Hieroglyphics - Over Time

Hiero Imperium: 2007

Speaking as a relative casual fan of the extended Hieroglyphics crew, Over Time was a welcome, nay needed reminder of why the Oakland hip-hop group deserved their underground praises. The honest truth is for all their accomplishments leading up to and through the turn of the millennium, their respective stars had sadly dimmed as the '00s carried on. Part of the problem can be attributed to changing trends within hip-hop as a whole, but a dearth of fresh, fiery material sparking interest in Del, Souls, and co. didn't help either. Yes, they were becoming victim of the ol' “falling off” narrative, a death knell within hip-hop if ever there was one.

Whether by accident or design, Over Time came out at almost as perfect a moment as any. It'd been half-a-decade since Full Circle had dropped and generally forgotten, and solo Hiero projects were growing few and far between, almost devoid of hype. A greatest hits collection would likely help keep their name out there, but this is a crew that knew its audience, underground heads who'd already have the best of their material – such a release would be hopelessly redundant. What of the rarities though? Only the most hardcore of the hardcore would have gathered all the available Hieroglyphics music, much of which had gone discontinued or become stupidly expensive on the collector's market. Why not offer the b-sides, remixes, and that as a treat to the casuals of their following, who joined the Oakland party late (*cough*)?

A sweet deal for fans then, but here’s where Over Time excels: it encapsulates the Hieroglyphics manifesto in such a complete way, I’ll argue this is required listening even if your knowledge of the crew only goes so far as Clint Eastwood. For one thing, some of their best songs are here, and though they’re in remixed form, tracks like You Never Know, Phoney Phranchise, and Soundscience remain great examples of the lyrical diversity the Hiero crew are known for. And speaking of remixes, Dan The Automator’s rub of Del’s ode to good hygiene If You Must (no, really!) is a hoot, including a child’s jingle about how you shouldn’t worry about getting sucked down a bathtub drain.

Since Del was the busiest body during the ten year period this collection gathers material from, nearly half the tunes are his. He’s often tagged up with fellow Hiero mates though, like Tajai in the thumping Masterminds, or A-Plus in the chill Battle Of The Shadow. One of the more interesting of his cuts is Cyberpunks, a harrowing ‘nerdcore’ cut that predates his Deltron 3030 work that appeared on a relatively forgotten compilation from Strength Magazine (never heard of the rag); Pep Love’s battle-rap outing Prose Officially also appeared on that CD.

In a nutshell, Over Time has the one thing RapReviews.com writer Steve ‘Flash’ Juan claimed Full Circle lacked: dopeness. While I won’t call this disc a definitive collection of the Hieroglyphics crew, it’s a strong summation of their unique strengths.

James Zabiela & Nic Fanciulli - One + One (Original TC Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2007

(2014 Update:
AH HAHAHAHAHAAH!! HAHAAHAAH!! Man, all the music journalists that bought into the PR hype that James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli were going to be the next Sasha & Digweed deserves a punch in the dick. AH HAHAHAH! *punches 2007 Sykonee in the dick* Ouch! Yeah, I kinda did too, but only as a review angle, I swear! Wait, why am I feeling that punch seven years later? Damn temporal paradoxes.

What I remember most about this DJ mix was how much it annoyed me. True, my initial thoughts were formed during a frustrated wander through a Surrey suburb (was kinda lost), but the various glitch-minimal wankey bits soured my impressions forever after. I hadn't listened to this since I reviewed it, and was struck dumb by not only hearing Rockers Hi-Fi's Push Push here (by way of a M.A.N.D.Y. remix) but also deadmau5's Faxing Berlin - I totally don't remember hearing that track in this mix! Not that I would have immediately recognized it back then anyway, since One + One came out a few months before ol' Joel blew up big on Beatport. Guess I gotta give Zabs and Nic some credit in picking future 'classics' like that one, even if their team-up's barely remembered as a footnote in their respective careers now.)


IN BRIEF: The potential of youth.

Masters At Work; Grooverider and Fabio; Hawtin and Väth; Sasha & Digweed: DJing duos that made massive impacts on their scenes, raising standards to new highs with their unprecedented symmetry. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a breakout duo of similar ilk, but if the hype centered around this release is to be believed, we just may have it. And the names that will take DJing to a whole new level? James Zabiela and Nic Fanciulli. For those still in the dark about these two, here’s a quick dosier.

More or less discovered by the now defunct Muzik Magazine, Zabiela built a larger DJing career from his Bedroom Bedlam momentum. On top of that, just as the era of digital DJing emerged, Zabs was among the first to not only support the technology, but show-off just how creative one could get with CDJs and Ableton Live. He was the new kid on the block teaching all the old timers how to use these new-fangled gizmos, impressing even the ‘Son Of God’ enough to tour with him. As for Nic... Well, he appears to be part of Renaissance’s ‘The Next Generation’, or something to that effect. He’s gotten plenty of praise from the progressive elite, but unless you follow that scene religiously his name may have passed you by. Until now, of course.

Bottom line is these two are members of the new breed of young DJs looking to shake things up in the realms of clubland. And although they both have differing approaches to the trade, Zabs & Nic discovered a strong synergy between them, making use of each other’s strengths while keeping their weaknesses in check. So of course, in an industry desperate for The Next Big Thing, it’s no wonder some music rags are jumping on their official pairing as something new, exciting, bold, visionary, and other typical journalistic hyperbole.

I suppose you’re wondering whether all this early hype is warranted. Well, no. It almost never is, to be honest, but even then this pairing has come very early in Zabs’ and Nic’s career (by comparison, Sasha & Diggers had been at the game for quite a long while before they ever hooked up). There are sections of this mix where the over-exuberance of snickering youth does get the better of them, and despite Nic’s steadying presence, Zabiela still has a tendency to get too indulgent with playing with his laptop, if you catch my euphemism. Mind, this doesn’t mean One + One isn’t without merit; just don’t go into it thinking this is Northern Exposure for the modern clubber.

Still, the first disc follows in much of the same vein as that seminal series. As the chiller of the two CDs, it is quite laid back in delivery, mostly content to cruise along at a casual pace. Interestingly, rather than the more traditional ‘slow breaks to house grooves’ sets of this nature build to, Zabs and Nic go in reverse. Deep house vibes open the show, soon sliding into dubby tunes, synthy atmospherics, and even electro breaks. Of course, with IDM production so very hip now, we get a slight detour of mild offerings around the middle of this set. As far as experimenting soundscapes go, these tunes are intriguing enough but it is nice to return to the more melodic nature of chill sets in due time. Be warned though: the glitchy clicky nature of digital DJing rears its head quite a bit in the final stretch (especially in Zab’s own offering of Human, unsurprisingly), so it does make for a rather... unique listen compared to more typical sets. It’s also amusing hearing a knowing wink from him in the form of Furry Phreaks’ Soothe; James is apparently quite aware of the comparisons he and Nic have been getting lately.

And so, we come to disc number two, which usually means the party is ready to get under way with some bumpin’ rhythms and energetic hooks. Er... that’s not quite what happens here. If the ‘Ableton House’ bits of the first CD didn’t do much for you, you’ll probably want to sit out the first half of the second one. Certainly, there are some nifty tracks used here, but this set has a hell of a time getting anywhere; there are just too many “check out THIS trick!” moments to build any decent momentum. And whether it’s Zabs and Nic doing it or the original tracks are produced this way, you end up feeling like you’re stuck in Laptop Land. It also doesn’t help that this section isn’t terribly energetic in the rhythm department and something resembling a good tune remains sparse, but I suppose that makes it easier to tinker with. Yeah, I’m sure there are legions of Ableton acolytes out there who’ll eat this up, but unless you know the tracks and hardware intimately, it’ll probably just come across as either fluff or aggravating noise. Over-indulgent IDM lives on in house music, it would seem.

Things get better when DJ Dan makes an appearance by way of his Electroliners collaboration with Jim Hopkins, bringing us into some good ol’ breaks action - finally it begins to sound like this set is going somewhere. Its short lived though, as the final stretch brings us into simple techno territory ...of the unfortunate meandering kind. There are brief moments where things perk up – the always classic Wiggin’ by Derrick May’s Mayday alias the obvious example - but a lot of it relies on basic loops and soft beats. Hardly exciting stuff - perhaps Zabs and Nic didn’t want their single No Pressure to be overshadowed? As for No Pressure, it’s a nice closer that fits with the second disc’s simpler nature, summing up some of the themes touched upon. Personally, I found the pleasant opener Rover on disc one the better cut but your mileage may vary depending on what you get out of these sets.

