Sasha - Airdrawndagger

BMG UK & Ireland: 2002

I sure remember the hot anticipation for Sasha's debut album. Like, there was long, gestating buzz over whether he'd ever do the deed, as the discourse is wont to go when it comes to popular DJs. Curating all those class trance records, groovy progressive house tracks, and spiritual superclub vibes, surely had to impress some inspiration upon Mr. Coe such that his muse demanded his own tunes too. And as his career continuously went from strength to strength (Renaissance, Northern Exposure, Xpander EP!), the time seemed right to drop an LP of original music in ye' olde year of 2002. (whoa, deja-vu)

Everyone's familiar with Airdrawndagger's story: big hype, lukewarm response, now regarded a relic of prog's heyday. For sure folks enjoyed what they heard on this album, but it wasn't the knock-down smash they hoped for. As though they needed this record to definitively and emphatically resuscitate and cement progressive house/trance/breaks' legacy as the One Genre To Rule Them All.

Instead, Sasha – yes, Charlie May and Junkie XL lended a heaping helping hand – set out for something more conceptual, music just as enjoyable being played at home as hearing rinsed out in the clubs. And hoo, he done did that, the tunes on Airdrawndagger utterly lush within my headphone space. Sixteen years on, the production's as cutting edge as the day it dropped, even if the song-writing mostly remains stuck in the past. Which is fine. Despite some wailing that there was nothing as instantly classic as Xpander on here, Sasha maintained Airdrawndagger was an assemblage of his various influences throughout his years of DJing. Or just coming due on all those half-formed ideas floating about from his 'studio time' following missed gigs.

So you get the chill tunes setting the mood early, but holding nothing back on opulent synth melodies either (Mr. Tiddles, Magnetic North), all the while keeping the rhythms at a steady groove. Then things get more technical than musical for a while, which is dope if you dig sound design in your beatcraft, but may be lacking if you need your melodies up front and obvious. James Holden to the rescue then, as Bloodlock might as well be a solo-Holden track, the sort of twinkle-prog he practically pioneered. It's almost shocking to hear this tune now, considering both Sasha and Holden would disown it so soon after. That Coldharbour crew though, they had no problem claiming it.

The album kinda' eases things down from there, Requiem a spritely ambient outing, Golden Arm a steadying prog groover, and Wavy Gravy a chipper prog-breaks closer. Not the rousing finale you'd expect from Sasha and co., but again, Airdrawndagger never was gonna' be a dozen tracks of clubbing fodder. Next-gen production aside, this is mostly a record with no aspirations of commercial appeal, but rather music making that sates one's own soul. And hey, if anyone else gets something out of it, all the better. Such modesty strangely makes it better the older it gets.

Sasha - Xpander EP (2018 Update)

Ultra Records: 1999

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)


Feels like this has been a lo-o-o-o-ong time coming, the last of my earliest reviews needing a proper overhaul. Technically, that's not true, another from those first few shaky months of TranceCritic writing lurking down (up?) in the 'A's of my album collection. Doubt there's much anticipation for another Eat Static review though, whereas everyone's always interested in another take on Xpander. Especially when one's original take is a grotesque word salad of amateur track-by-track detailing.

Frankly though, there's not much I can expand upon the Xpander discourse (except bad puns, clearly). The tune holds up astoundingly well two-decades on, still sounding light-years beyond what its prog contemporaries were offering, and there was no lack of bombs from the year 1999, believe you me. I mean, obviously the big synth leads and twinkly melodies are the memorable features, but mang', listen to what's going on in that rhythm too! What even is that burbling, churning low-end? Not the bassline, that's for sure – it's just superficial fluff, yet the sound design on it is astounding! Is it any wonder folks were hot for Airdrawndagger to drop if that level of detail was put into a big, obvious anthem like Xpander? Imagine hearing such music for a whole album's worth. No, really, keep imagining it – we never did get what folks were expecting with Sasha's final LP effort.

It's not like Mr. Coe had to craft such an exquisitely produced track with Charlie May. When this single came out, it was more in service as what was expected of top tier DJs of the time. No matter how deep your crates, how impeccable your track selection, or how masterful your mixing, the punters of the world demanded a signature anthem to your name. Digweed had Heaven Scent, Oakenfold had If I Could Fly, Tenaglia had Elements, Tiësto had his remix of Delerium's Silence, and so on. So too it appeared the case with Sasha's Xpander, the requisite anthem folks going to his shows could happily expect to hear every time. Only he overshot, and now the tune is getting orchestral remakes. Take that, Digweed!

