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Trance Atlantic 2
Volume: TACD2
8:25 166 Jamie Myerson Heartsong
6:43 127 K. Hand Music By Numbers
7:40 130 Josh Wink Just A Track
6:57 155 Queen Mecca Stepping Stone
8:00 127 Wamdue Kids People
6:51 137 Kosmic Messenger Concrete
5:29 141 Blake Baxter Pursuit Of Happiness
5:33 139 Frankie Bones Crystal Clear
6:12 131 DJ ESP AB FAB!
6:54 129 Lenny Dee & The Outlander Emotional Response
6:36 127 Freddie Fresh Epitaph
8:04 127 Roy Davis Jr. I Have Just Begun!
6:35 134 Darkside The Swarm
5:11 134 Paul Johnson TA
6:57 131 Boo Williams Jaggin' Off
6:25 094 Single Cell Orchestra Threefold
6:03 129 Serotonin Project Majestic Ruins
7:09 126 Sound Patrol Move
6:40 126 Felix Da Housecat Vapornoize!
10:23 122 Green Velvet Help Me
6:56 125 Mike Dunn Make Ya Wanna Halla
8:46 119 Dubtribe Moonbeam Reigns Supreme
As with any of the Volume compilations, you get several things here: over
20 tracks, as close to 160 minutes of jams as technically possible, and a
tasty fact and picture filled 192 page booklet. Trance Atlantic 2 is no
exception, and the second in the NAFTA installations of this series focuses
on the sounds of the Midwest, Philly, Atlanta and SanFran. As with any of
the TEEX / TA, you get a few great tracks, lots of good tracks, and some filler.
Jamie Myerson's opener is Philly flavor drum-n-bass which starts off
sounding like a lush Goldie track, and ends up sounding like a lush Goldie
track. Beautifully ambient strings and snappy junglist rhythms, but this
one never really evolves. Good track.
Kelli Hand's Music By Numbers is a stompin' war dance battle anthem.
Driving and punching throughout, with just the right amount of squirty
breakdowns, this one will fill the floor. Good track.
Just a Track should have been titled Just 2 Notes. Pure 2 finger 303, over
a nice drum line. The experiments in squelching make this one fun, but
there's a marked difference between minimal and simple. Anyone else but
Josh, and we'd call this one a pisstake. Filler. (The copy in the booklet
doesn't help Josh win the "Sell Out" argument either.)
Stepping Stone teams up K. Hand with Dego and the 4Hero boys for some tasty
intelligent junglism. The depth and complexity and rhythmic sensibility of
what goes on here reminds one of recent Orbital and it works like a charm.
Great track.
Wamdue Kids lay down a kickin' house mantra with a very tribal drum circle
feel. The combo of ambient breaks, strong 4 on the floor beats, obligatory
diva chanting "People" and the tribal drumming makes this one a mover, but
the bubbly , jazzy trancey flavor that's infects near the end throws this
one over the edge. Great track.
Stacy Pullen's sound makes it clear our tour is passing through Detroit.
This is a minimal exercise in kick drum and lush, fat, dripping wet chords.
There's not a lot here, and it almost feels like an unfinished rhythm track
to a grander outing, but even on its own this track kicks. Good track.
Blake's vocoderized Barry White is present as usual on his homework
assignment, this time over a backdrop of climbing arpeggio bass , a tense
cymbal line, bleepy synths and occasional soft strings. Somehow, this one
lacks the sweaty horniness we've come to expect from a BB track, so it
doesn't get all the way there. Good track.
Crystal Clear, is as minimal as it comes, one bass note pulse, handclaps and
muted kickdrum and clickdrum. It's a Morse code mayday to the dance floor,
kind of a "y-o-u d-o-n-t n-e-e-d m-e-l-o-d-y, r-h-y-t-h-m i-s r-h-y-t-h-m,
m-o-v-e i-t". It's amazing that this thing comes off at all, given it's
simplicity, but it does. Good track.
Woody's AB FAB! is an acid drenched builder, a caustic acid rain bird
sprinkler, spinning , building and squirting all over the dancefloor. It's
uncut 303 at it's most tasty, with a building tension that will ensure all
the hands are in the air. Great track.