To be honest, this isn’t the easiest DJ mix to get into. Your expectations will be challenged because this duo isn’t afraid to tinker with convention. All fine and good: it’s interesting to hear new ideas when they are executed well (and they mostly are). But at the same time, there isn’t as much tinkering as you’d expect. They have some tracks they want to play, they have some effects they want to play with, they mixed them altogether, and we have One + One as a result. The trouble is there aren’t that many standout tracks beyond the timeworn classics we hear, and the sets play in musical chunks rather than a flow. As such, if you still haven’t bought into the fizzle hiss-hiss crrzzkkzz hiss pop nature of these kinds of sets, this won’t do much to change your mind without the Big Moments that have made some of the sets of those other famous duos so legendary.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Solieb - On The Button / We Are Moving

Maschine: 2007

Geez, another Solieb single? How many of these did I get? How many were even released? (ten) I was curious to hear a few of these minimal techno Lieb musics, sure, but not all of them. It's minimal, for God's sake – how interesting could all of it be? Have a cursory glance, then back to forlorn hopes for another L.S.G. album. I've no idea what else to say about the Solieb project that wasn't already covered with Integrale and Impersonator. Heck, I've even already done the fictitious backstory angle! I've nothing left.

Let’s get this review over with, then. On The Button was released towards the latter end of the Solieb run, and I have to wonder if Mr. Lieb was running out of ideas where he could take minimal techno. Despite a start that hints at a sludgy bit of rhythmic monotony, the track gets rather busy with its various sounds: some machinery grinding, dub techno effects, and even proper melody at points that’s mildly catchy. That’s not supposed to happen in serious minimal music. The track doesn’t go anywhere much, and spends far too much time on the DJ-friendly bookends, but the middle sections were interesting for short time they were allowed. We Are Moving on the flip isn’t even minimal, despite the requisite over-dubbed percussion and plonky parts. There’s a funky groove, smart acid blips, and an ominous, dominant synth drone that sounds like it belongs in Spicelab down moments rather than supposed minimal techno. Since We Are Moving is the least minimal track I’ve heard from Lieb’s minimal moniker, it just might be one of the best Solieb tracks around.

Lieb would release one more single as Solieb, Halo / The Drums, coming out in spring of 2007. Just before minimal became insufferably commercial and tiresome in clubs everywhere, come to think of it. Hm, ol' Oliver rode that minimal wave for just the right amount of time, getting on when it started its intriguing buzz (2005), and bailing before every two-bit producer jumped on the bandwagon. Or maybe it's just a coincidence he put Solieb to pasture before the scene stupidity started settling in. I prefer believing the former, because I’m a hopeless fanboy that way.

That’s all I got. For the love of Lord Discogs, I hope there aren’t any more Solieb singles lurking in my music collection. There’s a couple more individual tracks floating about, but surely not full two-track EPs. I mean, look at this, I’m rambling to make self-imposed word-count quota. It’s not that the Solieb stuff was boring or whatever, it’s just there’s little more to discuss regarding the project. Dear me, I hope Lieb doesn’t release a CD collection of the stuff now, because I know I’ll end up buying it, then I’ll have to review it, and I’ve exhausted almost every talking point by now. Maybe not actual detailing of individual tracks, but geez, you know how painful it is reviewing minimal? Not fun, not fun at all.

Boys Noize - Oi Oi Oi (Original TC Review)

Boysnoize Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
Who'd have thought after the great 'maximal' techno wave of 2007 crested and passed, it'd be Boys Noize still standing tall half a decade later? Justice, Digitalism, the whole Ed Banger crew - all faded and, while not gone, seldom discussed anymore. Meanwhile, some German who seemingly jumped on the bandwagon kept going and found a comfortable role within the burgeoning EDM festival scene. I suspect it's due to Ridha's canny adaptability as a DJ, whereas the others were more producers-first by comparison. Either that, or being buddies with Tiga sure does pay off in this industry.

Also remarkable is how the good parts of Oi Oi Oi hold up. You'd think they'd be totally dated by now, but Boys Noize somehow tapped into a timeless bit of dance music excess, like AC/DC at their cock-rockiest best. Even the drabber points of the album sound fresh now that we're not constantly bombarded by tracks of this sort. The Battery's still dogshit, though.)


IN BRIEF: Proper L.E.F.

Mr. Ridha’s been a busy boy in recent years. After seemingly ready to coast along on an electro-house euro-trashy blend as Kid Alex - forever earning royalties from Fame and Young + Beautiful - he goes and realigns his focus more on the Boys Noize alter-ego, as it has more in common with the kind of material that has Justice the talk of the town. Way to go and jump on the bandwagon, Mr. Ridha!

Heh, actually, that’s not accurate but it does seem the ‘maximal’ push is in full-on attack mode now, with singles and albums from several Europeans ready to rescue techno from the navel-gazing ‘plink-plonk’ monotony of minimal. Berliner Alex Ridha is the latest to offer his take on the sound, and he doesn’t hide his influences much. In a nutshell, take one cup of Daft Punk’s uncanny knack for finding a catchy loop and doing next to nothing with it, take another cup of the siren-like squall of 808 State’s Cübik, sprinkle in a little unpredictable glitchy spice, and you’ve got the bulk of Oi Oi Oi.

And Boys Noize is indeed noisy. Having gone to the Hard School Of Spinal Tap Rock, every big riff he comes up with is pushed to the threshold of volume; those little red lights on your monitors will be earning their keep when tracks like & Down, Superfresh, and Oh! blast forth. It makes for quite the drunken rowdy sound, which is perfect sense with a few beers in your body and the testosterone is flooding your system. When Ferry Corsten was blathering on about his Loud Electronic Ferocious direction [in 2006], Mr. Ridha’s material is probably what everyone was expecting. But is it music? Er... not as much.

For sure, there are some blinders on this album. Oh! is like capturing the perfect storm of dance music excess: rhythms that pound, incredibly infectious robo-vocals, and reckless distorted riffs that Ridha can barely contain from destroying the speakers. Opener & Down captures this feeling too, although doesn’t fire with quite the same intensity.

And sadly, & Down’s execution is where a number of these cuts lie: an unfortunate gray area of exuberant but unfulfilled potential. There’s only so many times you can hear a short loop play over and over and over before you ache for something more done with it. Even Daft Punk, whom practically wrote the book on this technique, don’t get away with it all the time (and do more than they should in my opinion, but that’s another rant for another time). Of course, these work great in a club environment, where one’s attention span doesn’t last much longer than ninety seconds, yet the fact remains it leaves something to be desired on the musical front. Arcade Robot, Shine Shine, and Lava Lava all hint at something special in their opening minutes but fail to deliver in the end, continuously running round and round in the same sonic circle (although Shine Shine does come away the better for adding an additional loop along the way). By the time Don’t Believe The Hype rolls along - probably one of the best tunes to be had on Oi Oi Oi - Boys Noize’s whole distorto-filtered loop sound has gone from ingenious technique to gimmicky shtick.

Ridha does inject some variety into the proceedings, producing a few tracks that dabble away from the ‘maximal’ sound. However, with the exception of Let’s Buy Happiness - a more intuitively melodic track than the others - most of these are little more than passable electro diversions. Again, they suffer from the same problem as the other tunes, in that not enough is done with them, going through the motions as far as this sound is concerned and coming off as mere album filler. Superfresh attempts to blend a few ideas together but makes use of a horrid chunky nu-electro fart bass noise that is ridiculously over-the-top and completely lacking in finesse ...which is probably the point, but still doesn’t make it any good.

And then there are the batteries. Wu-Tang sounds like a lame Tone Loc instrumental, yet is a masterpiece compared to the disaster that is The Battery. Take one monotone fart bass sound and loop it over a bare-bones breakbeat for five minutes; throw in the odd hi-hat fill, and you have one of the most idiotically awful cuts I’ve heard all year.

