**1/2 Various Artists

DJ JAMES CHRISTIAN PRESENTS A BETTER WORLD

(Nervous)

Behind the pretentious title -- typical of house music's aspirations if not always its accomplishments -- lies 58:04 of noise billed as "East Coast HardHouse," all of it mixed by DJ James Christian. Hardhouse, in club music, means a pounding kind of house-music deep beat, and the tracks in this remix CD do pound. But hardhouse also means teasing vocals and chord progressions and -- in the newly popular, "traxx" version of hardhouse -- some cross-beats to make the music swing.

Christian's music has few of these. Except in "Cypher: Feel in the Cage," a classic hardhouse track, its beats go four-to-the-floor relentlessly. From the "Groove Control" start to the "Bass Bin" finish and without sexy vocals or traxx-style swing, the music (even Christian's three "Tantra's Circus" tracks, which quote from the revered, late-1970s hi-NRG Tantra productions) feels harsh and metallic, industrial, Nine Inch Nails. That's Christian's idea of a better world?

-- Michael Freedberg