The other tunes on this EP were obviously overshadowed when Xpander first dropped, but have gained more respect over the years for not being as blatant as the main track is. If anything, it showcases where Sasha's muse more generally wanders, never quite coalescing into something easily identifiable while plucking traits of personal favourites of his past. Belfunk's got that chuggy, proggy groove before melting into Orbital, morning-after bliss. Rabbitweed gets in on that ominous prog-breaks business with shades of Way Out West thrown in – and again, just an insane amount of detail in the percussion. Baja provides the lengthy chill, comedown vibe with ethnic samples and dubby percussion. Huh, y'know, under another producer's handle, this could have passed for psy-dub. Never noticed that before. Oh, the strange alternative timeline we could have lived in had Sasha been swayed into the psy camps instead.

Sasha - The emFire Collection (Original TC Review)

Ultra Records: 2008

(2015 Update:
Ugh. This review's clunkier than I remember, and unfortunately suffers from an opening paragraph dependent upon reading prior material on TranceCritic. I don't even recall specific details regarding Sasha's short-lived label now. I think it was intended as a means of officially releasing Coma after enough interest in it grew when it was a self-titled white label, but my memory's hazy on that. Whatever the case, it seems the emFire portion of Sasha's career has been reduced to a mere footnote, a blip of information in what he was doing during minimal deep-tech's era of clubbing dominance. It sure didn't do the music on here any favors.

Coma remains a blinder of a track, and I've developed some appreciation for Who Killed Sparky?, but Mongoose and Park It In The Shade are wholly forgettable. Compounding the problem is the utterly pointless CD1. Slam's remixes were fine for Slam remixes - you kinda' know what you're getting with their brand of techno - and The Field's second remix holds up by feeling so old school. Audion and Radio Slave though, dear God are their rubs balls out boring. And while there's nothing musically at fault with New Emissions, the lack of indexing for all the various pieces holds back whatever potential repeat plays it may have had. I was entirely too kind in my conclusions to this double-discer back in the day. Sasha productions are rare enough, and The emFire Collection feels like such a waste of studio time now.)


IN BRIEF: Better than a stopgap.

Right. No sense in getting into the background particulars of this release then. You should all know who this Sasha character is, and, fortunately for me, the history of emFire was already covered by J’ [2015 Edit: whoops, that review’s gone]. All I have to do now is tell you whether all those remixes are worth your attention and fill you in on the details of that forty-minute long track that’s undoubtedly caught your attention. Eh? You want more than that? *sigh*

Thing is, even though you’ll find this filed under ‘Sasha’, The emFire Collection isn’t a fully fleshed-out release from Mr. Coe and his production associates. It would seem, as with the vinyl editions of his four recent singles, Sasha wanted to do something a little extra special for the CD release of them. He didn’t have enough material to make a proper album, yet an EP release like Xpander wouldn’t do either. So, he called up some of the hottest names in contemporary club culture to provide remixes. Par for the course where dance music is concerned but somewhere along the way, the idea was planted the remixers should flex their muses as well with two versions on their chosen emFire single: one for the dancefloor, and the other something more for the home-front (re: experimental). The result is a full disc’s worth dedicated to this project, with Sasha’s originals now shuffled off onto a second disc.

So, we have neither a true artist album but more than just a remix package. This places The emFire Collection somewhere in leagues with The Qat Collection when one glances at Sasha’s discography. All that’s left to answer is whether this Collection is worth your hard earned coin to place in your collection. That entirely depends on what you’re looking to get out of these CDs.