Still, perhaps these are just unfortunate stumbles. The Berliner is fully capable of coming up with the goods, as is evident with his excellent remix of Feist’s My Moon My Man (included here as a bonus). Listening to it in the closing moments, thoughts of ‘what could of been’ only strengthen as you realize Oi Oi Oi would have been much more had Ridha not settled on the simplest of dance music arrangements.

In the end, the Boys Noize debut is a mixed bag. Yes, the highlights are awesome but the album as a whole comes up short in the musical department, and no amount of cranking your amps to eleven will ever hide that fact.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved

Joel Mull - The Observer

Harthouse Mannheim: 2007

As always, it's stupid having expectations of an artist I barely heard much prior music of, yet was I ever disappointed in Joel Mull's The Observer when I got it. Not just let down by the album itself, but the process of buying new electronic music in general. It seemed, for the first time ever, I could no longer trust what I found on store shelves in delivering unexpected awesomeness, every CD potentially hiding electro-sleaze nonsense, crummy trance bollocks, or minimal-wank plonk, no matter who the artist involved was. So disillusioned I’d become that I practically gave up on 'blind purchases' for new CDs altogether, only buying sure things from artists I trusted. Well, in the local shops at least. Online buying was a whole other matter.

Goodness, Mr. Mull's sophomore LP must be dire indeed to ruin all hope I had in take-chance music collecting. No, not really, though it sat languid in my racks for a number of years. I'd already moved on from my dashed expectations (“weren't you supposed to be atmospheric ambient-electro techno?”), but the fact remained The Observer is very much a product of its time, the oh-so fashionable minimal era that many got in on last decade, and promptly abandoned this decade. The whole middle portion of this album features plenty of functional, bumpin' tech-house rhythms with requisite “this are serious music” menacing tones and random sound-effect hooks that probably sounds cool while drooling on ketamine, but utterly forgotten about within an hour. Can't fault Mull's production chops though, as I'm sure any of these cuts would work in a modern set, provided DJs still play minimal tech-haus of this sort (kinda' doubt it).

That all said, the early and ending tracks have me kicking my ass that I didn’t give The Observer another chance until recently, as these are the sort of tunes I did expect out of Mull. Enter Your Moment is all kinds of dubby, trance bliss, while Klangfarben and Sunny Hills are the sort of Norman Feller styled tech-house I can get into. Following all the minimal drudgery, we’re treated to a brief bit of ambience that is Intermezzo Aqua. Then Mull gives us some downtempo ambient techno in Mirage, a solid loop-techno workout with Altitude, spacey electro-funk on Zero Point, and finishes with, erm, another forgettable tech-house cut. Oh well, almost an ace conclusion, but man, how did I forget about these in the first place? That initial impression must of really sucked balls.

More importantly, these bookend tracks don’t come off as dated as the other middle ones. Not that I really blame ol’ Joel for getting in on the minimal tech-house bandwagon, since everyone in techno had to if they wanted their records played by the cool, very important DJs of the time. I’m just glad he found room on his album to fit in some tunes of lasting substance. It makes returning to The Observer a welcome proposition, even if it’s for half a CD’s worth.

The Orb - The Dream

Six Degrees: 2007

Now here’s a strange parallel: The Orb and The Simpsons. Both emerged at the same time (1989), had a critically and commercially heralded run for their first seven or eight years of existence, and then began a steady decline of importance as the current millennium took hold. Those who stuck around for new music/episodes insist things aren’t that bad, but even the hold-outs won’t deny the quality of product significantly dipped compared to the Early Years. There was even a minor, resurgent uptick in interest for both camps in the mid-‘00s, each finding a way to reignite discourse in their respective brands (The Simpsons Movie / The Orb releasing an album on trendy chill label Kompact). Of course, this has little to do with The Dream, but given the recent rash of Simpsons related topics flooding the internet, I couldn’t help but notice this while glancing back on The Orb’s discography.

The '00s were a weird time for the project fronted by Dr. Alex Paterson, drifting from label to label, seemingly aimless in their endeavors and growing ever more irrelevant as newer downbeat musics got all the press and plaudits. Perhaps growing forlorn for the good ol' days, the Doc' often reunited with his former Orb mates, or maybe his original posse would come a-callin' for some studio sessions. The Dream sees a return of Martin Glover (aka: Youth; aka: Killing Joke; aka: Dub Trees; aka: New World Orchestra; aka:...) for a full-length collaboration. Hey, that don't sound so bad, Youth quite instrumental in crafting The Orb's dubbier moments in the early days.

And yeah, The Dream delivers on those fronts, tracks like DDD (Dirty Disco Dub), Lost & Found, and High Noon tapping into all those tasty reggae-vibe jams that turned Perpetual Dawn into a classic (not to mention making ‘ambient dub’ a thing in the early ‘90s). But this is (was) the modern times, mang, and psy dub’s the fresh hotness where this sort of music’s concerned. Good thing Glover kept his ear to that ground, then, as The Dream has several takes on the genre Shpongle made popular. Gander at The Truth Is… (ethereal gospel!), Mother Nature (Middle-East riddims!), Katskills (trippy-dippy, hippies!), and Codes (rasta space-men!).

This being latter-era (re: non-Weston) Orb though, the productions aren’t ultra-dense sonic-soups, at times sounding shamelessly aiming for a little radio play (oh hi, A Beautiful Day). Also, the only thing that keeps The Dream from being a full-on Youth album is frequent use of quirky musical and dialog samples, often played through those Orb filters that’s practically a trademark of the project (heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if Doc’ Pat’ did trademark the technique) - par for the course where many Orb LPs are concerned.

Of course, the big question is how The Dream stacks against the classics. Take a gander at closer Orbisonia for your answer. Though not representative of The Dream as a whole, I challenge you to resist the feelings of warm Orb nostalgia on that one.

16 Bit Lolita's - Non Verbal Language / Back To One (Original TC Review)

Hope Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
So we waited for 16 Bit Lolita's to drop a second proper album. And waited. And waited. And waited. And wai- Oh hey, there's finally an LP ...Released in 2012, and only digital, but still! Kriek and Olierook definitely kept busy between though, releasing many singles through their own Bits & Pieces digi-label, with a few additional EPs on Anjunadeep as well. All the while, they maintained their cred as one of progressive house's go-to acts for solid productions, even as the genre kept shifting and morphing into things like tech-house or deep house or whatever it is now.

Not much else to add to this review. There were two other remixes of Non Verbal Language on the digi-version which I didn't cover at the time, since I only ever initially got vinyl rips for review. The tunes still hold up all this time after, and given how much I've come to enjoy that earlier Coldharbour sound, I'm liking Back To One even more than before. Strange days.)


IN BRIEF: Prog’s new darlings?

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a breakout prog act with consistency. Many either produce a track or two before following their muse elsewhere (Holden) or fall prey to commercialized pap (Schulz). It remains to be seen if Peter Kriek and Ariaan Olieroock - or 16 Bit Lolita’s, a name that is every Grammar-Nazi’s nightmare - will follow these paths but with a steady stream of good tunes, the duo are showing great promise in resisting them. While not strictly prog house, 16BL gained most of their current momentum when DJs in this field clued into their singles. However, here’s not the place to delve too deeply into such details. We might as well wait for their next album regarding these matters (or their old one, if we ever get around to covering it, heh).

In the meantime, let’s take a quick look at their first single of 2007. Some of their fans are worrying that 16BL’s growing profile might lead them to trendy sounds in order to push their careers further. A valid concern, but if this single is any indication, it seems the duo are in no hurry to do so.

The A-Side is the slower cut, and it’s a deep one indeed. Spacey pads slide over grooving rhythms, crafting a murky tune that’s more concerned about atmosphere than the dancefloor. Dialogue and additional sounds crop up at points, adding to the setting but never dominating the focus. In fact, Non Verbal Language doesn’t have much focus at all, going about its business like a brief diversion from the day. This either helps or hinders, depending on what you expect out of the track. It probably makes better sense in the opening parts of a deep prog set, but as a stand-alone, there’s still some nifty soundscapes for your ears to gorge on.

Back To One on the flip is more fun. First off, the rhythms are spunkier, with little sound effects adding a chipper feeling that will form a silly smile on your face. The bassline drops, adding some extra bounce, and soon the quaint melody enters. And it’s a lovely little thing, using pleasing tones and melancholy notes that push all the right emotive buttons. Mind, it could also be considered borderline saccharine, similar to what the Coldharbour crew tend to churn out, but 16BL hold back just enough to keep Back To One in the realms of class.

