Record Review - 3 June 12 2002

Prolific DJs Irene and Baby Anne live at opposite sunny ends of the country: Baby Anne’s in Florida, Irene’s in Los Angeles. Both women play music that is equally warm and inviting, and both have self-appointed titles: Baby Anne’s the “Bass Queen,” Irene’s a “Global House Diva.” The similarities become less apparent, however, the longer you leave their CDs — I’m About to Break and Phonosynthesis, respectively — in rotation.

Another point with which both women agree: DJing isn’t always meant to lead your ass on a spiritual journey; it also can be meant to simply move your ass on a crowded dancefloor. Both albums of new and unreleased anthems offer unabashed pop (a track on Anne’s samples INXS, while one on Irene’s samples Boston). But whereas Baby Anne’s CD is a solid hour of prog-pop Irene’s recording is a jacked-up jumble of pummeling hard-house edging on happy hardcore, progressive trance, jump-up jungle, and whatever else she sees fit to rampage through.

I’m About to Break — which collects tracks from DJ Icey, DJ X, Dynamix II, Huda Hudia and Baby Anne herself, among others — twitches with a consistent current of electro-bass, and plays well, if predictably. But for those tweaking teens not yet sure if they’d prefer melodic trance or manic thrashing, Phonosynthesis — whose tracks range from DJ Scot Project, Aphrodite, Omar Santana, Bad Boy Bill and Irene herself to Ferry Corsten, Tiesto and PPK — careens schizophrenically, a rollercoaster tethered to an emphasis on energy rather than genre.

DJs Irene and Baby Anne spin at the Globe Theater Fri., June 14.??