Ferry Corsten / System F - Trance Nation 2001 (A 'Token Prog' Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2001

[Sykonee Says: Shame the excellent Trance Nation America from Taylor and Jimmy Van M falls just outside the parameters of this series. Now there's a pair of CDs that deserves some recognition! Come to think of it, why haven't I plucked myself a proper copy of that by now? Time to get on it, methinks. Also, you can read Jack's thoughts on it direct on the Discogs page, if you're curious. Anyhow, onto the 'Token Prog']

Plot twist – it’s CD2! Yes, you didn’t expect the Trance Nation series to give up its first disc to any kind of halfway credible music, did ye? As a side-note, it’s kinda fascinating to go back to these CDs and contrast how the big trance jocks chose to market themselves. Oakenfold and Tiesto hammered the mix CD market hard, treating compilations the way bands treated albums. Meanwhile PVD avoided the format almost altogether, but released more actual albums than Plantpot and Ape Man combined, whereas Ferry was mostly happy to hitch a ride aboard one of the Ministry Of Sound’s most shamelessly commercial trance compilation series.

Accordingly, the Trance Nation outings were never really regarded as any kind of Serious Artistic Statement by Corsten – hell, I don’t think he ever primarily saw himself as a DJ anyway - so when he did come anywhere near a Token Prog Disc, it was more about The Ministry goading him with cattle prods into playing what was seen as commercially viable at the time.

(Also, y’know how I’ve been hyping up the graphic design of CDs from this period? Yeah… we need to talk about that. Trance Nation 2001 has one of the worst covers ever, pitched midway between health and safety signage, E-number-heavy fruit chew wrapper, and the carapace of some aggressively venomous insect. Even nostalgia can’t save this one.)

Because this is Trance Nation, the Token Prog Disc has to open with the most commercially successful prog tune ever, Touch Me, and because this is Trance Nation, it has to be pitched at +4%. The next track is the disc’s solitary concession to “tribal tech” seriousness, and then things get, well… really fun actually. As early as track three, Ferry’s dropping in some nasty warehouse-friendly acid lines courtesy of Lee Coombs, and shortly after he accelerates a pair of Bedrock productions and slams them together with the expert disdain of a Hollywood stunt driver.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s the odd bit of shite on here. Ferry’s own remix of Tony Walker is a load of cobblers, and I don’t care if Human Movement happens to be prog legend Marc Mitchell in disguise: Love Comes Again is still a horrendous slab of rotten cheddar and always has been. But of all the Token Prog Discs we’ve covered, this is by far the most boisterous and exciting, with cuts like the Trisco remix of Freet and Ferry’s own Needlejuice being the kind of jaw wobbling, face stroking, can-I-have-a-sip-of-your-water-mate bangers that rarely make it onto more high-minded Serious Artistic Statement prog mixes. The mixing also sounds just rough enough to be an actual turntable mix, which kinda adds to the whole “I just want to get out of here and cash my cheque” energy Ferry’s bringing. Two thumbs up.

Cursory First Disc Verdict: Completely terrible, but you already knew that. Cosmic Gate’s Firewire sitting side by side with novelty hard dance shit-hit How U Like Bass is one of humanity’s low points.

Paul van Dyk - The Politics Of Dancing (A 'Token Prog' Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2001

[Sykonee Says: Wait a minute, I've already done a review of this one. Twice! Do we really need another? Well, considering the latter is a 'jokey' two-paragraphs long, and the former is a 4,000 word monstrosity that's so dry that it may as well be a 'Review Written In The Style Of Prog', maybe this deserves another kick at the can. Have at 'er, J'!]


Paul Van Dyk was rather anomalous amongst the big trance jocks in that he didn’t really do mix CDs. Indeed, The Politics Of Dancing was much-touted at the time as the first one he’d ever done, which means we’re supposedly to pretend his MFS showcase for X-Mix never happened. PVD upheld his part of that consensual hallucination by trying really hard to make TPOD stand out, out Sasha-ing Sasha by doing the whole “radically re-edit and remix everything” trick a few years before Involver. The inlay also contains a full page of cryptic gibberish where PVD artfully avoids explaining what “the politics of dancing” actually means. All very high concept.

While we’re at it, here’s another compilation sleeve that’s got all of that 2001 graphic design good stuff going on. Just pause for a moment and stare at a photo of that back cover with tracklist. It’s so beautifully clean it could be from the 1920s Bauhaus. Gotta appreciate Paul looking pensively monochrome in front of some limestone steps on the front too, like a politician holding a press conference to publicly apologise for sleeping with his secretary.