Although these two songs aren’t huge by any stretch, they are nicely done and will serve as fine tide-overs until their next production. Any concerns that Kriek and Olieroock may drift from the path their fans enjoy should be put to rest with this single.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Various - FabricLive.36: James Murphy & Pat Mahoney

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “Cave Drawings In Water Colours” period*

I'm surprised this year's “Fabric On A Budget” venture hasn't turned into as much of a slog as I feared it would. Many of these CDs have been quite enjoyable, some even surprising me in curtailing expectations. Chalk it up to FabricLive's eclecticism, every edition I've covered offering something different from the last. I suppose you could say the same of the fabrics too, but aside from Radioactive Man's pure electro excursion, there isn't that much of a stretch between deep house, tech-house, and minimal house. Compared to the breaks, hip-hop, bass music, rock (!), electro, disco-punk, and mash-up action going down with FabricLive (and I haven't even covered one of the many drum 'n' bass mixes), you can forgive me for finding this series' diversity more exciting than having to indulge in “yet another *blank* house mix” from the other.

Even here, arriving at FabricLive.36, I'm feeling all squee inside, despite knowing almost exactly what sort of music I'm gonna' hear on this CD. James Murphy and Pat Mahoney are LCD Soundsystem, or at least the primary music makers behind the project. Whenever touring with the band, they'd pull a double-gig DJing on the side, which must have let ol' James breathe a sigh of relief not having to bellow out Losing My Edge or North American Scum twice in two nights (to say nothing of his intense cowbell smashing!). As this was about the time they were touring the sophomore LCD effort, Sound Of Silver, of course they'd get a chance at a Fabric mix too – seems the trend with these, after all.

A few tracks aside (Baby Oliver’s Primetime, Mudd’s Adventures In Brickett Wood, Babytalk’s Keep On Move, their then-current LCD B-side Hippie Priest Bum-Out), Misters Murphy & Mahoney (sitcom pitch!) are taking us on a tour of late-‘70s slash early-‘80s disco, garage, and funk. Some tunes are from very familiar names (Chic, Peech Boys, Was (Not Was), Love Of Life Orchestra, Donald Bryd), but being the New York City proto-hipsters that they are, the duo opt for showcasing unheralded acts of the era.

There’s disco-boogie from Gichy Dan’s Cowboys & Gangsters and Punkin’ Machine’s I Need You Tonight (think Tom Tom Club), electro-funk from Elektrik Dred’s Butter Up, and dancefloor-soul from Jackson Jones’ I Feel Good, Put Your Pants on. Also, Good Ol’ James and Pat (lame spinoff show) squeeze in a bit of a Vanguard showcase of the early ‘80s, a veritable giant of independent record labels that’s provided an outlet for tons of jazz, blues, funk, and folk music since the ‘50s.

Mixing? Eh, functional for the most part, given the nature of these DJ unfriendly tunes. FabricLive.36 is more like a mixtape than a live rinse-out with its clever track arrangement – try and guess which disco and funk numbers are actually from the 2000s!

Various - fabric 35: Ewan Pearson

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “We Cans 4AD Too” period*

I recognize Ewan Pearson more than I did Ralph Lawson, but it sure doesn't seem like fabric's musically stretching far compared to its sister series. I could almost write a carbon copy of Lawson's background, Pearson's story in tech-house relatively similar. Sure, their careers have taken differing paths (Lawson stayed in the UK, Pearson headed for Berlin; one occasionally makes his own music, the other remixes a ton; that guy plays tech-house-house, while him dude plays tech-tech-house), but for the layman glancing at all these fabrics and FabricLives, neither are an easy sell when sat among very important techno people like Ricardo Villalobos, Ellen Allien, Rob Hood, and Luke Slater (and that's just sticking with the 30s run).

Oddly, I had to remind myself that fabric 35 almost certainly wasn’t a prog mix, as Pearson’s a name I mostly recalled cropping up in the early portions of prog DJ sets. For sure he’s done work in other genres (electroclash, funkier house, whatever it was The Chemical Brothers were doing around 2003), but that Soma Quality Recordings association probably helped keep Lord Digweed’s eye on him. Even with copious amounts of techno on this CD, fabric 35 kinda’ leans proggy in its construction, feeling more like a ‘journey mix’ than most rinsers of this music go.

I’ll get this out the way: there’s no minimal on here, at least of the plinky-plonk variety. There’s certainly a few stripped-back tunes, like Marc Houle’s remix of Marcashken’s Nimrod and Samim’s Paspd (back when it was still okay to play Samim tracks), but they’re simple lulls before getting back to some groovy techno action. There’s sinister electro vibes oozing from Snax’ Honeymoon’s Over, from which Mr. Pearson offers a great mix into an equally sinister, Latin jazz workout of Jens Zimmermann’s Tranquillité (I honestly thought it was one, long overlay). Remarkably, ol’ Ewan keeps this tangent going with Liquid Liquid’s Bellhead, a rapturous cacophony of Afro-percussion. Who says techno must always be serious digital music?

While fabric 35 doesn’t lose its momentum, it does get a bit over-indulgent at times. Laven & MSO’s Looking For God barely treads the line of tasteful minimalism (thank ‘God’ for a strong groove with this one), and I wasn’t too anxious to hear Samuel L. Sessions’ Can You Relate “what happened to the techno?” sermon anytime soon again. Also, it’s rather odd to end with a mash-up of the soulful croon of Beanfield’s “Tides” – C’s Movement #1 and the neo-trance of Aril Brikha’s Berghain. Or maybe not, if you think of fabric 35 as a progressive set hiding in techno’s clothing. Definitely makes listening to this more fun if you figure Ewan Pearson’s put this together as such.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
A pleasant surprise, this. fabric 35 passed by with little fanfare compared to its sexier neighbours, but there’s plenty to love with Pearson’s offering.

Various - FabricLive.34: Krafty Kuts

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive’s “Cave Drawings In Water-Colours” period*

I’ve generally taken the conditions these used Fabric CDs arrive in for granted. With such a simple design, how can the packaging get screwed over anyway? Cardboard sleeve, tin case, aluminum disc and liner notes within - we’re good to go, right? I never thought one would be shipped with no case, but Krafty Kuts’ FabricLive.34 proved me wrong. All I got was the CD tucked within the sleeve, and wrapped in one of the most ghetto cardboard packaging jobs I’ve ever seen. How this was even allowed advertised as an acceptable condition to sell on Amazon, I’ll never know. I was fortunate enough to have spare jewel cases so I could still stack it in my towers, though I had to 'craftily cut' the cardboard sleeve’s edges to make it fit. Hah!

Anyhow. Krafty Kuts is the man up next in FabricLive, which meant a brief return to the proper breaks scene for the series – like hardcore, it'll never die! Martin Reeves made his name during the nu-skool era, though he leaned more classic hip-hop breakin' compared to the Plumps and Warriors of those days. With a career that held strong even during that scene's downswing, it was an eventuality Fabric would come a knockin' for a taste of those killer Kuts. Probably didn't hurt he'd released a debut album the year prior, his name fresh on the minds of folks still following tunes of his sort.

If you know your breaks, FabricLive.34 probably won't hold many surprises, but you'll enjoy it nonetheless, Krafty craftily sticking to his breaks-and-butter throughout while throwing in knowing winks to those heads that never fled their scene. There’s scratching aplenty, acapellas aplenty, and most of the main players have tracks dropped in here: DJ Icey, Freestylers, Aquasky, and Plump DJs, although the Plump’s Listen To The Baddest is practically electro-house. Come to think of it, most of the middle of this set skews 2007 electro, including copious amounts of the swinging 2-step break that’s only the second most boring broken-beat around (‘Freeland breaks’ earns the top prize).

Speaking of the set’s middle portions, Mr. Kuts unfortunately runs out of steam after leaning a bit too heavy on anthems for a while. A shame since FabricLive.34 kicks off with all the energy you could hope for in a breaks mix (including a cheeky pisstake on ‘minimal’ techno), but builds and drops one after the other always grow tiresome without some sustained rhythmic momentum. Ah well, he at least indulges himself some with a few Latin cuts and even Primal Scream at the end. A strong finish, in other words, even if it’s on a totally different tangent from where his set started from.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
I’m mostly nitpicking about Krafty Kuts’ set flow - can’t be calling this blog Electronic Music Critic without finding something to critique, after all. A solid CD of breaks, then.