If the remixes were the first to grab your attention, you may come away rather disappointed. Even though names like Matthew Dear (as Audion), Matthew Edwards (as Radio Slave), and Axel “not Matthew” Willner (as The Field) have earned plenty of critical praise this past year, their minimalist musical styles are quite in contrast to Sasha’s enveloping atmospheric productions. The experimental rubs have some intriguing sounds on offer - Edwards turns in an agreeable dub techno go at Who Killed Sparky? - but are hardly essential either; Dear in particular spends over a dozen minutes going nowhere with his minimal dub loops. On the other hand, Edwards goes overboard on his Panorama Garage Mix, with a techno rework that is appropriately sinister and atmospheric but lasts a good three-to-five minutes too long; meanwhile, Dear’s dance-rub of Park It In The Shade is a nifty little groovy-woozy thing. And as for Slam, well, they do Slam with their takes on Coma: fine for the ambient/tech-house offerings they are but nothing groundbreaking. Ultimately, though, very few elements of Sasha’s originals are utilized in these remixes, beyond effects and traces of atmosphere; if you’re hoping for creative takes on Sasha melodies, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Aside from Willner’s Disco Mix of Mongoose, that is. The original was lodged somewhere between Shade and Sparky in terms of how it sounds but in Willner’s hands, it comes across like some long-lost Underworld groove complemented with classic trance execution. Long time fans of Sasha’s sound will undoubtedly enjoy this one the most.

Still, such folks are going to be more interested in the second disc anyway. Even though tracks like Shade, Sparky, and Mongoose are sparser than the types of tracks most expect from Sasha, there’s still more vitality to them than anything to be heard on the remix disc. And Coma remains a lovely slice of melodically lush atmospherics, once again proving Misters Coe and May are a potent team in the studio whenever Sasha feels the ol’ muse tickling his noggin.

However, in a move that will probably irk those who held out on the vinyl and MP3 versions of these emFire singles for a copy on CD, the tracks are edited; honestly though, this does make better sense from a home-listening standpoint. And besides, if Sasha hadn’t pared them down a little, then he wouldn’t have been able to fit that little film score onto this disc. Yes, finally I’ve gotten around to that. For those not in the know New Emissions Of Light And Sound is a DVD featuring surfers. I haven’t seen it, nor can I say I’m particularly inclined to do so anytime soon; however, the music Sasha made for it is definitely worth your attention.

Not the first time Sasha’s done soundtrack work (he provided music for WipEout 3, remember? Oh, you don’t. Never mind then...), the music he’s made is somewhat simpler than his usual output. Still, a ‘simple Sasha’ tends to be far more intuitive than a good eighty percent of electronic musicians out there, and New Emissions is a lovely listen. There’s blissy ambient passages, moody funky moments, gentle synth washes, Coma, and brief stabs at experimentalism too. And although I can easily picture waves and beaches and surfers set against sunset backdrops as this plays, it could work just as fine for any number of scenic pieces. The only gripe about New Emissions - and it’s unfortunately a serious one - is that none of it is indexed. There are definite individual tracks on this, with names like Gothic Mood, Rooski, and Stars, but instead of being able to skip to the bits you’d like to hear at any given time, it’s all arranged into a continuous mix with obvious transitions.

And really, that kind of sums up emFire Collection as a whole. There’s a fair amount to enjoy here but it’s presented in such a way that leaves something to be desired. Honestly, given how disparate everything is on here, I’m not sure Sasha could have made this a fluid sounding release across two discs. I’d still call this a welcome addition to anyone’s music collection but compared to other releases with Sasha’s name on the cover, it probably won’t get as many plays.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure: Expeditions

Ultra Records: 1999

The growing marketability of double-disc DJ mixes must have finally convinced Ultra to treat these Northern Exposures properly, no longer releasing each CD separately. What I think, however, is INCredible, who took over the series’ distribution from Ministry Of Sound, wasn’t gonna’ put up with Ultra’s bullshit, and strong-armed the upstart EDM label into releasing Expeditions right. Okay, probably not, but its amusing thinking of the Sony sub-division as having that sort of clout.

What they couldn’t prevent was yet another label-rights complication, this time removing Fade’s remix of Delerium’s Silence from the American version. And you know what, I ain’t even mad. I didn’t know it was part of the mix until Lord Discogs told me so (the Lord knows all), so as far as I’m concerned, hearing the I Know You Love Me Too vocal emerge within Belfast’s gnarly acid breakdown always made sense. I don’t need McLachlan replacing what’s-her-voice in Chris Raven’s cut.

