Spectreview: DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ – Charmed

Released: November 25, 2020

Electronic
(Dance)
(House)
(Sample)

-YELLOW-

For a guide to the review color rating system, click here.

Did you know Since I Left You came out twenty years ago? At one point that little slice of sampling heaven represented a whole new frontier of musical creativity, until the music industry turned the screws and made sampling laws more and more draconian. That hasn’t stopped enterprising individuals, clearance processes be damned, from expressing the sentiment underneath that record’s suite of tracks: an everlasting dance party, with nothing but good vibes allowed.

Enter London producer DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, whose anonymity allows her late-90s sitcom-era aesthetic to color her lengthy house records. Since Makin’ Magic dropped in 2017 she’s released fleet after fleet of dense and ebullient dance music that feels, well, like magic. Part of what makes her work so impressive is the consistency of that quality over such quantity. DJ Sabrina records are usually over ninety minutes, and yet the energy nor the attention to detail ever lets up. She constructs whole worlds of nostalgic mash-up that are as deserving of a close listening as they’re designed to get utterly lost in. There’s very few people in her field that can accomplish that.

Three years of near-constant practice has seemingly turned DJ Sabrina into a house workhorse, and Charmed might just be her resulting magnum opus. An incredible three hours of length makes it even more of a titan than its debut, but spread over that length is arguably an even more ecstatic record. Its enrapturing opening number, “Next to Me,” tells you everything you need to know about what’s to follow; it glows with a soft warmth, starting from unassuming parts and steadily morning into a euphoric, throw-your-hands-up thumper that resembles nothing of its origins. That element of surprise, the way she can push any given track past its limits, is crucial to her music’s success. And so we get the tender balladry of “Charmed,” the hypnagogic churn of “Down With Love,” the downtempo “Strayed Ocean,” the twilit “Wedding Night,” the middle-school decorations of “New Year’s Resolution,” the cross of hilarity and poignancy in “Eeeeyyyy” and so much more – most wrapping up in fittingly climactic fashion.

Throughout, DJ Sabrina seems to be in the business of figuring out how far she can elicit a dopamine reaction in her audience. Three full hours of peak after peak, regardless of the music, will makes for an overall exhausting first listen. Truthfully there’s also a bit of a dip in the proceedings by the halfway point, but that gets picked right back up in the brilliant stretch of tracks from “Right Now” onward. Importantly, Sabrina stays focused on the themes that make her viewpoint singular – the juxtaposition of late-90s family-sitcom frivolity with the palpability of infatuation and nostalgia – while cranking out an all-you-can-eat buffet of technicolor bangers. It’s hard not to get sucked in, especially by the time the record’s stellar first string of songs subsists (the roller rink of “Feel The Pain I” and the blue-wave rave of “Pool Party” in particular are resplendent).

And then there’s the actual resolution, the one-two punch of “Charmed Life” and “End of an Era” that together make up almost a sixth of the record. Each are epics unto their own, but “Charmed Life” in particular feels suite-like, like a greatest hits of what came before it. Of course, by that time your head will be spinning and your teeth might be aching, but to be presented with such an expanse of high-caliber dance music feels like nothing else but a gift.

Highly recommended for writing in secret about Harvey Kinkle.