Review: Bachelors Of Science / Saburuko - Strings Track (Apex Remix) / Brooklyn Summer (Morphy Remix)

This release features two top quality remixes of tracks by Bachelors Of Science and Saburuko. Apex's remix of "Strings Track" pushes the euphoria dial up a notch (like that was possible), while Morphy's remix of "Brooklyn Summer" is jungle inspired take on the original.

1. Bachelors Of Science- Strings Track (Apex Remix)

This is one of those remixes that primarily builds upon the successful qualities of the original. It's euphoric and uplifting and it mirrors the structure of the original. Apex included drum samples that are a little more hard hitting and removed the soulful male vocals to make his take on "String Tracks" a bit more suited for the dancefloor. If you've ever listened to any other tracks by Apex, you'll probably recognize the trancey synths and breakdowns. While these additions definitely definitely get the job done, it would have been nice to see Apex be a little more original. Nevertheless, this is an excellent track for anyone who has any interest in drum & bass.


2. Saburuko -Brooklyn Summer (Morphy Remix)
Unfortunately, I could not find a streaming version of this remix, so you'll have to buy this release to hear it. :) The original mix by Saburuko is notable for the way it mixes soulful vocals with upbeat, but not overwhelming, dancefloor drum & bass. Morphy keeps the soulful vocals and the general structure of the track, but he does make a lot of changes to the drumline and the bassline. At the beginning of the track, the drumline is less pronounced, soon we are greeted by some ragga-jungle inspired samples and effects. Morphy finishes the intro with a dubby melody that is quickly followed by a wicked drop that marks the true beginning of this track. The drum line in Morphy's remix feels a lot more raw and less clinical than in the original remix. The lack of 'polish' in bassline is also not very typical of modern drum & bass. The ragga-jungle song structure with the melodic pauses suggest that Morphy was definitely inspired by jungle when he made this remix. However, you don't have to be a big ragga-jungle fan to enjoy this track, the soulful vocals give this track a unique feel that is sometimes lacking in ragga-jungle tracks. 

Artwork: Border Community

Border Community is another record label that has a very consistent style when it comes to artwork. A reoccurring image in their artwork is a panoramic shot of a rustic windmill located among some green hills. A lot of their artwork evokes feelings of nostalgia and gentle longing for the innocence and simplicity of childhood.

James Holden - A Break In The Clouds (2003)

For it's few releases, Border Community continued to use the same artwork. However soon, they started releasing artwork with a new a new take on the 'rustic windmill' imagery. 


Extrawelt – Soopertrack / Zu Fuss (2005)

The first variation on the 'rustic windmill' image was done in the style of a colouring book.

James Holden – The Idiots Are Winning (2006)

Holden's next release introduces some artistic chaos to the calm windmill imagery.

Ricardo Tobar – El Sunset (2007)

I love the contrast between the colours surrounding the windmill and the primitivist textures of the hills and the sky.

Luke Abbott - Tuesday EP (2008)

And we're back to contemplating the sunny memories of childhood.

Ricardo Tobar – Boy Love Girl EP (2008)

This is my favourite piece of artwork on Border Community. Completely twisted, but with a dash of humour. Is that a little cosmonaut climbing a confused looking hoodoo? Who are those geeky looking creatures in the background? I didn't know that they had windmills on Solaris.

A special mention should be made of the artwork on a series of releases by Nathan Fake. I am quiet fond of the flower filled sky and the soft kodachrome photography.

Nathan Fake - Silent Night (2005)

 
Nathan Fake - Drowning in a Sea of Love (2006)

Nathan Fake - Drowning In A Sea Of Remixes (2006)

How not to do a remix

Recently I was looking through some remixes of Wamdue Project's 90s era hit "King of my Castle". This track presents us with a nice mix of hard techno beats, cybernetic melodies and a hypnotic vocal. It's a true product of 90s cyberpunk and I am not just saying this because of the video clip uses scenes from the seminal cyberpunk epic of the 90s: Ghost in the Shell.