Various - FabricLive.33: Spank Rock

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by FabricLive's “ARTIST NAME IN BIG FUCKING LETTERS” period*

Hey hey! I've now completed a FabricLive cover series too. Surely that warrants a free CD prize from Fabric. True, I'm practically getting these for nothing already, but it's the principle of the thing. C'mon, Fabric, hook a Canuck up with a bonus mix (preferably a good one).

It's an even bigger coincidence that the cover runs of fabric and FabricLive I'd complete are both from the same time, indeed the same issues (31, 32, and 33). What was it with Fabric in early 2007 that folks would want rid of these CDs so badly? True, two out of the five I've covered so far were pants, but another two were ace. Hm, does this mean FabricLive 33 is utterly average like Ralph Lawson's mix?

With a name like Spank Rock, there’s no way we’d get ‘utterly average’. The name alone inspires thoughts of either the slummiest ghetto tech or the cheekiest electrotrash. The group is somewhere in between, more known for their antics in hip-hop’s ‘Bounce’ side of things (what kind of a genre name is ‘Bounce’..!?), but also found a welcome home with drunk-sleaze electro-house clubbing as the ‘00s wore on. This mix is their attempt at condensing their shows into a sloppy, cohesive whole, which sounds like a good ol’ rollickin’ whiskey time. I mean, just look at all these names on here. Kurtis Blow! Yello! Mr. Oizo! Daft Punk! Yes! Metro Area! Tangerine Dream! (??!) Rick Ross! Chicks On Speed! Mylo! (those Talking In Your Sleep guys) The Romantics! Hot Chip! Uffie! More and more! Oh boy, this is gonna’ be like one of those awesome As Heard On Radio Soulwax mixes, I bet. Yeah, if 2 Many DJs had been totally wasted while recording.

Have you ever been to a party where the DJs (usually always two or three) are really cool guys and have fun taste in music, but always resort to pandering with the most obvious fucking tunes around? You cheer them on, ‘cause hey, it’s just a stupid night out, and you like the chaps, and you’re drunk as all Hell off of hi-balls, and ooh, I love that A Bit Patchy song by Switch, even though I just heard it played out by another DJ duo with impeccably deep crates. Oh dear, it’s that Drop The Pressure song again. I’ve heard it too much on the radio already, and dear Lord is that mix into Yes’ Owner Of A Lonely Heart ever rough – can’t you put on something not so played out anyway? Shit, now they’re painfully forcing a mix into Para One’s Dudun Dun. Get your act together, guys. I want to cheer you on (I love Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s Stock Exchange!), but give me a better reason to. Oh, what the Hell, another round of hi-balls!

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
About as worth it as $3 hi-balls. All night.

Various - fabric 33: Ralph Lawson

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric's “Tacky Phifties Phamily Photos” period*

Hey, this is the first Fabric cover series I've got a complete set of! Yay, triumphant achievement unlocked, and all that rot. Okay, it’s not that impressive compared to those who've subscribed to the club’s CD, but it's not like I'm specifically gathering them for this reason. It's just a coincidence that folks were eagerly offloading fabrics 31, 32, and 33 at whatever price they could get, even a single penny. I can understand doing so for Marco Carola and Luke Slater's mixes, but Ralph Lawson? This one isn't that bad. Kind of run-of-the-mill, sure, but nothing someone should be embarrassed to own.

First, this Ralph Lawson guy. He's kind of familiar to me, though not in that Carola way. It's likely from his 20:20 Vision/Soundsystem work, which I've seen crop up on the occasional tech-house collection. Also, he has a warmer sound in his productions, with a bit of tribal influence too, making him a favorite for prog DJs tracklisting their early portions of their sets. At least, that was the case in during the first-half of the '00s, before everything went glitchy, minimal, and doff in the tech-house scene. As such, fabric 33 comes off rather retro for a 2007 CD, but I'm not gonna’ complain – I'll take early-aught prog over minimal deep-tech anytime. Not that there’s anything terribly prog in this mix, but it sure sounds proggier than John Digweed’s fabric set.

Ralphbert Lawson warms things up on the deeper side of house music, as most DJs of this sort are wont to do. None of that American or German styled deepness though, this be the warm, dubby, cinematic stylee the Western edges of Europe prefer (and me!). Then there’s a little tribal funk (Dennis Ferrer’s Transitions), a plonk of minimal (Badmouth’s Anymore (Phonique Remix); Marc Romboy’s Jigsaw (John Tejada Remix)), a touch of electro (Swag’s Hot Gloves (Bakazou Mix)), a dash of Detroit (Will Saul’s Pause; Nick Chacona’s The “Right” Wing), a drop of acid (Joakim’s Drum Trax (Beats)), a flaking of disco (Justus Köhncke’s Advance), and- why does writing the music out this way seem so familiar?

I honestly have little more I can detail about Ralphbert Paulson’s CD. It flows well, spices things up without being obnoxious about it, and leaves you with pleasant fuzzies afterwards. It’s about as serviceable a tech-house set as you can hope for. Damn it, why couldn’t it have outright sucked? Those are easier to write about. Eh, the being ‘totally wicked awesome’ option? Haha, this is tech-house, the most functional dance music around. Anything more exciting almost always ends up in another genre category by default. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this sort of music for a dancefloor or even as a listening experience – it’s just terribly boring music to write about.

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
Sure, I guess. Hey, at least I finished a cover art series for the first time.

Various - fabric 32: Luke Slater

Fabric: 2007

*cover art brought to you by fabric’s “Tacky Fifties Family Fotos” period*

Luke Slater is Planetary Assault Systems, L.B. Dub Corp, Clementine, and Translucent, all very important aliases in the world of techno. I guess Slater under his own name’s important too, what with four LPs, over a dozen singles, and oodles of remixes too. P.A.S.’ the one most techno disciples enjoy namedropping though, and for good reason, the project always two steps ahead of what that scene is accomplishing. But that’s the underground, where he could take more risks. As plain, simple Luke Slater, his productions were broader, dabbling in other genres like downtempo, breaks, house, and even *gasp*, electro-crossover on Alright On Top. It’s curious he never made another “Luke Slater” album after that one.

Really, his whole career went into a relative limbo during the mid-‘00s, likely due to focusing his efforts on running his newly established Mote-Evolver imprint. During that time though, Slater put out a mix for Fabric, only the third mix CD he’s ever released (the two-part Fear And Loathing ran a couple years prior). Maybe it’s for the best, as judging by fabric 32, I suspect studio DJing really isn’t Mr. P.A.S.’ strong suit.

If I can take anything from fabric 32, it’s that ol’ L.B. has an eclectic ear for techno. Not that his own discography wasn’t proof enough, but this mix is all over the place, showing off plenty branches of the genre. There’s dub techno, minimal techno, electro techno (?), prog-techno (!?), disco punk techno (!!?), techno-techno (stop making shit up), and breaks too. Really, this has all the hallmarks of a mixtape, Luke Skyslater showing off his musical interests without much care for technical mixing. Fine and well if the set flows all the same, but fabric 32 doesn’t.

His transitions are often so abrupt, half the time I’m double-taking, thinking I’ve got my player on Random by accident. Some DJs can pull such freewheeling set programming into a thrilling, unexpected ride. This one’s just confusing, Slater unable to settle into any sound for long before throwing an odd tangent. You’d think a set that starts with his own dub techno cut Rhythm Division (as L.B. Dub Corp), and features Basic Channel’s Phylyps Trak II/II near the end (geez, again?) would flow smoothly. Instead, your links are Guy J & Sahar Z’ Hazui (Gui Boratto Remix), Switch’s A Bit Patchy, Spank Rock’s Bump (Switch Remix), Audion’s Mouth To Mouth, The Juan MacLean’s Love Is In The Air (Mock And Toof Remix), and Marin Buttrich’s Full Clip - and yes, in that order. True, there are other tracks among them, but that list gives a decent impression of how Slater’s set unfolds. If you’re familiar with those names anyway (folks reading this blog should be).

