Roger Sanchez

Roger Sanchez's First Contact is halfway to being an amazing album, but it's also halfway to being run of the mill. While the highpoints of the album display a bit of an identity crisis, the peaks are high enough that Sanchez makes good on his house maestro reputation. But starting with the big beat crazy Latin misfire "The Partee," the album detours toward bland, repetitive dance numbers and relies too heavily on contributing vocalists who display little passion. The four standout tracks are in order starting with the opener. A quick analysis shows that Sanchez crafts these eclectic nuggets from fruits that fall from many a varied tree. "Computabank" mixes Kraftwerk with a catchy, industrial Front 242 meets electro charm. "Another Chance" is touching and effortlessly pretty in its driving emotional sweep; it's the album's finest moment by far, as a sample repeatedly rises and drifts away. "Contact" mixes flanged sampler madness and huge throbbing bass sounds into a Daft Punk-worthy dancefloor anthem. Armand Van Helden and N'Dea Davenport contribute to the pleasant disco diva soundscape of "You Can't Change Me." The only other song to make a mark thereafter is "Nothing 2 Prove," and it's really only because Texas vocalist Sharleen Spiteri adds a dose of bite. Outside these highlights, First Contact feels too much like a paint-by-numbers house/disco/trance album. It might sound like a cliché, but First Contact is a fantastic album before it gets bogged down with bloated filler. ~ Tim DiGravina, All Music Guide