Record Reviews (as published weekly in UK magazine, Mixmag Update)
VARIOUS / ‘BEYOND COLOUR’ / (T.I.P.)
The latest TIP compilation has been a long time coming and was worth the wait. There are no fillers on this album and all tracks are fully dance floor friendly. The album kicks off with a big bass chugger from GMS, punctuated by a highly amusing and ludicrously time - stretched vocal about some sort of mind control device. "Out here, we are stoned …toned….. oned" sets up the next track for more zany pumpage. Next comes "The Blizzard of Oooze", in which Nick Taylor manages to squeeze virtually every dance groove ever written into one kaleidoscopic track. "Magic" is a smooth-edged track from Halucinogen , featuring more demented vocal twisting and "Wormhole" from "Mud Spirit" makes an economical use of melody and lush production go a long way. In a time where many artists are trying too hard to be dark, this album is a breath of fresh air.
VARIOUS / ‘TURBULENCE’ / (FLYING RHINO)
‘Turbulence’ is an aptly titled album as It jostles and pokes you and shakes you around. In the case of "Freedom Engine" by "freak Disciple" (ManMadeMan & Tristan) this works in an exhilarating way, as loose and clanky percussion ricochets off buzzy analogue stabs to make your complimentary drinks shudder on their tray. Slinky Wizard’s "Fridgeful of Mutants" tocs along firmly on a solid grooves sprayed with some nice sections of chaotic noises, although it does drag on a bit. "Injection" by Alienated is a very routine dark and gnarley Goa work out . Things pick up with "Jammy Wizard’s" "Angstrom Dispidooshan" , which teases the listener with an infrequently opening squelchy 303 line and some cheeky, filtering percussion sections. A few dub delay tweaks add extra atmosphere too. As a whole, this album lacks diversity, but is, nonetheless, a solid collection of individually powerful tunes.
REE-K ‘AGARU TO SAKARU / SUBCONSCIOUS MIND’ (Matsuri Productions)
Matsuri’s taste for the exotic continues with two offerings from female Japanese producer Ree-K. ‘A to S’ is a percussion lead burbler that chugs along nicely on a pulsing bass line. A few minimal melodies creep in towards the end, but nothing to distract the no-nonsense trancer. ‘Subconscious Mind’ builds from a crisp and dry kick into a heated discussion between moody robots in a machine factory. Metallic and effective.
TROMESA V KRISB ‘STEREOPIAN / LAKSMANA’ (PHANTASM)
This is the first Polish techno trance that I have knowingly listened to and it has a style of its own. ‘Stereopian’ is a distinctly lo-fi, grungy growler of a track where scary noises fight for band-width with a Goa groove. ‘Laksmana’ is a more powerful triplet-timer with a big nod in the direction of Juno Reactor’s ‘Conga Fury’. The track can not resist stumbling back to 4/4 time for the last third but does actually justify this by going up a few gears more.
LITTLE BLUE MEN - LAMAS ON LAVAZZA - (SPIRAL TRAX)
Bounce, tweak and tongue-in-cheek is the self-confessed formula for this 12" from the zany Swedish trio. Both tracks are bold and rounded toons, inspired by the outdoor party scene. With their off the wall vocal samples and peculiar noises, they are designed to make people grin while they groove.
. NUCLEUS - DARK HORSE / SPOOKED - ATOMIC
Another strong 12" from this up and coming Brighton label. Although fairly generic in structure, the quality of sounds and slick production make this stand out from the crowd. "Dark Horse" builds up to a big, swirling, eerie sound which literally transports the dance floor to another dimension. "Spooked" is a more routine Trance journey, but no less effective on the dance floor.
. GENETIC - WE ARE……. GENETIC- DRAGONFLY
This long-awaited album from one of the original Dragonfly artists should firmly dispel any illusions that The Label is just a Goa Trance label. It is a credit to Paul Jackson’s production skills and timeless composition that his seminal track "Transmission" still sounds great, 5 years on. The album as a whole owes more to Electro than Trance and has also absorbed elements of house, Detroit,and Jazz and transposed them onto silky smooth hybrids, which slide effortlessly out of the speakers. The highlights include "Gala", a beautiful, laid back number, combining a Detroit house hi hat shuffle with dub delays and an uncluttered musical score. "42nd Street Hustle" is an electro "Watermelon Man" for the 90s.
TARSIS-TOXICATION -(SPIRIT ZONE)
‘Psychological FX’ has a scream sample which sounds female, but not necessarily human. This track confidently bounces along on a very economical use of off-beat bass-line, straight kick and a thin layer of drum’n’bass percussion, for extra groove. Very little else happens except for the deranged scream, but this really works. ‘Toxication’ has an almost housey groove but is tough and fast enough for any trance floor. Irresistibly tribal percussion and a fat bass sound combine for another spacious and playful tune. Beware of this tune. It may not grab you immediately, if you listen to it at home, but on the dance floor it will leap out, grab you by the hips and wiggle you around until you start grinning.
ORGANIC NOISE- SPASTIC ELASTIC/POLARIS - (TIP)
"Organic Noise" are Germans Jan Muller from X-Dream and planet B.E.N., so maybe they can be forgiven for the politically incorrect title. In a way that is slightly more extreme than X-Dream, the kick drum appears as a shy, high-pitched clunk, riding on a high-speed conveyor belt of rubber bass-line. The word "Elastic" also describes a lot of the sounds which randomly sproing in and out of hearing range. Polaris has a fuller coverage of the sonic spectrum and a greater emphasis on a cheeky and squelchy riff.
Laughing Buddha - ASTRAL TRAVELLER/ACID RAIN - (TRANSIENT)
Since leaving Cosmosis to pursue his solo project as Laughing Buddha, Jeremy Van Kampen has continued to produce fast and funky, fluently flowing trance tunes. Both sides of this EP have the same impeccable quality of production we have come to expect from Cosmosis and, whilst neither tune strays too far from the familiar sonic pallet and 4/4 structure, both deliver in their own way. Astral Traveller is the more intense of the two, featuring an urgent, pounding bass-line and its comically time-stretched "music is for traaaaveling.." sample. In Acid Rain a more whimsical vibe is created as chords and filters spiral effortlessly around a classic 16th bass-line.