TIM STARKPO Box 272, Oxford, OX3 8FJ QUICKIES
Emma Hewitt Rewind (Mikkas
Remix) ARDI 7.5
Several highlights, both vocally and tonally, on this release. It’s Mikkas’ canny mid-Atlantic angled rework that’s the jewel in its crown, though. Content-wise it’ll play equally either side of the Pond.
M.I.K.E.
We Are! High Contrast 8.0
The first single to come off M.I.K.E’s long-heralded, (somewhat delayed) return- to-his-original-sound album. As a precursor for ‘World Citizen’, ‘We Are!’ is a very promising one.
Majera
Nothing Is Forever Touchstone 7.0
Majera experiments with a downtempo outing on the
‘Original’. It’s got enough resources to give Matt Bukowski all the elements necessary to create a substantial club-floor port.
Matt Skyer
Arrecife Nu-Depth 8.5
Someone’s been to the Canaries for their hols and a profound effect it’s had, too. Awash with sunspots, pads, chords, riffs and FX, ‘Arrecife’ is a harmonic/ euphoric treat.
Ost & Meyer
Take Off Enhanced Recordings 7.0
‘Safari’ made many a goosebump pop among the melodic contingent last year. ‘Take Off’ shakes up that formula, throwing in some decently contrasting sharper sounds.
Alex O’Rion
The Friendly Giant Magik Muzik 8.0
Aside from what occurs in the immediately appreciable areas of his music, O’Rion has a palpable knack for formulating floor-gripping backing tracks. ‘The Friendly Giant’ rocks up with a faultlessly selected and arranged set of drums, percs and bass. That in turn delivers something measurably superb and fiendishly danceable, to which the squally, pitchy lead riff must play second fiddle.
Armin van Buuren & Markus Schulz
The Expedition Armind 8.0
Serving as the anthem flag-wave for spring’s run of ASOT600 events, ‘The Expedition’ finds van Buuren and Schulz in appropriately bombastic form. Echoing female harmonics, bleepy calling notes (with vigorous mirroring alternate ones) and an industrial-strength mainline all superheat the track. Add thousands upon thousands of ASOT disciples and ‘The Expedition’ should land some point north of ‘Nuclear’.
Evave
Catch The Wave/Storm Spirit Mondo 7.5
M.I.K.E.HIGH CONTRAST 01. RANK 1 VS. M.I.K.E. ‘ELEMENTS OF NATURE’ HIGH
CONTRAST “THIS ONE IS A CLASH OF THE LEGENDS! IT WAS AN AMAZING COLLAB TO DO WITH RANK 1.”
02. GARETH EMERY & ASHLEY WALLBRIDGE ‘DUI’ GARUDA “THEY TEAMED UP BEFORE AND WITH THIS ONE THEY AIM HIGHER! DAMAGES THE
DANCEFLOOR LIKE CRAZY!”
03. PHATT ‘BARRACUDA’ HIGH CONTRAST “I PREDICT THIS IS GONNA BE BIG. HIGH CONTRAST ALWAYS MANAGES TO SIGN
TRANCE WITH THAT TECH TRANCE TOUCH.”
04. MIKE KOGLIN VS. 7 SKIES ‘VISION’ ANJUNABEATS “TWO HEAVYWEIGHTS IN TRANCE TEAM UP!”
05. SIGNUM ‘SYNDICATE (ABSTRACT VISION & ELITE ELECTRONIC 2013
REMIX)’ ARMADA MUSIC “GLAD TO SEE THE SIGNUM GUYS ARE BACK, AND THIS TIME WITH A REMIXED ALBUM.”
06. SOUND QUELLE ‘7.07’ BLACK HOLE RECORDINGS “THIS IS MY FAVOURITE OPENER IN MY SETS LATELY!”
07. SEAN TYAS & JULIE THOMPSON ‘WHAT I AM (MAGNUS
REMIX)’ TYTANIUM “WHEN SEAN SENT ME THIS PROMO, I FELL INSTANTLY IN LOVE WITH THE FEEL OF IT!”