Lenny Dee's offering starts off very texturally and builds and broods
slowly. This one is a techno spaghetti western soundtrack, you can hear the
wind howlin' through the tumbleweeds, and there's this super-taut rhumba
bongo roll at the end of each figure that keeps the suspense high. Good track.
Epitaph opens with a very Moogy sounding analog intro, and a nice squirty
303 line creeps in underneath and basically stays in the background
throughout. Has a creepy kind of Addams Family vibe line with a very live
ad lib feel to it. For some reason, it just doesn't do it for me. Filler.
Roy Davis Jr. opens disk 2 with "I Have Just Begun!", a dark and sinister
electrofied Chicago house squirter over a backdrop of handclaps and 4x4
kickdrums. Not a happy track, but a good track.
Armando's Darkside track is minimal hard-as-nails Chicago hardcore house.
Tries hard not to sound too like a Millsart knockoff, but the influence is
pretty obvious. Sinister, 4 on the floor cortex melting throbbing. Good track.
TA is 808 fueled, with a gutter level synth measure and a stuttering sample
capping the 1 and 3 of each go round. Kicks and hi-hats galore and not a
whole lot more. Cajual new skool Chicago groove. Fun, but filler.
Boo's Jaggin Off starts off with a filter sweep rhythm track with an ever
present chime which sounds like the elevator in the Sears Tower clockin'
digits at hyperspeed. A delectable little organic loopin' jig of a melody
and an occasional acid wrapover help this one gahroooove. Great track.
Single Cell Orchestra's Threefold is probably the highpoint of the
collection for me. This track is riveting, a pissed off electro rattlesnake
looking for something to unleash upon, as it wanders through waves of
prismatic rainbow lights and tinkling spring drizzle. Tension and beauty,
interwoven masterfully. Great track.
True to its name, Terry Mullen's Majestic Ruins comes out of the box pretty
majestically with slow washes of strings and a tense snare & hi-hat line.
You catch a whiff of 303 and then the race is on. This one's derisive acid
over a probing ambient backdrop. A tasty great track.
Derrick Carter helps us Move, with housey drums, looping synths and a
variety of samples, including "Big Bones", "As luck would have it", and the
obligatory title sample. There's enough going on here that you have to do
what Derrick wants you to -- Move it. Good track.
Felix da Housecat leaves Chi-town behind with a very Euro-flavor track.
Sounds for all the world like a B12 track to me, with a very cool clinical
feel and mechanical nu-beats. Filler.
Cajmere godfather Green Velvet lays down a stomper with Help Me. This one
really recreates the feel of a close to the edge allnighter. You've got
pulsing rhythms and disorienting melodies that come in , drive by, and sweep
out again as quickly as they arrive. All the while, the track title sample
morphs in and out, with a spooky, desperate voice sounding like a spent
Jak-o-Lantern fragment. Balls out rollin, all night jackin'. This one goes
on and on, truly a great track.
Mike Dunn drops a slab of new Chicago house with Halla. Nice 808
programming, battling waves of synths, diva drops, but not too much that we
haven't heard before. Filler.
Dubtribe sneak the luvbus van in to do the after-hours to this 2 1/2 hour
excursion. A swingin, vibey affair with a positivity that's affable, but
not too hippyish. Sounds like they brought the whole jazz orchestra, and
it's a nice way to end the collection. Good track.
All in all, it's a pretty good comp. I like it better than TA1 (which I
liked a lot, by the way), although this one is aimed more strongly at the
dancefloor than the listening chair. It's again frustrating in that none of
the artists submit their "best" trax, and several clearly don't represent
close to what they're capable of (Derrick Carter, Blake Baxter, Stacy
Pullen). The 192 page time capsule booklet is worth almost the cover charge
on it's own, and includes some sweet coverage of the mw-raves scene, if from
a jaded uk-dance perspective. Pick this one up for the dancefloor
(especially in the limited 6 x 12' deep groove thick slab vinyl format.)
1995: all rights reserved, all wrongs reversed.
Jeff Davis ____--~~~~~~vvvv~~~~ oooooo 812.831.7846
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