Louk's Reviews - January 2002

Louk

DJ Fracus + Gavin G feat Paula - Forever With Me
DFM
Release date: unknown

Rating: 10

Forever With Me (Original Mix)

Full Review: A nice treat to kick off 2002 here from DFM records based in Telford. This release produced by one of the label owners Fracus and Gavin G is a very stompy piece of hardcore which is so happy that it makes rainbow look like the creation of satan. Needless to say when I got the CD of this I was mentally skipping around my room as this track is seriously uplifting. Featuring some excellent vocals provided by "Paula", this track has some excellent drum programming, a really tight bassline, excellent stabs along with some warm strings that really do the damage. By the time the riff comes in, you instantly feel like this track is going to stay on your memory to whistle in the most weirdest of places and the production is excellent throughout. Overall the quality of this track speaks for itself in my opinion and it is definitely one of the better hardcore tracks I've reviewed in the last few months and I look forward to more material from this label. Check out the label at http://www.dimensionfm.co.uk

SKF - Ultraviolence
Breathless
Release date:

Rating: 8

Ultraviolence (Phreaq Mix)
Ultraviolence (Original Mix)

Full Review: The Breathless label return after the excellent "Fouk" by "T-empo" with this track produced by the people behind the "Dreamcatchers" outfit (who are currently having a massive success with "I Don't Wanna Lose My Way"). This track has already received support from the likes of Graham Gold + Jon Lines. The "Original Mix" of "Ultraviolence" is a very deep progressive number with lots of mind melting FX and funky groove-locking drums but there are some synth parts in here I just can't get my head around they really put me off. However, if you flip over to the "Phreaq Mix" then you will see what all the fuss is about as this mix is an awesome slice of trance with an excellent arrangement of bass, drums and synth parts (bewarned, the melody on this is extremely catchy). Both of these mixes show Breathless are planning to please both deeper and more mainstream DJs and with releases coming from a wide variety of artists such as Jimpy, Andy Manston and future tracks from SKF and T-empo it's definitely worth taking a look out for this label.

Liam Kennedy - Transparent Signals
CD-R
Release date: unknown

Rating:

Transparent Signals (Fred Numf + Five Point 0 Mix)
Transparent Signals (Original Mix)
Transparent Signals (Stripped Dub)

Full Review: This CD comes all the way from the US and is produced by one of their most popular Progressive DJs. Liam Kennedy's release "Transparent Signals" is forthcoming on the Perpetual Tunes label in Holland and these three mixes sound quite cool. The "Fred Numf + Five Point 0 Mix" is a dark groove featuring a nice grinding bassline, timestretched vocals and synth sweeps over a deep driving rhythm which sounds good to me. The "Original Mix" adds some synth sweeps and awesome percussion over some cool swirly pads which really add to the track in a great way. Some synth sweeps and a nice bassline follow and the arrangement on this mix is nice and solid indeed. Finally the 10 Minute long "Stripped Dub" is a longer variation of the Original mix, changing the bass and favouring more on the synth sweeps and strings on this version. Here are three mental progressive tracks which really do sound awesome when turned up loud. Check out the vinyl when released.

Andy Kryptonite - Kryptonite
Choice CD-R
Release date: unknown

Rating:

Borngo
Muon
Freeway
Freedom
Kinematik
SOS
Trance2000
Synaesthesia
Visual Flow
Chilled
Deeper

Full Review: It's good that producers from Devon are finally getting their act together and producing stuff, what with the first release on High Desnity and some other local productions coming up things are looking good. Here is an artist who has made 11 reasonably good productions. Borngo Is a track which is quite simple in its arrangement with cool industrial drums and an oddbod bassline with a very weird high pitched riff and lots of 303 sequences at the ready. It's ok but not that good in my opinion. Muon is a slight improvement on Borngo as more of a harder 303 line comes in with some excellent synth stabs, the percussion is OK but I felt it would sound a whole lot better if it was a bit harder. Still quite cool though. Freeway has a nice tight kick drum and hypnotic bassline which does the damage when turned up nice and loud. Overdriven 303s add to the track nicely along with a very odd pitch bent synth riff. This track is Excellent! I wasn't so keen on Freedom as the drums were very soft and the synth + piano lines put me off completely but there are some nice held notes in this. Kinematik started off oh so well with a nice strong kick and cool bassline, but at around a minute or two into the track a really horribly cheesy synth riff comes in which doesn't go down well in my opinion at all. Without this though the track is awesome. SOS is very cool with its 303, bassline and tough funky drums, the only problem being the kick is a little flat and the track goes on a bit. Trance2000 is a nice trance assault remiding me a bit of Kay Cee - Escape with its excellent synth programming over some really punchy kicks and snares. Excellent stuff. I didn't think much of Synaesthesia however even though some cool synth swirls and melodies were there, the arrangement was a little too basic and lacked any real depth in my opinion. Visual Flow is quite nice - featuring an industrial drum kit instead of the usual trance ones as well as a catchy offbeat bassline and stabs. I wasn't overly keen on the 303 line in this though as it felt a little out of place to me. Chilled is a laidback groove with a phased bassline and cool drum programming, there is also some nice synth work on this. Finally, Deeper is a very nice track which has a really awesome bassline and nice percussion arrangement as well as a high synth line which works a treat. Definitely the best track on this CD. All in all there are 11 quite cool tracks, some need work on their arrangement but theres a few that really do sound awesome. Good stuff