The fact Silence’s removal from the American Northern Exposure: Expeditions is such a talking point sums up where general consensus over this volume of Sasha and John Digweed’s celebrated series rests. Like most third acts of a trilogy, the hype and excitement surrounding these two CDs had dwindled compared to the previous ones, the market for DJ mixes growing ever more overstuffed by 1999. Misters Coe and Diggers still carried their high pedigree, sure, but their mixes on Global Underground were considered of greater value than this one. Heck, the two were essentially on their divergent paths now, so why even still do Northern Exposure? Did they have an outstanding contract for a third? Did INCredible really want a piece of the progressive trance pie that bad?

Regardless, two moments place Expeditions as solid entrants into progressive trance's canon. The second disc alone could almost serve as one itself, the gradual build showcasing the genre's strengths over the course of an hour-plus long CD, capping it all off with the unabashedly euphoric Tekara Remix of Mike Koglin's The Silence. Its remarkable Sasha & Diggers included such an uplifting tune, the sort of track Oakenfold and his ilk preferred. Putting it at the end of the tough trance business that came before it though, makes it all the sweeter when it does hit.

Even better is the opening of CD1, featuring a lengthy blend of Breeder's Tyrantanic and two versions of Space Manoeuvres' Stage One. I could go on for a whole review just how brilliant John Graham's debut side project was, but I gotta' save something for whenever I get around to Oid. As for setting the tone for Expeditions, its equally brilliant, hinting at high-flying space breaks to follow. Unfortunately, CD1 doesn't reach that peak again, but it's interesting hearing proto-prog psy at the end with Blue Planet Corporation. Oh the places Sasha could have gone had he followed that muse instead.

Meanwhile, Northern Exposure: Expeditions is a worthy finish to the series, despite mostly abandoning its original premise to do so.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure 2: Westcoast Edition

Ultra Records: 1997/1998

Ah, that's what Ultra Records was scheming: split Northern Exposure into two separate releases, reaping a little extra coinage in the process. Either that, or they didn't have faith in the American market springing for a double-disc DJ mix – it was a different era, after all. While I don't begrudge Ultra for selling us Eastcoast and Westcoast separate (well, aside that finding mint copies of Eastcoast can be stupid hard and expensive now), but I just discovered they removed the 'track map' inlays Ministry Of Sound included with their versions. I had no idea these even existed, and are such an awesome thing to have, displaying exactly the sort of mixing and layering Sasha and Digweed did in the studio to make these CDs the timeless beasts they are. Boo, Ultra, boo!

As for why I have Westcoast (aka: “the Digweed mix”) over Eastcoast (aka: “the Sasha mix”, though neither exclusively did either), my fine trance sensibility lured me to the classic vibes of the early German sound, with-

Oh, fine, it’s because this was always the easier one to find on shelves. Eastcoast was quite popular, if nothing else than for introducing the concept of ‘trancey breaks’ into the progressive house scene, making it a go-to CD whenever folks wanted, erm, a break from regular ol’ trance. Matters weren’t helped by Westcoast’s choices for up-front tuneage, some tracks becoming near-overplayed anthems soon after. Taucher’s Waters was on dozens of mixes alone, and they wouldn’t come saddled with ‘old, boring trance’ in the beginning either.

Now that we’re over a decade removed from the endless anthem era, folks have come to appreciate the subtlety of Westcoast’s opening half. Such blissy vibes you can float on with Humate’s 3.2 and The Light’s Panfried; or proto-prog moodiness with Orbit and Spooky’s remix of Sven Väth’s An Accident In Paradise. It even makes all the ‘big choons’ in the second half come off a tad dated to the time, thoughts of Oakenfold Cream nights rushing forth rather than chill off-nights at Heaven. Did anyone even remember that was Northern Exposure’s premise anymore, spotlighting unheralded music from the back ends of Sasha and Digweed’s record crates? Then again, I doubt anyone could have predicted Transa’s Enervate would go on to be such a caned track in the ensuing years.

I don’t have much else to say about Northern Exposure 2: Westcoast Edition that isn’t common knowledge at this point. Yeah, yeah, it’s funny seeing an Armin van Buuren track as the closer of a Sasha-plus-Johnny mix, but Blue Fear’s a nice little number all things considered – Hell, Netherworld’s more of an obvious anthem than that one, and Oliver Lieb’s God. If it exists at an affordable rate, getting the original Ministry Of Sound double-disc version’s still the way to go, but this one’s not a bad pick-up on the used market either. It bridges two eras of trance with class, with all the tasty studio-perfect flow we expect of a Sasha & Diggers CD.