08. JAN MARTIN & FLUGSCHREIBER ‘PLANETARIUM’ ENHANCED
RECORDINGS “SUMMER COMES EARLY WHEN I HEAR THIS TUNE! COMES OUT THROUGH ONE OF MY FAVOURITE LABELS FROM 2012.”
09. WITNESS 45 PRES NORVA ‘INCEPTO’ EDM TUNES “NICE DEEP TRANCE, SOMETHING ON MY STICK FOR SOME TIME!”
10. M.I.K.E. PRES. PUSH ‘UNIVERSAL NATION (INPETTO REMIX)’ BONZAI/
HIGH CONTRAST “THIS WILL FEATURE EXCLUSIVELY ON MY NEW ALBUM IN FEBRUARY. INPETTO TOOK MY ALL-TIME CLASSIC AND LIFTED IT!”
Two aquatically-titled numbers from Russia’s Evave here. ‘Catch The Wave’ has a cool, slightly ‘80s vibe about its lead line. It also has the unmistakeable after-touch of ‘Greece 2000’ to the sub-melody. True to title form, ‘Storm Spirit’ is the more tempestuous of the two. With its fluid, superbly moderated main riff more than enough to sway the floor’s attention, it proves the pick of the pair too.
Jason Thirlwall
Gobstopper Mental Asylum 8.0
There’s something about the name of both artist and label, along with the track’s title, that should give you a whopping clue as to this release’s general thrust. ‘Gobstopper’ fills out its generous runtime and elevated tempo with gavelling beats, tremor- inducing bass and growling distortion, all of which culminate cyclonically. The remixes aren’t much cop, but for the ‘Original’ — back of the net.
KhoMha
Vapor EP Coldharbour Recordings 8.0
Four tracks showing considerable range (and quality threshold) from the young Colombian. ‘Dejavu’ gets its grind on good and early, before opening out with a madly warping
lead line. House elements (female vocal shouts and more) are the basis for ‘Dusk Riddles’, which undergoes a techno metamorphosis in the final third. The more proggy line is ridden with ‘Genesis’, while the EP’s title track is trance at its most pulse-racing and pugnacious.
Mike Koglin & 7 Skies Vision
Anjunabeats 6.0
‘Vision’ is a more progressively-edged affair than you might expect of its melodically leaning producers. Its minimally grooving restraint loosens at the drop, giving way to some twinkling piano notes and echoed female harmonizing. At the break’s apex, though, the lid of the melodic cookie jar snaps shut and it falls statically back into its rolling groove. Less ‘Beats’, more ‘Deep’ perhaps.
Robert Mint
Durban FENology 7.0
Hiding behind ‘Durban’’s electro- tinted window is a highly capable trancer itching to get out. Its opening minutes summon a hard-grooving, linear appeal, which pressurizes the floor. Into that Robert packs tight percussion loops, plenty of hi-hat hiss and smartly programmed bass and drum parts. The break allows the inner-trance beast out, with M1
Abstract Vision & Elite Electronic vs. Broning Relict (Basil O’Glue &
Styller Remix) Armada Music
9.5
Notably, it took a posse of six producers to arrive with this track. Their collective time has not been wasted, as this remix of ‘Relict’ is nothing short of perfection. It somehow manages to marry, with tightrope-like precision, the next-level euphoria of the Russian producer collective’s ‘Original’ with the floor-orbiting, stargazing progressive celestial-ism of Messers O’Glue & Styller. Welcome, people, to the first great trancer of 2013.
piano notes giving way to a hi-vis arpeggiating lead line that delivers the K.O. blow.
Thomas Datt
Mass Effect 2.5 EP Discover 7.5
A sense of the familiar hangs about this new album EP. No surprise, as the tracks are reconfigurations of earlier Datt discog entries. ‘Still Alone’ tweaks the deeper atmosphere of 2004’s ‘Alone’, giving it more grunge at the front end, but the now arcane riff is perceptibly creaking. Far better (and with significantly less miles on the clock), ‘Mass Effect’ gets its ‘2.5’, being both higher energy and riper for adaption.
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TRANCEREVIEWS
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