While some of the remixes were quite decent, I encountered quite a few shitty remixes of this track. One particular remix stood out from the rest in it's lack of originality and boring production values: the Armin van Buuren remix. I had to press pause half-way through the track. It's that horrible. Armin perverted "King of My Castle" into a completely generic trance anthem that lacks any originality. You can hear that he made no effort to create something new. The best way to find out how horrible this track is by pressing play:

After listening to this horrendous piece of garbage, you'll probably need something to soothe your nerves. Luckily, I've also discovered another remix of "King of My Castle" by Bini and Martini. This remix is reinterpretation of the original done in a nu-disco (the non-pretentious type)/90s soulful house style. The vocal is a lot more soothing and the whole song is much more melodic and groovy. If the original was more suitable for dark techno club, then this remix is more suitable for shaking your ass with a cute girl at a cool lounge bar.

Artwork: Twisted Records

Here is some artwork from various releases on Twisted Records. Twisted is probably my all-time favourite EDM record label in small part because it was founded by Simon Posford. :)

Shpongle - Tales of the Inexpressible (2001)

 
This probably my favourite Shpongle artwork. While all of Shpongle's artwork tends to feature similar imagery, this one stands out in the way it combines psychedelia and a feeling of serenity. Sometime I wish I was shaman staring into the sea of blissful awareness. :)

Younger Brother - The Last Days of Gravity

This cover was made by Storm Thorgerson, he also made the artwork for Pink Floyd's albums including "Wish You Were Here", "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Animals". You can definitely feel that Pink Floyd vibe.

Ott - Skylon

 
As someone who was born in the USSR, I can't help but smile at this artwork's strange mix of Soviet nostalgia and retro-futurism.

Review: Younger Brother - Vaccine

Younger Brother's third album represents a departure from the duo's traditional psytrance influenced sound, however this change in style will not bother true aficionados of psychedelic music. While most of the songs in this album have song structures and vocals that are inspired by 'traditional' rock music, you can hardly call this album an imitation of Coldplay. Make no mistake; this is an attempt to push the boundaries of psychedelic music and not an attempt to "cash in" by using a more "accessible" sound.

Before you begin listening to this album, I'd like to emphasize the importance of experiencing this release as a continuous whole. This is one of those albums that grows on you with each successive play-through. I will admit that when I first heard this album, I was a little bit surprised by the 'rock-inspired' sound, however, I was careful to not make any quick judgements. After listening to this release on repeat for a few days, I realized how naive my initial reaction to "Vaccine" had been. Beneath the seemingly unexceptional 'rock sound' lies an ocean of psychedelia that will make you think about both personal and cosmic matters.

Tracklist
1. Crystalline
2. Shine
3. Pound A Rhythm
4. Safety In Numbers
5. Night Lead Me Astray
6. Train
7. Spinning Into Place
8. SYS 700
9. Tetris   


When it comes to bringing out emotions in the listener, "Vaccine" presents us with an mixture of subtlety and explicitness. Tracks (or should I say songs?) such as "Night Lead Me Astray" have a very traditional 'rock' structure that emphasizes the chorus and the accompanying music. While "Night Lead Me Astray" is not a bad track by any means, I feel it could have been much better if YB made it a little more low-key so you wouldn't get that "too explicit to be authentic" feeling that predominates the mainstream music world. To some degree, all the tracks on this album have parts that suffer from this flaw, but it doesn't really distract you entering a good headspace when listening to this album.

I have to make a special mention of "Crystalline". It's in this track that YB utilize the power of lyrics to the fullest. "Crystalline" is a love ballad that manages to evoke both feelings of intense love and a sense of profound distance and confusion that can take over your mind when you feel that you are in love. It takes a very special group of artists to make a love song that also makes you contemplate the duality of existence.