But nevermind that. We’re here to judge how well he jumped the bandwagon. This is an odd one, because everything is so extensively reworked (mainly by giving every tune the same kick/clap/bass combo PVD used on everything around this time) it sounds more like a PVD showcase than an overt Token Prog Disc. It starts out pretty good, with Ashtrax – Digital Reason being exactly the kind of atmospheric proggy trancer that these guys should have played more of. Even early on, the flow feels ultra-fiddly though, the studio’d-to-death nature of the mix stopping it from feeling like a real DJ set. Amazingly, this is the only place in the Token Prog Discs series we’ll hear IIO’s omnipresent Rapture, and I quite like the way PVD rebuilds it into a harder prog-acid stormer. Then there are more vocals. Lots more vocals.

Yeah, I dunno. This just doesn’t flow very well. A lot of stop-starting, a lot of breaks switching to 4/4 and back, and that damn PVD beat on nearly every single track. In the inlay, Van Dyk states that he doesn’t like doing studio mixes because he doesn’t have a crowd to vibe off, and it really shows here. By the time we get to his own Autumn, things are getting unapologetically trancey and there they’ll stay. I don’t know, I feel cheated. This is barely a bandwagon hop at all. Everything is kinda stripped down and proggy, but he’ll be winning absolutely no prog purist points for how naff a lot of this disc is. Another one of those 2001 hat tips to the zeitgeist that doesn’t really please either the trance tribes or the Bedrock hordes.

Cursory Second Disc Verdict: Paul’s having a lot more fun here, which means you will too. More bangers, less fluff: this is main room superclub trance done – mostly - very well.

Various - Sessions: Steve Angello (Original TC Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2006

(2015 Update:
Another review with a lengthy preamble attempt at defining genre terms and all that - 2006 Sykonee sure did that a lot. He also wasn't accurate in his prediction that trashy electro house had its day in the sun, though the imminent rise in minimal definitely curtailed its trendiness. He/I was bang on, however, in pointing out how much of a time capsule this mix turned out being. No one plays out tunes as dull as those found on CD2, thank God, and even that dirty Swedish sound fell out of favor when the SHM shifted their sound to the headline festival circuit. Clap-along anthems are in, thump-stomp farting basslines are out.

As for Mr. Angello... hoo boy, there's a mouthful. I don't think anyone could have predicted just how big he and his Swedish House Mafia cohorts would get, even with the level of fame he'd already achieved by the mid-'00s. Gotta' give him credit for making such bank with so little effort, but it feels like his success inadvertently left a scorched earth in his wake. Get money, get fame, get crowds, and who the fuck cares about its lasting impact on electronic music at large. Like, it's not his fault so many producers tried copying his stuff, diluting the scene with absolute rubbish so many years after. Or maybe I'm giving the guy far too much credit.)

IN BRIEF: ‘Elect-' no, that’s not right at all. Hmm... dirty tech...?

The dust has settled, the hype has passed, and we’ve now had time to reflect. What at the time seemed reasonable is now regarded by many as a mistake, an obvious ploy to tag an already hot buzzword to something it really wasn’t. Yes, folks, it’s true. It would seem ‘electro’ house - the simple gritty throbbing offspring of tech house - is finally falling out of favor as that music’s unofficial title. I doubt anyone was entirely comfortable with the name but with no one coming up with something more concrete, promoters ran with it, anxious to capitalize on the sound. Now that ‘electro’ house’s popularity is waning, perhaps we can finally figure out what to properly call it (as was done with ‘techno’- sorry, euro dance).

As an unlikely source as it may seem, I think Ministry Of Sound nailed it on the promo sticker of their Sessions release featuring esteemed Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello: “fuck-off dirty house music”. That captures the spirit of their sound perfectly! Those raw basslines are as dirty as it gets, like a synth dragged through analogue gravel. And funk? Soul? Hell no. This is house music with punk attitude, designed to get your head bangin’ and your body moshin’. Fuck off with those pretentious designs; we’re here to raise a ruckus. Well, maybe the ‘fuck-off’ bit can be done away with if you’re feeling prissy, but dirty house... yeah, I likes that. Loads more than ‘electro’ anyways.

Unfortunately, it matters little now, as the music’s already had its day in the sun. When you base an entire style around a single attribute (those basslines, duh), it quickly falls into the novelty trap: producers figuring the gimmick is enough to have any ol’ hit without writing a decent song, or even a catchy hook (I’m looking at you, Dreamcatcher). Dirty house (yes, that’s what I’m unofficially calling it from now on, until something more official and less half-assed than ‘electro’ replaces it; deal with it) quickly fell into this trap, tons of knock-off imitators plaguing the shops, diluting a good, if limited, idea. One year ago, this was the hottest sound bubbling up; even trance jocks were jumping on it. Today, a respected DJ only uses it sparingly (as they should), a token gesture towards those who still demand stomping farty basslines.

