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The BT of 1995 was out of this world. Ima is a stunning album (although a little unfocused) and he was also remixing like the devil, collaborating with Sasha... everything he touched turned to gold. Easily my favourite era from him.
The BT of 1997 was still very good, and the full version of Flaming June is his masterpiece, but he started to show his capacity to swing wildly from outstanding to awful with tracks like Lullaby For Gaia and Remember, which I hated.
The BT of 1999 was 50% genius (Namistai, Fibonacci Sequence) and 50% forgettable (Madskillz, others I've forgotten), and that was really when he started trying too hard to prove he could produce everything and anything from dance music to pop, rather than just making his own music.
The BT of 2003 had gotten completely lost and was so busy trying to prove he was a jack-of-all-trades his music lost all identity. The only thing that remained BT in all of it was his production skills, and they had become so intrusively showy and over-done that they just harmed the music, made it soulless.
The BT of 2006 was a resurrection of Biblical proportions. He came back from the brink with This Binary Universe, and was finally making his own music again. That album has a distinct identity- it has a gorgeous lullaby quality to it that transcends all the arguments about the album. I prefer the colourful, summery epic house rush of Ima but I have to admit that TBU is a better album.
So... yeah. BT is an artist you judge in incarnations. He sheds his skin every few years. He's never gonna become predictable, but you have to worry every time he changes direction because he can easily step off the edge of the pier.
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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24
Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/
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