2 years ago DJ Volcanik released "The Hitmaker," and the CD helped to solidify his claim as superproducer. So when I saw that preview CDs of the follow-up were being handed out at SASA 2005 in California, I made sure that I got my hands on a copy. And now, after finally getting the actual CD, basically put, it's a "compilation of the hottest dancefloor moving mixes along with Volcanik's own remixes and original songs." There are 6 sections to the album: Hip Hop, Reggae, Reggaeton, Reggae Part II, Hindi, and House.

We start off with a hype intro from the Hip Hop section, followed by some of the phattest Hip Hop sounds out right now, including Game's 'This Is How We Do', 50 Cent's 'Disco Inferno', and a Notorious B.I.G. remix to 'Lean Back'. What makes Volcanik different from other DJs is that he also includes original tracks from artists within his Volcanik family. There's a freestyle by Don Revo over Fabolous' 'Breathe' and another freestyle by MC Nivla over Ja Rule's 'New York'. We then go into the Reggae section. It starts off with 'Hands In The Air' and then flows into an unreleased Sean Paul song, 'Buttah'. Both songs are party bangers and I can see them hitting club dancefloors. This section also has some Desi flavor, with Raghav's 'So Confused Dancehall remix' and a remix from a guy who I think we can agree could also call himself a superproducer, Jay Dabhi. We're treated with his excellent remix to Bally Jagpal's 'Aaja Soniya', which utilizes the Lumidee 'Uh Oh' beat. There's also some mainstream Reggae songs, including remixes to 'Turn Me On' and 'Tempted To Touch'. Volcanik ends this section with his own remix to 'Mere Naseeb'. Then comes the Reggaeton section. This genre of music seems to be the big thing right now and Volcanik is on top of it. There were a few songs in here I didn't recognize, but he was sure to include the mainstream track that started the whole trend 'Oye Mi Canto.'

Next up is the Raggae Part 2 section, with more flavorful tracks, my favorite being 'Move Your Body,' which is Volcanik's Boriqua Remix. Then we get into the Hindi section. It begins with 'Nachna Part II' by Kidd Skilly, DJ Robby and A-Sokh - what can I say, this track speaks for itself. We then get treated to DJ Teck's remix of Jay Sean-Juggy D's 'Meri Jaan'. Then we have Raghav's 'Can't Get Enough'. He then ends this section with Shady the Swami Mix and 2 of his own remixes to 'Hum Tum' and 'Pretty Woman', which are both well done. Looking back it, they should probably change the name of this segment to Desi instead of Hindi, since that seems to be a more accurate description.

Finally, I came into the house section. It's basically house remixes of some old school Hindi tracks. I have to say, this section blew me away. The first song is '1,2, ka 4 - Volcanik's Floorshaker Mix' and they couldn't have titled it any better. When they threw this song on at one of the SASA parties, the crowd went nuts. You just don't hear quality, energetic, unique remixes like this on every CD. Other songs in this set include DJ Ashish's remix to 'Ey Mere Humsafar' and Volcanik's own remixes to 'Joote De Paise Lo' and 'Bin Tere Sanam'. Other than 'Bin Tere Sanam', I don't think I've even ever heard any DJ try to remix the above mentioned songs. And even with 'Bin Tere Sanam', from what I can tell, Volcanik's version sounds better than any of the previous remixes I've heard of it. As I mentioned above, there was a Preview version of this CD that was released back in January. I don't think any other DJs have released a Preview CD for a CD before. Volcanik's marketing skills need to be applauded here. Anyway, with a solid handle of such a wide array of music genres, it appears that Volcanik has maintained his title as superproducer.

For more info visit www.volcanik.com

Do you have any thoughts on this? Feel free to send Sarosh an e-mail @ Sarosh Nizami.