sabres of paradise - sabresonic - warp
1 6:59 129 still fighting
2 7:41 129 smokebelch 1
3 14:44 67 clock factory
4 8:16 70 ano electro (andante)
5 5:40 100 r.s.d.
6 6:11 124 inter-lergen-ten-ko
7 7:15 139 ano electro (allegro)
8 4:17 64 smokebelch 2
i've always listened to the sabres of paradise 12"'s and for whatever
reason they didn't grab me. perhaps when i'm buying vinyl i'm thinking
'danceable' and the sabres aren't always creating music necessarily to
dance to. well, i think i was right because the sabres of paradise seem
perfectly suited to a full length release. this is some of andy
weatherall's best work. i haven't always been a huge fan of some of his
remixes but this release makes me give him a lot more credit. sabresonic
is heavily layered with sound effects and percussion aside from the
traditional kick/snare/hihat combo. there is also a large amount of
reverb and effect work, especially on the percussion and samples.
still fighting is my favorite, possibly because its the most immediate
and danceable of the songs with a fairly driving beat and a tasty analog
sequence about midway thru. smokebelch 1 relies heavily on its addictive
bassline in conjunction with oft-effected snare rolls. clock factory
sounds like one and is weatheralls stab at at a sort of ambience - an
ambience that at times sounds more like skinny puppy's idea of ambience
than say someone like the orb. r.s.d. is the most conventional of the
songs and generally sways into the dub stylee sounding like a cross
between the orb and leftfield. the version of inter/lergen/ten/ko on
here is different from the version on trance europe express and is
probably a superior mix with tour de france-ish male breathing noises and
heavily reverbed guitar feedback. smokebelch 2 finishes things off with
orchestral-like string pads and a female choir backing.
with the exception of the final track the whole cd has a rather dark
feeling unheard of in many current releases. weatherall is attempting to
make a bit of a change of pace with this cd and i think he succeeds
rather nicely.
8/10 - at 61:05 total running time it left me wanting MORE, MUCH more. a
second version of smokebelch 2 would've been nice at least. but the
sabres use a great array of instruments and the production is superior so
this is definately worth checking out.
trance europe express - worlds end
1 9:31 129 orbital - semi-detached
2 5:34 132 bandulu - gravity pull
3 6:13 129 readymade - face the day
4 7:11 137 system 7 - desir
5 6:15 93 spooky & billie ray martin - persuasion
6 5:17 95 material - praying mantra
7 8:04 98 the black dog - xeper
8 6:42 124 scubadevils - celestial symphony
9 5:39 130 o30 - midnight in europe
10 7:40 137 cosmic baby - space track
11 5:10 135 total eclipse - black hole
12 5:30 149 cj bolland - random
13 5:58 143 mlo - colour of the sun
14 7:30 147 source - it's a kind of magic
15 5:54 --- aphex twin - analogue bubblebath 3
16 9:37 112 the orb - majestic (millwall mix)
17 7:20 126 moody boyz - glitch
18 5:52 117 moby - move
19 6:59 124 diy - washed over by mastemah
20 6:19 125 the drum club - follow the sun
21 6:34 126 psychick warriors of gaia - dust
22 7:22 132 barbarella - the mission
23 3:36 124 sabres of paradise - inter/lergen/ten/ko
24 6:28 139 trance induction - n
i'm honestly not sure what to make of this. at times this cd is
wonderful, but at other times i'm shaking my head at where the supposed
'brilliance' of some of these groups lies. in fact some of these (not
many but a few) i'm wondering how they found their way onto a major cd
release.
the orbital song is fantastic and a change of pace for them, a very slow
trancey builder. the hartnolls say this is the direction a lot of their
music will take in the future and i like it. the orb mix of material's
praying mantra is great too, a very strange ambient soundscape of middle
eastern instruments and tribal percussion. the black dog track is good
as well and uses what sounds like a 3/4 beat with 4/4 music on top.
still somehow it seems to work. i've been impressed with the scubadevils
lately also and celestial symphony is impressive as well, a tweaky
trancer with a retro-ish tinge. the space track by cosmic baby is
fantastic too, and a different version from the one on stellar supreme.
the orb come thru with a new mix of majestic, a version this song that
can make me feel like i'm tripping (when i'm not). moby, as always, is
neither good nor bad, just average. the diy track is rather
disappointing considering they are usually very interesting. and
barbarella, well what can i say, i expect nothing less of vath and
hildenbeutel and 'the mission' is a driving very synthetic track that at
times borders on industrial-sounding.
6/10: overall this cd is probably worth the money considering you get
over 2.5 hours for about $25 which figures to about a buck a track. but
some of the tracks just have no soul to them. i don't mean soul as in
funkiness, but i mean they really have no spiritual soul to them, they
seem like tweaky computers set at random some of the time. one more
note: the 192-page book included is VERY interesting and gives a great
overview of the state of trance and techno today including articles not
only just on the groups included but also about selected influential
labels and cities.
mindwarp - one - stress
a: 127 ??
b: 127 ??
122 ??
lately stress has been the leading trance label in my opinion and
mindwarp is the best i've heard in a while. this is a white label and
includes 3 different versions of the same song. the a side is the main
one with a slightly acidic opening, some nice strings and a rather
hip-hoppish beat. a break about halfway thru brings in a thunderous in
your face guitar sample and the song just takes off from there.
the other two mixes are good also but a little bit calmer and less in
your face sounding with the guitar toned down a bit.
9/10 - one of the best things i've heard lately and destined to become an
anthem very quickly. get your copy early because this song is so
memorable it will likely get played out very fast.
hope - disco monster - sunup
a: 126 ??
b: 126 ??
this is another white label and there are two versions of the same song,
i assume disco monster. hope made it big first with the massive hit
'tree frog' with a throbbing beat and frog samples. this one is similar
with a bit of a disco influence with the cheeziness of disco. if you can
imagine its a bit like acid-trance disco. the a side begins again with
frog samples and reiterated samples 'monster' and 'high energy' (sampled
from strategy). the b side is a bit trancier, drops the frogs, and is a
bit smoother and less chunky.
6/10 - a good driving dance track but missing some originality. not
quite as good as their first 12" tree frog.
cj bolland - camargue (remixes) - r&s
a: 138 summer mix
148 beyond the minds eye mix
b: 148 galaxy mix
i've never really cared much for cj bolland but i like these mixes quite
a bit. the summer mix is relatively forgetable and the beyond the minds
eye mix is more like traditional bolland, but the galaxy mix is the one i
like. its got a bit of a cosmic baby sound with a bleeping intro. the
drums are somewhat breakbeaty but the bassline really makes it go. a
repeat of the bleepy intro with a female 'can you feel it' vocal works
well as a break. while it is fairly fast at 148 bpm, it doesn't really
sound unnaturally fast.
7/10: i hope bolland keeps going a bit more in this direction. this has
got a great deep trance feeling and doesn't sound horridly fast like most
of his work.
thats all for now.