Love For A Strange World

With rather fervent output, Jay Haze made an impact in the minimal techno community in recent years with the three labels he runs, an Internet/MP3 label, a slew of remixes, collaborations, and several solo releases. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that Love for a Strange World is one of very few endeavors he's released on compact disc, and even worse than that, it's not his strongest stuff by any means. Based around five years of productions and collaborations with vocals, Haze's output here is surprisingly erratic. Where tracks like "Troubles I've Seen" and "Get Your Lovin' On" fail miserably in their execution (the latter sounding like a poor hybrid of Matthew Dear and Jamie Lidell, only with lazy production values), they're easily forgiven by songs like "Easy Life" and "Make My Dreams" (a collaboration with D:exter), which focus on what Haze does best: creating clean, glitched-out microhouse and minimal techno. A collection of previously releases unissued on compact disc would have been a much preferable starting point for a debut full-length for the uninitiated.