Middlerow - Right Proper Charlie
Cooltempo
Release date: unknown

Rating: 2

Right Proper Charlie (Ed Case Vocal Mix)
Right Proper Charlie (Ed Case Instrumental Mix)
Right Proper Charlie (Mean Machine Mix)

Full Review: This release on Cooltempo comes from the "Middlerow" production team. It has already been featured in the film "Mean Machine" and is apparenlty about a character who says too much after having a few drinks on the weekend. The "Ed Case Remix Vocal mix" is a pretty shocking garage track with some realy bad vocals and MCing on top of a pretty basic 2-step beat and dark dirty bassline. Some piano stabs and a toybox part are added but nothing really does much for me on this track at all. Thanfully the "Ed Case Instrumental Remix" doesn't have the vocals in but it still doesn't do much for me. While the "Mean Machine Film Mix" is a bit of an improvment with some different drum programming added which works better with the raps. Some cheesy stabs are still there though and this mix still sounds quite bad. All in all i'd seriously avoid this track unless you are into garage. Not my sort of thing at all!

Pat Foosheen - Automation
Zone
Release date: April 2002

Rating: 10

Automation (Main Mix)
Automation (Samsara + Foosheen Mix)

Full Review: Bristol based Zone Recordings return again with this two tracker coming from the well established US producer Pat Foosheen. The "Main Mix" is a deep progressive number with excellent strings, vocoded speech and some very funky and twisted percussion programming over some awesome synth sweeps. This is definitely designed to lock you into a groove with its hypnotic arrangement. The "Samsara + Fooshen" mix on the flip is a more twisted number, with a much tougher drum arrangement and darker feel to it. The sweeps in this one are very dark and eerie and the vocals are extremely twisted. However the strings in the middle of the track are far less aggressive and the track sounds really good at this point. I can see the likes of Sasha, Liam Kennedy, Sander Kleinenberg favouring either of these two tracks over the next few months and I am certainly convinced by it. It will be interesting to see how this one does in April when released! Excellent stuff.

Kid Vicious - Contagious
Tsunami Special Blend
Release date: Unknown

Rating: 10

Contagious (Lemon 8)
Contagious (Deep Drive Mix)
Contagious (Original Mix)

Full Review: When I first played this it left me suprised as the last label I would have expected this release to be on is Tsunami Special Blend (especially if you go by previous releases). Produced by Ronald Van Gelderen (aka Kid Vicious), The Lemon 8 Remix of Contagious is a really nice and dark progressive number with some excellent Vocals and this has a really breakbeat-like feel to it. The Deep Drive mix is even better with some smashing dark basslines and driving rhythms, this is seriously twisted stuff which works a treat! The Original mix is the lighter of the three in my opinion and didn't do as much for me compared to the other two mixes but is still a really good track. All in all out of the three mixes on offer with this track I'd certainly recommend the excellent Deep Drive mix and its no suprise this track went straight to number one in my chart. Nice one Tsunami/Purple Eye!

Boost - Tune 66
Tremolo
Release date: Unknown

Rating: 5

Tune 66
Another World

Full Review: This two tracker is release 32 on the Dutch Tremolo label and it comes from the mysterious artist Boost. The oddly titled "Tune 66" is a pretty weird track with some very good bass and drum programming but has a very dodgy and cheesy synth underlay and riff which puts me completely off the track. This is a shame as the track showed real promise. Unfortunately the same problem happens again with "Another World" on the flip having some excellent drum programming and a funky bassline but having a melody and some synth parts which do not go down well in my opinion at all. I can't really see this doing that well at all in my opinion but we'll have to wait and see. Considering the excellent "Temptation" by Markos, this track is OK in places but doesn't really live up to the standard of "Temptation" at all.

Gizeh - Wonderful
Trance Communications
Release date:

Rating: 8

Wonderful (Into The Deep Mix)
Wonderful (Reworked Mix)

Full Review: You might have heard me mention this track before, as it has been kickin around on Dutch label Liquid for the past 6 months. Finally it has been snaped up by Tim Stark's excellent Trance Communications here in the UK. What I said before still applies. The Rework of "Wonderful" is very odd as I can't actually notice anything thats been modified in it at all. The "Gizeh's into the deep mix" takes a full on approach updating the bass and drums and making them more accessable also adding wooshes and 303s. This lead to the track being played on full blast which sounded awesome (give it a try!) All in all a good two trackerand you should listen and give the Dutch producer the credit he deserves. Nice one Trance Communications.

Louk