Was This Worth The Pennies Paid For It?
If it’s an honest representation of Luke Slater’s DJing, I guess so. Though a disappointment, it beats paying cover charge at a club to sate the curiosity.

Soliquid - Music Is For Rich People

Captured Digital: 2007

Soliquid, or Dávid Biczók to the European Empire, seemed like a guy that could do no wrong in the trance-slash-progressive scene of the late ‘00s. Already a favorite with the traditional Anjunabeat ‘crackers, he even got playlisted by the likes of Digweed and Hybrid (!), highly respected names regardless of what folks thought of the current state of their careers. A strong assortment of singles, including his biggest hit in Music Is For Rich People, built anticipation for a debut album, which dropped in 2009 as Transportation. And then Soliquid dropped from the face of Lord Discog’s existence. No follow-up singles, a few remix credits reaching no further than 2010, and that’s all Mr. Biczók wrote. The business side of music must have soured him severely to abandon it so; or maybe he settled down with a family.

I recall being intrigued enough by a few of his tracks to hunt down the single for Music If For Rich People, and even intended to review it for TranceCritic. Upon finding it though, I discovered it was already a year old, which might as well be a hundred where singles in music journalism are concernted. Off to the dusty corners of a burned disc it thusly went. Shame I didn't review it, as perhaps the ol' TC bump could have inspired Mr. Biczók to keep producing to this day, our voice having enough sway to- ahahaha! Oh, that's funny.

Anyhow, the original version of Musical People Of Richness is one hell of a bangin’ track. I’m astounded such a hard piece of trance didn’t chase away all those progressive house jocks who picked up Soliquid’s other singles, but then Mr. Biczók did claim to have diversity as part of his manifesto. Even this cut’s got plenty going for it: fierce-as-fuck rhythms, electro dressings, twinkly breakdown, and a glitch-laden build. Good stuff.

The remixes got more attention though, especially so the Mat Zo Remix, one of that guy’s earliest works. It has all the hallmarks of latter-era McProg, and I remain stunned that I’m still digging those grumbly basslines and twinkly melodies; or maybe Mr. Zo’s reputation is well deserved and he crafted an excellent example of the sound. Meanwhile, Cerf & Mistika provide a rub that checks traditional prog-house boxes, though has the whiff of Armada blandness about it. At the other end is the Sunny Lax Remix, doing your bog-standard epic-uplifting-melodic Anjunabeats eurotrance that’s fun to hear on its own, but is just pants in most sets. Still, I’m sure the Anjuna kids would kill for a return to this sound from their favored label. Oh, and Biczók does an epic-uplifting-melodic remix of his own under his Bëlmondo guise, but who cares about that when there’s the kick-ass original?

If you missed this EP before and have a minor hankering for trance of 2007, Music Is For Rich People’s definitely worth a look back on. It hints at a promising lengthy career that sadly never materialized.

Various - Massive Passive (Original TC Review)

Tactic Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
I can't believe this CD's from the year 2007. For some reason, I had it in the back of my head it was at least a couple years younger, maybe late-'08 at best. Then again, I was still willing to give full-on psy some chances that year, so perhaps this was the final nail in the coffin for yours truly, where I simply gave up on Israeli psy save for the occasional recommendation from Ektoplazm. That reminds me, I should check that website out sometime soon. Maybe the music's gotten a bit better now that we don't have as many overnight start-up labels clogging the works. ...we don't anymore, do we?

Speaking of, Tactic Records did hold on for a couple years, folding after about a half-dozen releases (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Yep, about how it went for most Israeli psy start-ups last decade. Oh well, at least I wrote an unique review out of this mess. Can you tell I'd gone back to college at the time?)


IN BRIEF: Israeli Trance Compilation #3187...

One of the largest complaints surrounding Israeli psy trance is a lot of it tends to be samey sounding from artist to artist. You’d think a scene that annually offers dozens of new names, albums, and labels would create plenty of diversity over the years, yet enduring highlights remain few. The generally homogeneous execution of it all has to be the reason of something thus far hidden from the public eye; they can’t ALL be this creatively lacking by accident, can they? Although I have no proof of its existence, my suspicions are centered around what must be the Israeli Psy Trance School (IPTS).

There aren’t many courses at IPTS, but they will teach you everything you need to know about breaking into the Israeli scene. They include:

Israeli Trance 101: Learn how to produce your standard psy trance track. Your instructor will guide you in a step-by-step process of how to arrange your track, from the rambly intro sections to the trippy middle sections, and finally with the full-on synthy finish. Stock psy sounds are provided in your music making computer program, including chunky acid, spacey pads, rubbery basslines, and faux-thrashy guitars.

Israeli Trance 201: For advanced students, this course will teach you where to find contemporary movie samples, how to inject a little funk into your music, implant hidden trippy messages for stoners to discover, and maintain your interest in the scene after your sophomore slump. Innovative hooks are required for a Major.

Label Management 101: It’s not enough to be a producer, but you also need a label to distribute your tunes too. But what if no one accepts them? Then perhaps you should enter the exciting realm of DIY management! After completion, you’ll be able to do the following with ease:
-Snag a roster of new graduates from the Israeli Trance 101 course
-Entice a couple graduates from Israeli Trance 201 to give your label some potential class
-Use your label’s compilations as promotion for your artists’ new albums
-Steal away new computer art students to give your releases that extra psychedelic edge

Label Management 105 (Compilations): You have a label, but you need compilations to help promote your artists. This two-month course offers tricks of the trade to make your compiling methods easier. How to get a scene veteran to offer a new track to attract the old school, inclusion of at least one exclusive killer cut that makes your compilation a must-have for trainspotters, borrowing of other label artists, ample advertising of your roster through collaborations or remixes, and much more!

If such a school does exist, then Leon Gossler (aka: Tactic Mind) appears to be yet another graduate from it. Massive Passive is the debut compilation from his new label Tactic Records, and checks off everything you need to get a start-up in Israeli psy. Familiar faces Bizarre Contact and Ultravoice are present but mostly we find fresh faces here. The scene veteran could very well be Ultravoice as well, as he’s had releases since 2003. And sure enough Toxical’s debut album was Tactic's follow-up a mere month later.

Musically, it’s pretty much Israeli psy by-the-numbers. There are a couple better-than-average moments to be had - the peaks of Be Yourself and Flaming are solid, and Hot Leads is suitably trancey throughout - but innovation is severely lacking. In fact, some of the hooks are downright embarrassing to hear - the peaks in Ultrabizzy and Insomnia’s Computer Land are especially hilariously bad. And could Toxical have sampled something a little less obvious from The Fifth Element on Cosmic Radio? Guess not everyone managed to pass Israeli Trance 201 on this roster.

Oh, and that “one exclusive killer cut”? Look no further than Unique’s Hug & Roll, a surprisingly funky slice of psy with faux-guitar licks that aren’t corny and bouncy energy to spare. I was almost ready to start singing “Everything, everything...” along to it. Fun stuffs.

As for the rest of Massive Passive, you can throw it on and be reasonably entertained for portions of its playing time, but there’s very little to distinguish it from the hundreds of other Israeli trance compilations out there. While it’s still too early to tell whether Tactic Records will just be yet another victim of this scene’s super-high turnover ratio, a lackluster debut doesn’t do much to help make an impression in a sea of wibbly glut.

Neil Young - Live At Massey Hall 1971

Reprise Records: 2007

The idea of resurrecting old live gigs was definitely tantalizing to Neil Young fans, given the rumours of how much mint material remained untapped and unheard by public ears in decades. Yet while the first release of this series, Live At The Fillmore East, was cool for what it was, it still felt slight, barely a cursory glance of those particular shows. While I doubt folks would be disappointed if the Performance Series carried on that way, some had to wonder if the format could be improved upon.

Whether by coincidence or design, they got their answer in the second volume, Live At Massey Hall. This show was deemed so good by Young’s long-time producer David Briggs that he pleaded it be released rather than Harvest. Young decided against it, but considering how popular that album went on to be, the Massey Hall recordings must have been incredible. Yeah, it is, though in an unexpected way.

Despite having an established career playing acoustic rock and folk, there’d only been sporadic official live album of this side of Young, and even then with backing musicians. This was the first full concert album of Neil playing just by himself, nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a piano in his arsenal – not even a harmonica shows up!