This DJ mix captures dirty house’s apex. At the turn of the year, it was fresh, exciting, and storming dancefloors. Angello and his partner Sebastian Ingrosso were a pair of the hottest names around. That time has long since passed though, and all the fever over a release such as this has quietly receded to the back corners, some even too embarrassed they were head-over-heels over something so obviously gimmicky. Is this what Angello’s Sessions is though, nothing but novelty? Or did this Mafia member put together a compilation that folks down the road can throw on and enjoy when dirty house has finally gone the way of speed garage?

Angello quickly says yes, proving to us he’s more than a one-trick pony in the house scene. The opening chunk of disc one sees a nice assortment of styles to warm us up: disco, italo, Latin, and even an unashamed ‘reach-for-the-lasers’ track with Stoppage Time. Nothing groundbreaking of course, but house heads will be pleased with the variety maintaining a building flow.

And then those basslines appear.

Actually, some of the farty sounds were in the former tracks, but they complemented rhythms rather than lead the whole. From Not So Dirty on though, it’s a distinguishing characteristic, and your enjoyment of disc one will depend entirely on how much you dig the dirty house sound.

For what it’s worth, Angello does provide a decent amount of variety between these tracks. Even if most of the hooks are predictable as fuck (dun, dun-dun, dun, d-d-d-d-dun-dun, and so on), a different synth patch each time does wonders to maintain interest. I’d even consider Angello’s own Chord - a track which brings this set to a peak - electro proper, as it has that robotic Neo-Tokyo vibe going for it. And yes, the rhythms pound along just fine; drunkenly and disorderly, sometimes with hints of funk too. This is house music best enjoyed with copious shooters and played really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really loud. Listening to this disc though, you get the impression even Angello realized the limited potential of this sound; it begins to bore towards the end and his final two tracks feel like tag-ons that have little to do with the rest of the set. It doesn’t help they plod along without any of the energy the previous tracks provided. Sadly, they hint at things to come in disc two.

His second set in this double starts interestingly enough. Opening with the moody minimal sounds of Mandarine Girl, then turning on its head with the kitschy Sexy As Fuck, it appears Angello is taking a stab at trashy electroclash and pulsing techno. Fine and dandy for a bit, and it even gets a nice peak with Trentemøller’s remix of Röyksopp's What Else Is There?

And then he goes minimal. Very minimal. Tediously minimal. Annoyingly minimal. Man, I know this stuff’s hipster points are through the roof right now, and jumping on this sound earlier in the year would have been considered a daring artistic choice, but not when it’s this boring. The end of disc one may be plodding, but it’s a Clyde Stubblefield solo compared to the tracks Angello lays down for most of disc two. Some hope of lifting us out of this ketamine daze appears at points, notably in Alto Voltaje, but the set always falls back to square one; many teases, no payoffs (Ingrosso’s own remix of Moby’s Dream About Me is brutal at this). I don’t expect minimal to be exciting or funky or contain huge riffs, but there should at least be something for my head to dig on, of which there isn’t much. The atmosphere, minimal’s make-or-break attribute, has no life. Few of the sounds bubbling about are interesting to hear, and when the only form of dancing one can do to this set is the Zombie Lurch, it makes for a very boring hour of music. At least Holden’s remix of The Sky Was Pink gives us something kind of melodic to end off on.

So, does Angello’s Sessions mix have enough charm to be enjoyed outside of its time? The first disc certainly does, although the phrase ‘this is sooo 2005' will undoubtedly be running through your head as it plays. The second disc... um, not so much. If anything, it’ll provide future music geeks with evidence why the minimal movement was perhaps a mistake - not that I think this to be true, mind, as there has been some quality in this style; just very little here. If you can find this double-disc on the cheap, it’ll serve as a nifty time-capsule in your music collection.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2006. © All rights reserved.

John '00' Fleming - Psy-Trance Euphoria 2 (Original TC Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2009

(2015 Update:
Not as good as I remember, and that's before I get into the music itself. There's a lot of 'short-hand' writing in this review, understandable since I wrote this late into TranceCritic's run and most of the website's readers were regulars by that point. It doesn't make for a comprehensive read as is though, even after doing a few edits so it's not quite so clunky. Some of the information regarding John Fleming's previous output isn't terribly accurate either, as his Euphoria mixes did much better than I gave them credit for. Maybe I should have actually listened to the damn things before saying anything about them, eh?

