by Jason Birchmeier

For his first Global Underground mix, Satoshi Tomiie goes with the club-orientated progressive house style associated with the popular series of DJ mix albums. Over the course of two discs he drops two dozen or so lengthy tracks with huge bottom ends and an emphasis on dark, trippy melodies every now and then. He structures the two discs similarly, building toward an intense peak or two halfway through each of the two discs before slowing the music down a bit before finishing with standout vocal tracks, namely Kings of Tomorrow's "I Want You (For Myself)" and Max Graham's "Tell You." For the most part, Tomiie sticks with progressive house, dipping occasionally into some breaks but almost never into trance. He also sticks with the leading progressive house labels of the moment -- Yoshitoshi, Bedrock, SAW, Forensic -- and other house labels like Choo Choo and Twisted that traditionally offer a less progressive style of house. Overall, Tomiie approaches his first Global Underground: Nubreed mix appropriately. He crafts a mix very representative of the series during the early 2000s, meaning of course that he isn't afraid to drop the big records at the right moments. Because Tomiie does precisely this, his contribution to the long-running series is just as good as any.