Intuition Recordings: 2007
(2013 Update:
So much for being the "future of trance". Ol' Menno doesn't even rank in the very poll promoted by the magazine that gave him such accolades way back when this came out. Then again, judging by this year's results, trance itself doesn't have much of a future, at least in the commercial sense it did for so many years. Boy, did a lot of them tank. No, don't check for yourself, you can take my word for it. Still, you know what this means: underground resurgence, woo! One can only hope.
Listening back on this CD, I can hear why some of the newer cats on the trance scene would rank a year that had such utter tripe as Filo & Perio's Anthem
so highly, as there are some lovely tunes on here. Hell, I didn't even give Orkidea's Eternal Love
an ACE TRACK nod, when it so totally deserves it. If CDs such as this
had been their main exposure to the genre, then the kids, they were in alright hands in 2007.)
IN BRIEF: A 'nice' trance set!
Menno de Jong was mostly known only to the ardent fans of a decaying trance scene. A member of the new Dutch generation whom appear primed to take over where the likes of Tiësto and Armin left off, his style wasn’t particularly innovative but consistently solid. Along with producers like Jonas Steur and Paul Moelands, his fame would probably have never reached further than those still living in the year 2001.
In a flash though, Menno became known to far more folks than he could have anticipated this early in his career. Was it that write-up in DJ Mag proclaiming him to be “the future of trance”? Hardly. Rather, it was
that picture. Captured at a show where things weren’t exactly going well, it caught the trance DJ in a moment of pure rage, flipping the bird at a bird whom was trying to get him to shut things down early. Menno’s since apologized for the incident, but why? It’s got to be one of the best DJ pictures I’ve ever seen! “Fuck shutting this party down, I’m going to fucking
rock this motherfucker!” Well, it's better than yet another Jesus pose in any event.
Still, I can understand his hesitation to be tied to such a photo. This isn’t, say, the drum’n’bass scene, where attitude is just as valuable as the music you play. Besides, Menno has larger plans for his future than to be known as The Punk Trance DJ (not that it’s a bad title, Mr. de Jong!), one of which is to own a successful label. He’s certainly taken the right steps thus far to achieve this goal, as Intuition Recordings has seen a small but respectable number of trance singles released. With
Intuition Sessions, Menno has taken the next step: the label compilation.
Much of what you see on disc one’s tracklist is new to this release, as Menno got in touch with a bunch of his trance buddies and asked them to spot him some fresh material for a DJ mix. In return, they’d get their singles released on his label as vinyl samplers. Certainly not an uncommon practice in this industry, but all too often this leads to very bland sets. Far too much emphasis is placed on making the forthcoming singles the highlights, even when the actual tracks themselves aren’t always worthy of such. The rest of the set is then padded out with filler and the odd well-known hit that’s been making the rounds to grab casual interest. Just glancing at the tracklist seems to hint at this being the case with
Intuition Sessions as well. Remarkably though, Menno managed to elude this trap and crafted a decent mix in the process.
What aids him here is the fact these tracks are quite good. While this is still mostly melodic trance that hasn’t seen much innovation in years, the stuff on here isn’t the kind of tripe that is drowned in overproduction or sentimental sap; these producers keep arrangements simple and the hooks agreeable. Listening through, I’m hard pressed to find any particular tune sub-par. Honestly, the worst thing I can think to call the weaker ones is ‘nice’. Granted, a couple spots are questionable: the vocal in Cliff Coenraad’s
Manjula is useless, and First State’s
Evergreen contains an orchestral breakdown that teeters ever so dangerously close to gushing parody. However, they hardly hinder from the rest.
And of the rest? Quite a bit of variety, actually. Of course, you do have typical melodic numbers scattered about, some more on an Ibizan tip (El Cortez’
Desert Rose), others following the standard breakdown/build mold (Menno’s offerings, along with Kimoto Lopez’
Sub Runner and Yarune’s
Airballoon). Elsewhere (mostly in the beginning), you get groovey spacers that are quite literally trance-inducing (Coenraad’s
Escalate - under the Mulika alias - being a clear highlight). And at various points, techy hitters add some spice to the proceedings:
Sjamaan (Menno as Myth) comes through on this, although Maor Levi (as MLV) holds his own as well.
Towards the end of the set, Menno brings in some heavier bangers, and ends on something of a surprise: melodic acid trance. Actually, Whirloop’s
Cirrus Station could almost be considered the 'g-worded' sub-genre of psy trance, but I’m afraid to actually call it that, lest I frighten that lovely old style back into the nether regions of the underground again. It’s a sweet tune though, and a wonderful (and proper!) way to close a set on.
It’s a bloody shame Menno didn’t try to make more use of it. Yes, I do realize most of the guys that contributed here don’t produce in that style, but it would have made a good trance set even better. In fact, this is possibly one of the better trance sets I’ve heard in a while now, and certainly far better than what’s come from the superstars clogging up the top of popularity polls (Christopher Lawrence exempt, as always). If there’s any complaint, it’s that there’s a stretch in the middle where the breakdowns grow redundant, but even my calling it ‘redundant’ is small praise in itself - usually words like ‘annoying’ or ‘momentum-killing’ are featured in such instances.
Included with this release is a bonus disc containing four of Intuition’s early singles. Many of these you’ve probably heard in various sets since their initial release. Without getting too detailed, it’s nice to hear these in an unmixed version on CD for the first time, as these were enjoyable cuts to begin with. And Airbase’s
For The Fallen remains a standout, in that it’s such a rarity: a breaks tune made by a trance producer that’s actually great!
While
Intuition Sessions probably won’t light the trance world on fire, it is nonetheless solid. Menno has provided a release that makes good use of the melodic sound without abusing all the traits that turned the genre into a punchline, all the while adding just enough variety so it doesn’t sound like you’re listening to the same bloody thing over and over. While I don’t quite agree with DJ Mag’s assessment this is the future of trance, he has at least shown the potential to bring the genre some credibility again.