In another time
We would meet
With the worlds colliding
At our feet

I look through the air
See all the lives
I can see your eyes
They're so bright

Posford does a very good job at inserting his trademark synths and twisted samples in all the tracks in the album. The electronic elements always complement both the vocals and the guitar work. Posford typically uses synths and samples to add a trippy ambience to a track or to emphasize the vocals or 'guitar breakdowns'. While the rock vibe predominates this album, there are moments such as the second part of "Spinning Into Place", that almost sound like a "Ineffable Mysteries..." era Shpongle track.

The final two tracks are purely electronic and do not have any vocals. Personally, I never found these two tracks particularly inspiring. It almost feels like Posford & Co felt that they had to throw a bone to their core audience and that's how "SYS 700" and "Tetris" became a part of this album. Tetris does get better when Ru's vocals appear towards the end of the track, but I still feel that some more work would have made this a better song. 

This album is really about combing 'rock methodology' with the trippyness of psytrance inspired music to make something new. Something that can appeal to both fans of psytrance and people who are not that big on electronic music. Bringing more people into the fold of psychedelic (whether it's purely electronic or hybrid such as this release) music is always a good thing in my book. While I would say it's a little early to call Younger Brother the Pink Floyd of the 21st century, this is an excellent release that reminds us that we should always encourage experimentation and not be too conservative in our expectations and desires. :)

Review: Michael Dow – Ascent / Orbit

Michael Dow's "Ascent / Orbit" brings us a quality trance release without that manages to be uplifting and euphoric without entering the realm of formulaic cheesiness (That's you Armin!). This is exactly the kind of trance that I wish more producers would embrace.

1. Ascent
Whenever I listen to this track, I always imagine that I am on a journey that will take me from the ground and into the heavens. I see myself anxiously waiting for lift-off on the launch platform. I feel the power of the rocket engines sending me into the sky with unimaginable force. I imagine myself looking down upon the beauty of our planet from low earth orbit. This track is really that good.

In terms of structure, Michael Dow combines a relatively standard trancey build-up/breakdown structure with ambient melodies from Brian Eno's "An Ending (Ascent)". You could almost call "Ascent" a remix of Eno's track. The 'original' track is a mellow ambient piece that is more suitable for a film ending than an ascent into space. Michael Dow's take on "Ascent" bring us the best of both worlds by combing the raw energy and euphoria of trance music with the contemplative sadness of Brian Eno's ambient classic. The trancey elements keep you upbeat and exponentially increase the impact of Eno's ambient melodies.

As I mentioned earlier, the structure of this track does indeed mirror that of a rocket launch. The first part of the track provides us with a "countdown beat" that is mixed in with short samples from Eno's track. You can just feel the tension in the air and yet you can also feel the excitement. Something big is about to happen. Towards the middle of the track, we are teased by a short section featuring an unmixed version of Eno's track; that's just the calm before the storm. In no time the uplifting melody is supplanted by energetic beats that proclaim: lift-off!!!! And so we are flying into the heavens. And just as you're starting to feel completely intoxicated by the euphoria, you suddenly realize that you are in orbit; which brings us to an outro that is very reminiscent of the slightly anxious beginning of this track. This is really a perfect trance track. A special thanks to Brian Eno, without whom this track would not have been nearly as good as it is.   

2. Orbit
If "Ascent" makes you feel like you're on a rocket that is launched into space, "Orbit" feels more like a space race against aliens on the orbit of the earth. The mood in this track is definitely darker and more suitable for the dance floor. The main beat will keep you banging away on the dance floor while the sinister sounding samples and synths will have you guessing whether there are aliens among us. "Orbit" is a decent B side that stands well on it's own, but pales in comparison to "Ascent".

Note: This is not the full version of the track, you'll have to purchase this release if you want to listen to the full version of "Orbit".

Artwork: BT

This series of posts will be dedicated to various artwork used by EDM producers. Here is collage of made our of artwork from the following four releases by BT:

1. Rose of Jericho
2. Every Other Way
3. Suddenly
4. Forget Me