Sasha & John Digweed - Northern Exposure

Ultra Records: 1996/1997

While not the daftest idea for a mix CD, it certainly was unprecedented at the time. Starting an off club-night in the north lands of England featuring the chiller side of dance music was all fine and dandy, but getting a promotional tie-in release fronted by the emergent Ministry Of Sound was just ludicrous. Unless, of course, it's Sasha and f'n Digweed running the night, the hottest DJing duo in UK. Well shit, son, give the boys what they need (studio time, record rights, and that), and watch the money roll into the coffers!

Though the impetus for Northern Exposure coming into being's now relegated to a mere footnote, the impact the series had on purveyors of progressive house has not, many citing this CD as one of the all time greats. Listening to it nearly two decades since it dropped, it can come off a bit dated and quaint in terms of genre (so many ethnic chants), but in offering sublime musical moments, Northern Exposure remains top grade.

A major reason for this is Sasha & Diggers weren’t making a traditional DJ set; rather, Northern Exposure opts for the mixtape route, showing off older tracks that’d likely never get a live rinse-out. Really, that was the premise behind the club-night too, but since few even knew of it (I don’t think it lasted long), most folks figured this was Sash-el-‘Weed getting all conceptual and shit in a growing mix CD market. Like, whoa, The Future Sound of London, Rabbit In The Moon, and Banco de Gaia all on one disc? What is this, another ‘ambient house’ collection? Nah, guy, it’s a future-classic DJ mix, is what.

Truth is, ambient house/techno/dub/beat compilations were about the only places you’d find such names on a non-album CD, the market for chill-out mixes almost non-existent in the mid-‘90s. To have tunes like Cascade, Raincry, and Water From A Vine Leaf (Xylem Flow Mix) as part of a flowing DJ set was rare, and primarily the domain of deep underground releases (likely bootleg tapes at that). The Sash’Weed pedigree opened many a younger listener’s ears to a field of electronic music you just wouldn’t find on the mainstream market, and that ‘first exposure’ experience helped cement Northern Exposure’s classic status. It didn’t hurt Misters Coe and Digweed’s selection and arrangement of tracks here was impeccable. The Raincry-into-Out Of Body Experience portion’s long considered the highlight of the whole series, though Northern Exposure: Expeditions has one up for consideration too.

As for CD2, well... I don’t have it. Hell, I haven’t even heard it, despite a stream being easily found on the interwebs (I savour its mystique). Ultra Records, who handled the American distribution of Northern Exposure, continuously fumbled these mixes, their first erroneous behaviour the removal of 0°/South from this release. Maybe it was label rights complications, but I see little on that disc that couldn’t be solved with an edit or two. Maybe they felt having ‘south’ in the title defeated the concept?

Various - Global Underground 003: Sasha - San Francisco

Boxed/Thrive Records: 1998/1999

Oh yes, Sasha's down here in the bargain bins too, though in this case, it's understandable. You've likely noticed this edition of Global Underground is headed with 003, when everyone knows Sasha's San Francisco edition was number nine. By '99, the GU brand had grown strong enough that Boxed tapped American label Thrive to handle stateside distribution. Sweet deal, except in a confounding bit of marketing, it was decided these Thrive discs were to be re-sequenced as they released them, not the original order. Oh, and forget having all the editions either, just the- hey, wait a minute, why are you cutting ties with us, Global Underground? No, we'll be good, we swear!

Like hell you will. What's with cutting Der Dritte Raum's Hale Bopp from the tracklist? It's hilarious hearing the anticipated mix from Narcotik's Blue, only denied the spacey goodness Sasha intended. Poor form, Thrive, poor form. It’s almost as bad as Ultra’s antics.

Getting back to Sasha here, this was his first entrant into Global Underground, capturing his ascending American popularity like few other British-based jocks ever achieved before. His and Digweed’s Twilo sets in New York were becoming legendary (or just had really fucking good PR), so it was only natural for GU to set this one in New York. Sadly, that Oakenfield guy already did a GU based on the Big Apple, so the West Coast clubbing paradise gets the nod instead. Doesn't matter in the end anyway. San Francisco is essentially a Twilo set condensed into two discs, so the location's unimportant (as Oakenfold proved when he did his New York mix in the UK!), but hey, nice locale pictures in the booklet.