As for Fleming, he's kinda' moved on from this style of trance, unsurprising since there's more options for high-energy club music now than psy. Honestly, I didn't get into this as much as I did when I first listened to it, though I suspect it's all due to context. The regular ol' trance we were reviewing was mostly balls, and Psy-Trance Euphoria 2 was like a breath of fresh air, presented to us from a guy with much of the same sentiments regarding that scene. With much better alternatives of late however, three CDs of the stuff just grows tedious. I still have soft spots for a few tracks on here, but the enthusiasm I had half a decade hence has definitely dwindled.)


IN BRIEF: Are you psy-curious?

…And finally, we get to Fleming. Yes, we know it’s been a long time coming. If anyone deserves recognition here at TranceCritic, it’s good ol’ ‘00’.

His career has seen several hurdles (the most prominent being surviving a battle with lung cancer), but ever so gradually he’s kept on a continuous climb. After DJing in relative obscurity throughout most of the 90s, Fleming got his break at the turn of the century when he was tapped to help put together various Euphoria and Godskitchen compilations. Unfortunately, these releases didn’t do much to stand out from the glut, as many of them recycled the same prog trance hits available everywhere else. Despite this, he still managed to develop a larger audience and fanbase.

Then, in a move that probably seemed like career suicide at the time, Fleming abandoned the mainstream aspects of trance music and started pushing psy instead. Or perhaps it wasn’t such a silly notion to do so after all. He’d gone on record numerous times regarding his growing dissatisfaction the direction trance music was going, feeling it was abandoning the communal free-for-all party ethos the early goa scenes enjoyed in favor of superstar pop concerts dedicated to a guy who played other people’s records. Seeing as how Fleming’s brush with death put him on a path that lead him to always follow his passion, a jump to the psy scene does make sense, even if it lessened his exposure.

Still, with good intentions brought more underground respect and Fleming’s brand of accessible psy garnered a steadily growing fanbase of equally disillusioned trance fans. As the Tiestin van Schulzenyonds of the world continued to disappoint with trite pop efforts, those looking for trance music that’s entrancing found a hero in Fleming. The Worthing native hasn’t disappointed yet.

Which brings us to Psy Trance Euphoria, one of the most unlikely mainstream compilations you’d have ever guessed being made. Seriously, when was the last time psy had this kind of exposure? There was Christopher Lawrence’s Live In Moscow a couple years back, but that was more about cashing in on Lawrence’s popularity than exposing the music he played. It grows increasingly sketchy the further back you go; DJ Brian’s Hardesertrance series had some respectable promotion in the States at the turn of the century, and you might have found the odd track in a Global Underground release; however, we’d have to go as far into the past as Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto Fluoro to find any real mainstream acceptance of the genre. Even looking at this release, you can’t help but figure Ministry Of Sound is banking on Euphoria brand recognition rather than daring to dive into a fringe scene like psy. Ahh, it doesn’t matter – the music’s too awesome to worry over insidious corporate agendas.

Yes, the music here is awesome. Very awesome. You’ve got all the heavy hitters: Vibrasphere, Astral Projection, Ticon, Astrix, Wizzy Noise, Human Blue… Wait, there’s more. Ovnimoon, Ace Ventura, Perfect Stranger, 00.db (Fleming and Digital Blonde), U-Recken, Chakra, Sub6, Zen Mechanics, Infected Mushroom, Push… (Push…?) If few of these names are familiar to you, then get ready for a crash-course in why many of them have been earning plenty of underground plaudits. Heck, the first CD alone would almost be worth the price of admission, were the whole release not saddled with a (reasonable) 3-disc price tag.

Progressive Psy provides exactly what it advertises, although with more emphasis on the ‘progressive’ than the ‘psy’. Really, it’s picking things up where prog trance left off near the turn of the century – ample amounts of good groove, brilliant touches of melody, and plenty of sonic space so the tracks never drown in over-production. The only dip in quality comes from Chernikov’s Kerudu, which unfortunately sounds underpowered and out of place coming off a string of excellence from Perfect Stranger, Ticon, and Vibrasphere. Once prog psy veteran Human Blue comes along though, the set rebounds and finishes out with class.

