Search - Transmission 1: Getting Away With It on DVD

An awful commentary on a series that isn't like this at all

Christopher Culver | 10/18/2002

(1 out of 5 stars)

"TRANSMISSION00:1 is the first DVD offering from Boxed Records in their Global Underground series. It combines several features from 1998 to 2000. First is the Channel 4 documentary "Getting Away With It", which tracks James and Andy of Boxed Records as they travel all over the world and coordinate one of the most successful compilations series in dance music. Three DJ interviews follows, with Sasha on a roof in Ibiza, Danny Tenaglia at the Love Parade in Berlin, and Dave Seaman in Buenos Aires. The final two parts are is "Travelling The World With The Speed of Sound", an unsubstantial "ambient movie", and a photo gallery of shots by GU's photographer Dean Belcher. While Global Underground has featured some of the best sets in the quality dance music of the last five years, this DVD is incredibly disappointing.The first thing that strikes a person buying this DVD, even before you put it in the player, is how old the material on it is. TRANSMISSION00:1 was released in November of 2001, but the latest thing on it is from June 2000, which is ages ago in the fast-moving world of underground music. It would have been nice to see some more recent material, such as charting John Digweed's controversial and revolutionary L.A. sets in Fall 2000, and Danny Howell's entrance into the Nubreed roster.The second problem with the DVD is how cheesy it is. Global Underground was the first series to feature dance music for its *artistic* value, and it abstained from the psychadelic anthemic trance that was followed by young people for its chemical scene. TRANSMISSION00:1, however, features a bizarre obsession with transvestites, inverted-colour shots of topless girls and lesbian homoeroticism, and slow-motion wading of enraptured dancers. All this would alienate any viewer not under the influence of drugs and it's a mystery why Boxed had to pack the DVD with these scenes. The interview with Sasha shows a DJ so intoxicated that he can barely form a sentence. None of this is helping to interest the public in Global Underground's excellent line of retrospectives.Also, those looking to hear some tunes they've never heard before will find little new on this DVD. While there is footage of DJ's spinning, the soundtrack is replaced by loops of music from the CDs. The Sasha interview has the same few bars of Aquilla - "Dreamstate (LSG Mix)" looped over it for several minutes, which gets pretty annoying. "Travelling The World With The Speed of Sound" features original music by The Forth and Digital Monkeys, but listening to it shows why The Forth has remained a second-tier producer at best.Global Underground CD's are amazing pieces of innovative dance music that don't fall to enthrall. If you've never heard them before, try Sasha's SAN FRANCISCO retrospective or Satoshi Tomiie's Nubreed006. TRANSMISSION00:1 however is an immensely poor quality DVD that misportrays the underground trance and progressive house scene and makes the Global Underground series look like ectasy-fueled psychadelia."

Very interesting, lacks music content

zewad | Gainesville, Florida United States | 05/06/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"this dvd was pretty cool but was not at all what i expected it to be, it is basically a documentary on the boxed boys and their travels with some of their artists, if you are curious on the global underground scene then this is for you, but if you are looking for music then this is definitely not what you are looking for"