If you know your progressive house/trance/garage (!) double-disc mixes, then you know the drill on how this one goes: first disc features groovy, early evening vibes (with a touch of the dark dub), while the second’s all about the peak, late hour anthems. I’m almost tempted to claim Sasha and Diggers were responsible for the trend (their sets at Twilo certainly set a standard), but I’m sure there’s a few earlier mix CDs floating about that hold similar arrangements. What I do know for a fact is it went on to be highly imitated in the following years, and even improved upon from what we get offered on GU009/3. These are still a strong pair of discs, but a few odd choices flub up the flow towards the end of each (Movin’ Thru Your System from Jark Prango, really?). Mostly though, you get familiar names of the era (Oliver Lieb, Breeder, BT, Tilt), plus fun surprises (DJ Sakin, Joi Cardwell), expertly mixed (*cough*inastudio*cough*), and perfectly capturing a moment in time when prog house and trance was going from strength to strength.

If you’re relatively new to this scene, it’s worth your while to seek this out and discover exactly why many old schoolers feel this was progressive trance’s proper peak. Just double-check you don’t get a bust copy missing a track.

Sasha - Xpander (Original TC Review)

Ultra Records: Cat.# UL1049-2
Released 1999

Track List:
1. Xpander (Edit) (3:52)
2. Xpander (11:30)
3. Belfunk (11:08)
4. Rabbitweed (10:23)
5. Baja (12:33)


(2010 Update:
First: this was not Sasha's debut. The Qat Collection was.
Second: Xpander was a remake of Spooky's Little Bullet.

There. Those two glaring factual errors/omissions on my part have dogged me for years. Why, then, didn't I just go and edit the review to correct it? As silly as it sounds, 'journalistic integrity'. I've been a long believer of "what's been published remains as is", as that holds true for anything in printed form. It also thusly forces journalists -professional and amateur- to be factually accurate once they submit something. Call it an honor system. Despite technology giving us cheats to go back and correct, I feel my initial error shouldn't just be easily wiped away. If I did, how could you trust me with anything in the future?

Besides, it was all Discogs' fault.)



I could go on at great length about the importance of this release, and maybe I will in a separate article sometime too. I'm assuming, however, if you are reading this you are either just curious on my thoughts of Sasha's seminal debut, or are genuinely unfamiliar with Xpander and are wondering what the deal with it is.

Well, if the opening synth chords of the first track here, an edit of Xpander, doesn't immediately draw you in with their entrancing reverb, I'll be amazed. Sasha and his producing partner, Charlie May, must have spent hours perfecting its sound. Throw in heavy, punctual percussion and a grumbling bassline that plays off the synth's chords, and you have yourself one heck of an excursion into trancey prog rhythms. An accompanying, glistening electronic riff joins a minute into this edit and synth washes add fuel to the fire. Absolutely marvelous!
Many of these elements retreat for the time being some two minutes into this track to allow for some effects and rhythm to carry us forward for a little while, but once the opening synth chords return in a minor build, they are drenched in effects that creates a sonic wash of fierce intensity. If you do not feel the urge to just explode in energy once everything comes back in full force, then you, my friend, are just not alive.

Still, at not even four minutes in length, the edit isn't really the focus of this release; let's dive into the main attractions here.

The full length of Xpander starts out with some heavy percussion as various paranoid electronic effects flutter and worm their ways about for a good minute or so. Things retreat for a bit, allowing just a pulsating electronic lead to throb away for a good half minute, ever so subtly continuously tweaked so it doesn't get lost in repetitive loops. Eventually, the synth chords that opened up the edit gradually emerge from the background, overtaking the pulsating lead. Once all that remains are the synths, the percussion is progressively added back in, quite content in slowly building momentum as we are lost in the trancey reverb of the synths. The glistening electronic riff and synth washes are progressively added as well, basically stretching the opening two minutes of the edit into four (or the edit pared it down to two, depending on how you look at it).

As with the edit, all these elements retreat for the time being a good six minutes into Xpander, allowing rhythm and embellishing effects to take over for a good two minutes. Soon enough, leads and synth chords are gradually brought back in, leading us to an effects laden build that, just as the edit does, demands a full outburst of energy from the listener. As things play out, elements are gradually withdrawn towards the end, capping off with a bit of delayed reverb fading off.

