Boogaloo: Brooklyn 3:23PM – Deepak Sharma

With an increasingly Disney-fied Manhattan further and further out of reach for those who come to New York looking for artistic community and the hedonistic ways that go with it, the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn has become the destination of choice for those who want the East Village lifestyle without the condominium prices. And being located just two stops outside of Manhattan on the L Train means that as night turns to day, escaping the city to an after-hours venue on the outskirts seems like the perfect game plan. Hence Boogaloo, the after-after-party space for which this CD commemorates. Resident DJ Deepak Sharma offers a soundtrack of minimal grooves that sound oddly familiar but are certainly not clearly remembered from the last weekend at Boogaloo. The cuts are of course culled from Europe, where places like Boogaloo are the rule rather than the exception. But as anyone with a taste for icy hi hats and dripping synths will tell you, nationality has nothing to do with this sort of groove. The only problem seems to be that Sharma has forgotten that this is not an after-hours comedown, but a mix CD, and as such it lacks the momentum preferred by all but the highest enthusiast for this minimalist sound. It may have sounded monumental at "Boogaloo, Brooklyn, 3:23pm," but only if three in the afternoon is part of the night before, and not tomorrow. ~ Joshua Glazer, All Music Guide