Such a stripped back performance works well enough for small, intimate venues like coffee houses and cellars, which Young had toured in for some time when he first went solo. By 1971, however, he’d become quite the star, and small, intimate venues were a thing of his past. Yet here he is in Massey Hall playing his music for a large, at times rowdy audience, and treating it as though it was for a group of fifty.

Therein lies Live At Massey Hall’s magic. There’s a real sense of stage isolation while listening to this, Young retreating into his own space as he sings. At times, when he belts out the high notes of Old Man and Down By The River, his voice echoes across the hall, further adding to that sense of remoteness. You can easily picture him surrounded by darkness up there, a single spotlight glowing from above keeping him from disappearing altogether. Despondent songs like Bad Fog Of Loneliness, Tell Me Why, A Man Needs A Maid, and even Cowgirl In The Sand completes the picture, even without the DVD aid of concert footage.

And yet, this all creates a stronger connection to him as a performer, where he’s allowing us into his private domain. It helps that he has a very respectful audience (mostly hippies his age, apparently), enthusiastic between songs, and remarkably quiet when Young sings. Maybe it was unfamiliarity with the music he debuted at this concert (“Heart Of Gold? Never heard of it.”), or maybe it was the Toronto crowd welcoming back a native son. Whichever the case, Live At Massey Hall was an early highlight of the Performance Series, one that’s yet to be repeated.

Riley Reinhold - Lights In My Eyes Remixe (Original TC Review)

My Best Friend: 2007

(2014 Update:
I think this was the start of my ongoing, always-futile campaign to retake trance's good name back for the hypnotic, melodic side of techno. Maybe one day, long in the future and eurotrance has all but been extinguished from the public's memory, then it will happen. And I will be vindicated, vindicated I say! Hahaha! HAHAHAAHAHAHA!!

Reinhold released a few more singles after this one, but production's taken a back seat to maintaining his Traum Schallplaten label while DJing on the side. He's apparently still doing the minimal shtick too. Pst, Riley, move on, it's not the aughts anymore.)


IN BRIEF: Is that you, neo-trance?

Far be it for Riley Reinhold to grab the spotlight, but when he released Lights In My Eyes last summer, the DJ from Cologne, Germany deserved a little recognition after all his years in the trenches running labels (Trapez, My Best Friend, Traum Schallplatten) and magazines (De:Bug). ‘Twas a lovely little single, and having been featured on the tail-end of Layo & Bushwacka!’s Global Underground contribution, Riley’s name was given the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Plastikman and Larry Heard; fine company indeed. However, like the unassuming individual he is, Riley’s stepped aside once again to allow a pair of remixers steal the show on his very own track.

First up is Dominik Eulberg, whom steady readers of [TranceCritic] may remember from Will Alexander’s overwhelmingly positive review of the man’s latest album, Bionik. If this remix is anything to go by, I can hear where my fellow writer’s coming from. It starts out like pretty nearly any other minimal tech-house cut you’ve heard: interesting clinky-clonk mechanical percussion, but ultimately dry and sterile.

Then those strings appear. And grab hold of you. And never let go. This, my friends, is a marvelous remix! By taking the backing pads of Riley’s original and giving them the front-and-center, Dominik has crafted a track that is remarkably mesmerizing in execution. And as pleasing as these strings are, they are entirely co-dependent upon the rhythms to maintain your attention, as the subtle shifts and tweaks on the beats throughout keep the strings from falling into noodly loops; independently neither element would work, but together they create musical magic.

Dominik’s remix runs over eleven minutes, but you’ll hardly notice the passing of time. This marriage of soothing strings and minimal techno is quite captivating. It’s hypnotic. It’s, well, trance. Or trance-inducing, at the least.

On the flip, Patrice Bäumel - a relative newcomer to the field of production - get’s his stab as well, and he turns in a remix that is more dancefloor friendly than Dominik’s cut. Although a rather straight-forward tech-house re-rub, Patrice displays a fine sense of rhythm, and despite giving the original’s strings less prominence, they are no less hypnotic when they do make their appearance. Overall, a solid offering.

Which can be said of this remix package as well. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

Asura - Life² (Original TC Review)

Ultimae Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
This was my first exposure to Ulitmae, and does this review ever show it. That is, I knew absolutely nothing about the label, so barely bring them up at all; plenty of research into Asura, however. Interestingly enough, even from the start, I was bemoaning the lack of journalistic coverage these guys were getting, though perhaps in a more confrontational way than I do now. Not much else to add to this review, though like much of my old stuff, a little wordy in places.

'Tis funny, my covering of Life² was practically by random chance. I was in the process of giving my old TranceCritic writing partner, Jack Moss, a rather ineffectual pep-talk, as he was going through review writer's doldrums, dissatisfied with new material to cover in 2007. I urged him to take a chance on something unknown, perhaps discovering gold in the process. As an example, I fired up Juno Records and, browsing through their new releases, clicked the first cover which caught my eye, which happened to be this. "There," I told him, "why not review this CD? Looks interesting." He wasn't convinced at the time, but the samples piqued my curiosity further, so I went about getting it for myself to review instead. Ultimae has gone on to be a favorite label for both of us, though it was likely an eventuality regardless of that first arbitrary exposure.)


IN BRIEF: Don’t you dare miss this one.

I think I’m going to go right ahead and straight-off declare this album a front-runner for Criminally Overlooked Releases In 2007. It seems unavoidable, really. Already there are factors limiting its success, despite the music contained being exquisite: tiny French label few are aware of; paltry promotional power; general lack of awareness for the name Asura; a form of music folks tend to be afraid to take a chance on these days due to the overabundance of downtempo bilge souring tastes for it.

Well, that’s not entirely accurate. The psy scene has unofficially adopted Asura into their ranks, despite the fact the man behind the project, Charles Farewell, has never really claimed to be a part of it. And although he’s produced some music that easily fits into the psy chill category, Asura covers a far broader sonic canvas than mere trippy synthy soundscapes.

I’m getting ahead of myself, aren’t I? Let me backtrack a bit.

Although the brainchild of Mr. Farewell, there have been a few other names tied to the project over the years. However, on this third album, Farewell has gone at it solo, and raised the question if he’d be able to handle the marriage of organic and synthetic instrumentation that had become the group’s recognized style. Titled Life², the album makes for an incredibly strong argument in his favor.

Opener Golgotha will have you wondering if you even have an electronic album on. Thunderous percussion, somber symphonic swells, ethereal woodwinds, and haunting chants all combine to create something out of an epic biblical soundtrack; without the heavy-handiness such epics are often victim of, mind. It’s a gripping piece of music though, grabbing your attention right out of the gate.

Back To Light brings the synths and sequencers into focus, with many organic sounds wrapped around them. What may strike you as a bit odd, though, is just how plastic the beats sound. Considering the richly textures of everything else, it’s a bizarre contrast, yet fits within the context of the music just the same. The song itself? Lovely; stirring; exhilarating, especially in the second half where the rhythms turn breakbeat rather than steady... I could ramble on a number of adjectives, but I’d end up using them all up way too soon in this review, and this is only the second track.

Diversity is also the name of the game when it comes to Asura. Recalling the old synth composers of the ‘70s at their best, Galaxies Part One makes use of cascading soundscapes and pulsing melodies as soft gentle rhythms and chants float in the background. The second part, meanwhile, has a more modern take on this style, with urgency in its melodies, moodier synths, and grumbling dubby beats carrying it along. And unlike many ambient pieces, there’s never a sense of aimless meandering; it’s a meticulous path the way Farewell has written his music. Even The Prophecy, which even at seven plus minutes in length comes off more like an interlude in the album’s flow, has more going for it than a mere somber sonic doodle.

Of course, Farewell wouldn’t be known to the psy community unless he dabbled in that style too. Celestial Tendencies, Butterfly FX, and the title track pick up the pace, dipping into more proggy territory. There’s chunky acid burbling in the background, various synthy pads, electronic effects, tasteful vocal samples, and ethnic instruments sprinkled in for good measure to keep you constantly grounded. And while these tracks aren’t quite as evocative as the slower songs, they nonetheless manage to stir the soul with just as much finesse while providing something heavier to groove on.

