of productions. Colin and Justin Moreh's remix of Brisker and Magitman's 'Eden' utilizes reversed layers, tweeky blips, and a barely audible vocal impressions while their original 'Cafe Del Mariachi' features a smoother build of undulating bass and trance melodies. Continuing to seamlessly roll though tracks like 'Click' and 'Jet', melodies are more prominent and Seaman has you concentrating on every note as he reaches the Atari noises, sustains, and fat happy harmonics of Dada Life's 'Big Time'. Finally the remix of MkUltra Project's 'Gamma Radio' from raising star 16Bit Lolitas is a great track - lush, full of balanced layers, and energetic chord banging away at the keyboard - to end it.

Both discs have always been good from the Therapy Sessions but they have yet to flow together into anything superb. In Volume 3, Dave Seaman, who puts together a mix that steps it up from his previous Sessions on the Therapy couch, overshadows Lexicon Avenue, who lose their consistency a bit too often.