miniREVIEWS galore (No hardcore please, we're Finnish).
Samu Mielonen
Bandito: San Andreas / Loco (3 Beat, 3BTT17) 12"
Latin influenced house, with a trancy version of "Loco" to speed things up.
This is quite good and also appreciated by local DJs. 8/10.
Shindig: Spunky Marimba (Hypa Music, Prod 5) 12"
Trancy progressive house with flutes, acid blurps and kicking bass.
There's also a harder more simple pure trance mix. 7/10. Could use
some innovation here.
The Pressure: Amor (Hubba Hubba, Hub 006) 12"
Ibiza style house with a general happy atmosphere. Has very justin-robertsque
horns and a bassline. 8/10. Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy!
Finitribe: Monster in the House (Momentum/Finiflex, FF001) 12"
Relaxed (117 bpm) house with some piano in it. Mediterranean chill out style.
9/10. This is too good... (and the 100 bpm version is awesome too!)
Cleveland City: Testament 1/2/3 (?) 12"
Mad house (not fierce!) with guitar samples and acid sound goind wild
in the background. This is compelling. 8/10. May not work on the dancefloor.
Otaku: Percussion Overdose (Soma, Soma 006) 12"
Hardish progressive house that keeps going like a locomotive. The other
side is the compulsory acid venture. 9/10. Not original, but works well.
Van Basten: Lizard King (Brute, Brute 6) 12"
Trance attack that builds and builds and builds. This is a mad tune and
may appeal to some hardtrance fans too (on +8, I guess). 9/10.
Crunch: Devo (6'6", 6ft 003)
Ibiza style crossover that's like toned down Ramirez. Acidy, moody and
not too good I'm afraid. 6/10. "Gimme the usual."
Shi-Take: (In the Age of) Perfect Virtue (Zoom) 12"
Tribal!! Go mad and go plenty!! Pan flutes, subtle (at right points) and
kicking. This is lurvvly and gets me going instantly. 9/10. "Hugga,hugga!"
Eagles Prey: Feeling Warm (Guerilla, GRRR 47) 12"
What a disappointment. Progressive house that's come a trademark to Guerilla.
Nothing that new, although the 'Reverse the Silence' works quite well.
Some spanish guitar and also a trance version with a huge kickdrum sound.
7/10. And that would be six without 'Reverse the Silence'.
Mukkaa: Buruchacca (23rd Precinct/Limbo, Limbo 008) 12"
Another disappointment. Too poppy and safe for my taste - a track with
the usual prog-house elements (women wailing in the background, acid
influences and all). 5/10. What am I saying... I like pop! :)
Nature Boy: Necessary Ruffness (Tomato, Tomato 12) 12"
Mad dubweizer disco with an excellent B-side, "Real". B-side delicious and
kicking, while the A-side is harder and more standard as some of the
tracks on "Two clouds above nine" compilation. 9/10. B-side kicks.
Waxworth Industries: Take The Book (Sabres of Paradise, PT 005) 12"
This was recommended first to you by Squigg so it can't be bad, can it?
Well it certainly is not (bad). This is ambient style slow trance that
most of the people will just not like. A pity, 'cos it's excellent. 10/10.
Ritmo De Vida: Taboo (23rd Precinct/Limbo, Limbo 010T) 12"
Dark, acidy trance track that's quite good, but nothing innovative. You
can hear pieces of Sono Lakota's 'Ice & Acid' if you listen really
carefully... 7/10. Standard, but will probably make the floor jumping.
Harri: Skelph (23rd Precinct/Limbo, Limbo 009) 12"
Goddamn progressive house! Acid, sliced vocals, sexy female voices, horns
and all the other usual progressive cliches are here. It's slammin though :)
8/10.
Lemon Interupt: Dirty / Minneapolis Airwaves (Junio Boy's Own, JBO 7-12) 12"
Melodic stuff that one could even call progressive. Dirty is a *beautiful*
track, but "Minneapolis..." has a rotten rhythm track. 9/10. And that's
one minus for ruining "Minneapolis..." Must be the friggin rock skeletons
that disturbed the boys during the final mix... (re: Underworld. Ask lazlo!)
Blake Baxter: Sexual Deviant (Logic, LUK 013) 12"
BB goes POP! Vocals and subtle, erotic euphemisms like "Let me in" :)
No wonder it's on logic. A HARD version is also available on this 12". 5/10.
Jesus Jones: The Right Decision (Food, 12 PERVP 2) 12"
JJ go ACID! It's pop alright, but with a sick twist as there's a
reconstrucition by the Moody Boys. The other acid version has quite a
kicking rhythm track. 7/10. It even comes with a giant size poster...
Roach Motel: Movin' On (Junior Boy's Own, JBO 11-12) 12"
Garage (horrors!). Also a horny trance version of "The Right Time".
A bit too Fire Islandish for my taste. 6/10. "Peace, love, come together..."