There’s a couple more on here I could talk about too, but I’ll leave it up to you to find out how they sound - why should I spoil the surprise, after all (I will say the final track is a perfect capper) ? However, of important mention is how Life² is a complete package as an album. Everything flows seamlessly together, creating a gripping listening experience beginning to end. Typically, disparate tempo changes between songs can throw a wrench into things on other albums, but it works perfectly fine here, coming off like chapters rather than separate individual parts.

And all this probably doesn’t mean a lick to all but the most adventurous anyway. Well, maybe the psy scene will be more boned up on this release, but the rest of you. Yes, YOU! The one that doesn’t believe it, that Life² couldn’t possibly be as great as I say it is. Where is, after all, the love from the major players in this industry? Why hasn’t there been a glowing exposé in the magazines? How come there isn’t a ton of buzz online in all the trendy forums?

Honestly, I haven’t a clue why, but this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Many fine albums slip through the cracks, often rediscovered by hunters of great music in later years. If this is to be Asura’s fate, so be it. In the meantime, those who have found Life² in their players shall have their ears richly rewarded.

Hardfloor - The Life We Choose (Original TC Review)

Hardfloor: 2007

(2014 Update:
Guess it shouldn't come as a surprise, but the mid-'00s 'minimal techno are serious musics' tropes in Itz OK and Swiffer sound totally dated, whereas the rest of The Life We Choose's groovy acid techno doesn't sound dated at all. Strange, in that you'd think acid in general would sound dated, but the little silver box creates such weird, unique sounds that's yet to be topped in electronic music, I don't think it'll ever become dated. The stuff surrounding it, on the other hand...

Anyhow, this album passed by with little fanfare, though I did get to catch Hardfloor on tour while they were promoting it. I swear the crowd had no idea what any of the tracks off here were when they played them, the biggest reactions naturally coming from hearing the classics and nothing else. So it goes.)


IN BRIEF: Sing, acid, sing.

Alright, admit it: how many of you knew there was a new Hardfloor album out? Heck, for that matter, how many of you even knew Hardfloor were still around? It’s been a long while since their mid-90s peak on Harthouse, and despite their continued dominance of the Roland TB-303, the German duo hardly receive the same amount of fanfare they once did. Still, their absence from the general clubbing consciousness has yet to slow them down, as they keep plugging along, doing what they do best, pleasing their fans all the same.

And making the little acid box sing continues to be their forté. Ol’ Oliver and Ramon have been accused of not moving with the times but there is something to be said for sticking to your strengths too. Yes, acid hasn’t been in vogue for at least a decade and though it may be seeing something of a resurgence lately, it’s doubtful the sound will ever be as commercially viable as before. This grants Hardfloor a certain freedom when they make their music, as their productions are not weighed down by what is expected of them but rather how well they still do it.

So if you expect their seventh full-length of original material to offer anything groundbreaking or new, you may as well forget it. The Life We Choose sounds just as comfortable being in the mid-90s as it does hanging out in this year of ‘07. Much of Hardfloor’s equipment remains the same, so most of the sounds used stays within a rather limited sonic scope.

Most of these tracks follow a simple pattern: rhythm is laid out, a couple of acid lines emerge, and perhaps some additional dressing like pads complement them along the way. With spacey reverb and subtle tweaks, a typical tune works a slow build from beginning to end as Hardfloor work the 303 like a guitarist would work an improvisational solo. On paper, it may not sound like much, but the duo have an uncanny knack of hooking you in once an acid line appears, and the ride it takes you on is always a rewarding one. As much of a fucking cliché as it is to say it, these straight-forward acid tunes are more about the journey than the destination.

There are a few tunes that break the mold. Itz Ok and Swiffer are more in vein of the kind of techno you might see the hands of the Minus crew, including pitched-down vocals on Itz Ok that are rather trendy. They’re satisfactory offerings but aren’t terribly unique from what else is out there, and Hardfloor’s trademark acid work is mostly relegated to inconsequential atmosphere. Elsewhere, the duo take a stab with electro on The Life We Choose and chill vibes on Apollo & Zeus, with better results. I suppose its fine for them to branch out a little into sounds that are more contemporary; can’t get stuck in a rut after all.

But y’know what? Who needs bandwagon jumping and questionable innovation and needless experimentation? When Hardfloor work the acid into effective groovers, subtle builders, and ecstatic squealers, it’s like they’re slipping into the most comfortable of rolls; a natural talent where even though we’ve heard it many times before, it still delivers winningly just the same. It’s like when Snoop Dogg does his playa’ shtick. Or Neil Young doing his grungy folk. Or Jim Carey performing physical comedy. Or Martin Scorsese directing a mobster movie. Or Michael Bolton being a twat with bad hair. They are near-peerless in these chosen fields, and Hardfloor is the same with groovy acid techno.

The Life We Choose isn’t going to set the techno world on fire. Nor is it an album that will propel Hardfloor back into the spotlight. The duo have done better in the past but this is no slouch either. This is the sound of a pair of producers who continue plugging along at their own game despite the seas of change around them in continuous turmoil. And for fans of the TB-303, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Dirty South - Let It Go (Original TC Review)

Axtone Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
A little dated, this review, as electro house lingered on for a few years longer before the Swedish House Mafia upped the anthem potential, spurring on the anthem house revival (no, really, stop calling it Big Room, you gits) we're going through now. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't notice it before, but Axwell's remix here has all the hallmarks of the genre, right down to the sort of synth-plucks Rollo used back in the early '90s. Come to think of it, all of their biggest hits - even before becoming the supergroup SHM - relied on that trope. Fuck me, no wonder they were so popular.

Dirty South, then? He finally got around to releasing a proper album this past year, though released on his own Phazed Records print, and only digital at that. What, no one bothered to sign him before? Wasn't he supposed to be a top-tier electro house producer and remixer? He still has some fans, I guess, but has gotten lost in the shuffle now that everyone is making anthem house of this sort.)


IN BRIEF: Here yesterday, gone tomorrow.

Dragan Roganovic broke out of Australian obscurity quite quickly into his career. At first mostly tied to fellow Aussies TV Rock through their collaborations, Dragan soon brought his Dirty South project to the forefront on the strength of a string of high-profile remixes. Before long, he was getting tapped to lend his touch to singles from Fedde le Grand, Roger Sanchez, Tiësto, Kaskade, and David Guetta. Why him in particular? If these names are anything to go by, Dragan is quite chummy with the mainstream side of dance music, and he now is often contacted to provide a Big Electro-House Remix for such folk. Truthfully, when compared to the endless numbers of fart-house producers out there, there isn’t anything terribly unique in Dirty South remixes, but for whatever reason he gets the big singles handed to him and has built a tidy career out of it.

In fact, given that his remix work grabs most of the attention, you’d be forgiven in forgetting Dragan makes his own tunes too. He hasn’t released many, and they certainly don’t command as high a profile, but they are out there. Late last year, upon signing to Swedish house man Axwell’s Axtone label, Dragan released his first solo work in over a year, a simple little number titled Let It Go.

And yes, it is rather simple as far as house music goes; which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in Dragan’s case, Let It Go is quite run-of-the-mill too. There’s a catchy vocal, a serviceable guitar lick, marginal nu-electro elements, and your requisite main-room build-and-drop structure; mainstream sell-out Bob Sinclar gets by on much the same. Really, the only thing rescuing this Dirty South single from Ministry Of Sound compilation fodder obscurity are the beats, which have decent bounce to them when compared to other typical offerings; unfortunately, it isn’t enough to make this a memorable slice of house music either.

For the remix, Axwell himself gets the duties, and offers little as a result. His go at Let It Go rests somewhere between the main-room structure of the original and rote execution of tech-house simplicity. The beats aren’t as interested, and his hooks are marginal even by Swedish House Mafia standards. Sure, it’ll get the job done on the dancefloor, but praising it for that is like praising a car for getting you to where you’re going: it’s the least that’s expected for a pass.

Frankly, had I gotten the chance to review this back when it first came out, Let It Go would have seemed decent, if not enduring (who’d even be able to recall it a year later, I wonder?). As we move deeper into this year of 2008, however, it just seems tired. A resurgent classic house revival has been upstaging all this electro-house stuff with cool class, funky fun, and soulful vitality, and I can’t help but suspect the trendy nu-electro material Dirty South produces will fall out of favor by year’s end. One can only hope.