The other two discs [one titled Deep ‘N Serious, the other The Fun Stuff!! (Full On)] are quite similar, though one’s more gusto than the other -the titles alone should be a clue which. The momentum of both is mostly go-go-go, with some tracks offering welcome brief lulls during the course of their playing time. Whenever it feels like the energy starts laggging, Fleming drops a track that cranks it right back up; gander at the transition from The Return to Insomnia’s 24/7 for a prime example –‘!!’ indeed. I’ll grant the lack of stylistic variation will be a turn-off for some (all psy, all the time!), but unlike other sets which lay out samey track after samey track, it works here thanks to the busy nature of the music. There’s always something new going on, and fortunately there’s enough differences between each producer that it seldom sounds like you’re hearing the same thing over and over, a common complaint where psy albums are concerned.

Though minor, the only quibble with discs two and three is the manner which they are wrapped up – considering how energetic the music’s been, it’s disappointing they finish rather limply. Actually, it isn’t so much that Deep ‘N Serious ends poorly, you’d just expect a track titled Strange World (Astral Projection Remix) wouldn’t be so ho-hum. And yes, I realize Infected Mushroom are huge stars, but Becoming Insane seems to only highlight just how awful their metal leanings sound. Why even tag such a corny track at the end, as a silly joke to end CD3? Hmm… if Fleming did intend it as a piss-take, then it worked brilliantly!

I’m sure there are a number of psy trance veterans who feel I’m being far too positive with this release. After all, there’s little innovation to be had and the producers in his track list are rather safe – he hasn’t dug terribly deep into the scene to unearth some truly unique and twisted offerings from the genre. Well, that’s because Psy Trance Euphoria 2 isn’t exactly for the vets, now is it. This is a Ministry Of Sound compilation and, in case those TV advertisements weren’t a dead giveaway, it has a broader audience in mind.

Yet, this isn’t simply a cash-grab to milk the psy-curious either (!!). Fleming also made this just as much a showcase of what the genre has to offer, and compiled three strong convincing sets of psy to reassure the disgruntled trance fan that, yes, there is more out there than what Black-Armada-Beats provides, and it kicks a whole lot more ass in the process. I’d call that success any day.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2009. © All rights reserved.

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

Fehrplay - Meow

Ministry Of Sound America: 2010

It’s a given that the PR blurbs that come with new singles are ridiculous. If you were to take them at face value, you’d swear every new tune was the greatest composition ever created. Of course, that ain’t true, but it can make for some hilarious reading whenever they overshoot. Sometimes, they’re so bold in their ambition that they’ll bestow ‘classic’ status upon a track well before it’s even had a chance to get properly rinsed out. Like this one.

Oh, Meow definitely has the potential to become a hit, even if it’s ballsy to declare it a WMC anthem nearly a month before the event even starts. Thing is Ferhplay has checked off (re: style-bitten) many of the things that has made many an Eric Prydz track a hit. The hook is instantly likeable, the beats have quality bounce, the supporting ‘piano’ chords will bob heads, and all the whooshy effects are tastefully done; then, it’s arranged such that the vibe never falters. There’s no new ground being broken here but with a track this shamelessly fun, does it matter? Certainly not, so Meow looks primed to be at least a minor hit for the main room crowds.

The B-side of this digital promo is

Then I stopped typing, stared at the computer screen, and asked myself, “Why am I still doing this? Nothing I write matters and all these free digi-EP promos I’m being sent won’t have any lasting impact upon electronic music. Fuck it. Fuck everything.”

Yes indeed, it was cynicism towards over-zealous PR that finally broke me, despite managing a few more reviews before truly quitting. It didn’t help I was suffering from multiple bouts of work and college related stress, relationship and financial depression, and just generally feeling poo at the time, but there it is - the honest-to-God impetus for giving up writing reviews about new music. I’m feeling better now, thankfully.

I imagine it’s a self-defeating, futile and sick, sick, sick environment, the world of promo-PR. How many times do copy-writers hype a track to the high ends of the Earth, only for said track to get completely passed by without a notice or care. Hell, Fehrplay’s Meow was one of the best ones of at least a dozen digi-promos I went through, hence why I tried writing a review for it, plus got picked up by Ministry Of Sound and Hed Kandi for compilation duty on all their major releases (Annual, Clubber’s Guide …Miami Fashion District?). Nor was I the only one to make the Prydz connection, as Jonas von der Fehr released his second single, Incognito, on Pryda Friends. Meow truly could have been a major hit like the promo guys claimed. Yet, do you remember this tune? For that matter, did you even know it existed, because Amazon.com sure doesn't.

Anyhow, to finish this four year aborted review, the B-side is titled Meow Again. It’s an electro-house version, and not as good as the original Meow. Yay, done, finished.