Sub Sub: Ain't No Love (Rob's Records) 12"
What the rave is this doing here?! Goddamn happy pop song with a retro 70's
feel and a modern twist. I like it though :) 8/10. Cheesy.
Ultraviolet Catastrophe: Trip Harder - remixes (Hardkiss) 12"
I don't know what to say (with Jon Drukman watching and all :)... these
guys could really be on(to) something serious... makes some of the stuff
above sound regressive. 8/10. Can this be a grower?
Beloved: Celebrate your Life (Eastwest, YZ738T) 12"
Frigging rap(p)ers.... baaahhh! Consolidate rip "Sweet Harmony" into shreds
and piece together a mutant son of Frankenstein. Hardly a beauty. The
"C'est la vie" mix of "Celebrate Your Life" almost pulls it, but the
cool cat's mix smells of dead fish. "You've got me thinking" is
almost unharmed. 5/10. Stick to the original or do your own remixes...
System 7: 777 (Big Life, BFLLP1) DOUBLE ALBUM or (single) CD
A lot better than their debut, although with similar elements. The pop
production and vocals are gone and on the whole this is much more coherent
stuff. May disappoint some of the System 7's pop fans, but will probably
gain S7 new fans as well. Some of the tracks are ambient ("Faydeaudeau") and
some of them are harder dance stuff ("7:7 Expansion", Desir"). 8/10.
V/A: Tribute - DJ Collection Vol II (Hi-Bias, HB-020) DOUBLE ALBUM
This is quality house. If you don't have this (or the original 12" releases)
you're not worth it as a house DJ. 10/10.
V/A: Excursions in Ambience (Caroline, CAROL 1733-2) CD
Solid US compilation that expands one's repertoire beyond the verses of
Patterson & Trash. 9/10. You'd be fool not to buy.
V/A: Trancemasters Vol. 1 (Eurovision, 302.4001.2 42) CD
Station Rose: Public Brain Session 0:35
Dance 2 Trance: Where is Dag? 6:10
TZ4: E S P 4:11
Resistance D: Cosmic Love 7:22
Hypnotist: Pioneers of the Warped Groove (remix) 6:55
S.M.I.L.E.: Ritual Dance (evolution remix) 5:20
Irresistible Force: Space is the Place (remix) 7:55
Frank De Wulf: Afrika's Rhyme 4:31
Space Cube: Dolphins 6:00
Phobia: Phobia (Holy Atom) 7:24
Komakino: Frogs in Space (Trance Mix) 6:13
Evolution: Equilibrium 5:40
Speedy J.: De-Orbit 6:11
TOTAL: 76:27
"Ambient Dance II Trance Chill Out" it says here and I must agree. This comp.
has ambient, chill out and trance tracks that fit together quite well and
make a pleasant change from the usual Orb rantings. There are some quite
excellent tracks like "Coscmic Love" and even some duds (the Hypnotist track,
naturally), but nevertheless this is a good comp. 8/10. Good for the
home, car and soul. Raves I know nothing about... .)
Black Dog: Bytes (WARP, WARP CD 8) CD or DOUBLE ALBUM (ltd. ed. also available)
Oh, the tricksters are at it again. If the guys at Knowledge club in London
really knew what intelligent techno is, they'd play stuff like this instead
of the the mid frequency dominated hardcore shit they usually play at their
neo-nazi hangout. But that's another story and I won't bother you
with that... Anyway, BD have ear for other kinds of music besides just techno
and their tunes reflect this. I won't spoil your fun or embarrass myself
(more!) by trying to define this stuff. Let's just say that it's intelligent
enough to end up in your cd player. But not by itself. Go buy. 9/10.
Barbarella: The Art of Dance (Eye Q/Harthouse/WEA, 4509-90679-2) CD
"Sell out!" I hear you scream! "Sven goes to Warner robbers!" No, it's
not like that. It's not like that at all. It's like this is a concept
album - nine tracks of pure barbarellaism (no, I won't bother to list them).
And as WB/Time Warner own the rights to the godly Jane Fonda film,
"Barbarella", that Sven old boy heavily samples, we end up with a joint
release on WEA. That's the theory anyway. On the tracks itself Vath rips
off Jarre & Rob Hubbard (of C-64 fame) and even does some silly hardcore
numbers. But whatever he does he fails. Except, of course, on "The Secret
chamber of Dreams" - a 14 minute 20 second bliss track that all of you
suckers ought to have. It's cheesy, but it's blissful nevertheless. And
don't bother with the Rising High (falling fast!) release with CP remixes.
They're jus that. A disappointment gigantico, after all S.V. was
responsible for one of the finest ambient moments in '92 with "Accident in
Paradise". Anyone willing to sell their copy? 5/10 for the album. 10/10
for "The Secret Chamber of Dreams".
And if anybody feels like flaming, I've got my force field activated so
berserk mode on at will... And remember that asbesto suits give you cancer...
from our minds to yours,
sZm
--
f1s...@kielo.uta.fi ambient ~ slow ~ mello ~ trance ~ house ~ techno ~ mo
"I come in peace."