Which of the two versions of Xpander is better? Well, really they are identical in terms of structure; the full length merely contains more loops and DJ friendly percussive bookends. In that sense, it depends on the listener. If you prefer your songs to be focused and direct, the edit should suffice. However, if you don't mind taking a bit of a meandering excursion along the chosen path, by all means the full length is for you.

Having gone through the main draw of this EP, let's take a look at the extra tracks Sasha was so kind to include here.

Belfunk starts out with some synthetically eerie atmospherics accompanied with light minimal techno percussion. Gradually, extra sounds and effects are added, ambling along for some two and a half minutes worth of moody lead in. At this point, all but the bass kick is withdrawn and a dubby bassline starts out, soon accompanied by techy elements and effects that are progressively brought back for a minute and a half before some subdued, filtered synth leads emerge from the background. Percussive elements come and go as things play out for another minute and a half, drawing us into a subtle yet effective trance.

It comes as no surprise that once the simple, benign chords of this song emerge in a mild breakdown, we are well primed for such tranquility. The rhythm is kept steady as minor percussive elements play in the background, allowing the chords to glow and extra synth pads and effects added at points help accentuate their serenity. Quite lovely.

After two minutes of this downtime, a thick, acidy lead emerges as the chords retreat. Ethereal pads float as the lead grows in intensity, leading back to full rhythmic force over the course of a couple minutes before gradually fading back out into a percussive lead out.

While nowhere near as driving as Xpander was, Belfunk does allow for some groove-worthy moments. Make no mistake, though. This track's main highlight is within its breakdown and, while able to maintain a steady rhythm, isn't meant to fill dancefloors anytime soon. I can definitely bliss out to this, however.

Opening with some stuttering, schizophrenic synth stabs, Rabbitweed doesn't really get going until over a minute and a half in, when ominous effects start to emerge. By two minutes in, punchy kicks settle into a brisk breakbeat, playing off the synth stabs quite effectively. Effects and extra percussion are gradually added, leading to ominous organ and synth pads as even more paranoid effects are added. By four minutes in, we're headlong into quite a menacing excursion of prog breaks, further fueled on by more synth leads a minute later.

After this plays out for a while, we're given a breather with a brief breakdown, but Sasha doesn't let us rest long, building heavy rhythms and fierce synth leads with effects up for a good two minutes. Eventually, things recede for a bit, allowing for some sweeping synth pads to glide along diligently before giving way to even fiercer thick synth leads than we've been offered thus far. Once everything comes together again a minute later, the intensity is so vicious, it feels even more energetic than Xpander did. In fact, I'll be so bold as to say Rabbitweed is even better than Xpander for straight-ahead, infectious rhythms. Similarly, this track also has a slight percussive lead out once the climax finishes up.

Offering up the yin to Rabbitweed's yang is Baja. As floaty, atmospheric pads and effects drift about, crystal electronics, stuttering synths, and bubbling chants weave around each other for a good five minutes, quite content to wrap us in a sonic embrace rather than push forward. After a while, a bit of dub bass is added, eventually leading into a simple, distorted slow breakbeat rhythm. Extra effects punctuate the rhythm as it plays out for a few minutes, building with sonic eruptions until receding a good nine minutes into Baja, leaving only the barest bit of rhythm. Soon enough, Baja adds some dubby effects and ethereal leads, never allowing any element to become prominent as they are all gradually brought back in to put the cap on this track, and EP as well.

I guess the biggest question mark here is does Xpander live up to the hype. In a word, yes.

In more than a word, the title track is worth the price of admission alone. I still recall when this was a brand new song and Xpander seemed to appear in nearly every DJ's set. Yet, it never got old and, half a decade later, it still sounds remarkably fresh. Sasha and May managed to tap into something timeless here.

And that's not even getting into the additional three tracks on this EP. While Belfunk and Baja are pleasant excursions into relaxing rapture, Rabbitweed is easily an overlooked gem of a track that can pummel dancefloors. I cannot recommend it enough.

Get this for complementary tracks that will never date in a set. Get this for relaxing at home as you're swept away in bliss. Get this for a piece of EDM history. Whatever your reasoning, this deserves to be in your music collection.


SCORE: 10/10

ACE TRACKS:
Xpander
Rabbitweed


Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2004 for TranceCritic.com.© All rights reserved.