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TESTSPINZ 014
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  REVIEWS Testspinz: Albums + Singles This week’s AVANTRAX by: DJ Spooky Send vinyl 12"/CD for review consideration to:
Fun, funky, futuristic...idealistic. Get ready to groove in the New Age. But first, you have to go backwards if you want to go forwards: hence two covers of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." Back to the roots California style! Layers of international instrumentation: kalimba, gypsy-sounding percussion, and stringed melodies support Lynn Rose's sultry vocals to produce danceable world panache! From the killer duet of "Radio Man," to the protest-rant-groove-spoken word of "I've Seen God (is a lesbian)," this CD charmed my headphones off me. My long-forgotten rock 'n' roll soul was stirred by the wailing guitar of "White Rabbit." World music with a counter-culture twist. "Remember what the doorman said!" Sprout
This progressive house/trance release reflects the serious commitment and friendship that Jondi, Spesh, and Lasse Looq have formed over the years with each other, and their audience. Overall, with this release, you'll feel, taste, hear, smell and see building beats with wicked rhythm, and transistor serenades. "We Are Connected (Active Love Mix)" combines a hard, thumping beat with a symbiosis that introduces the machine to the gaia of our biological nature. And as with a yin and yang tide, the tracts slow for a chillroom, hypnolove track, "Cycle One," then leads itself seamlessly into what will lift your feet off the ground next, "The Sway." One can only hope this track remains a progressive dance favorite, rather than a car commercial! With a techno seasoning, "Up, Down, Float," has many rumored, and hidden sounds not apparent on the first listen. But with more use one will find a cleaner house and unusually sore feet. "Sky City" levels the climb, and brings you into the basement of their weekly event, Qool, for some covert words, then straight through to an urgent "... connected, overdrive," remix. "We Are Connected" fits easily, works as hard as you do, and at the end of the day, you'll still find it twiralling on your decks. Don't miss this one. Andrei
Kozo Ikeno's trumpet and electronics make their familiar funky way around Planned Penetration, breaking out riffs on the electro-traps. Overall the tunes are similar in modality and groove: a good long-play experience in the given mood, with fewer distractions and flashy pyrotechnics. In "Recycler," moody horn lines play over a heavy kick-and-snare thing with a hovering UFO synthetic-backing vocal, facets of D&B flickering in and out of the peripheral audio field. Drum solos and alien drum loops erupt near the end. "Voodoo" takes the listener on a brief but intense excursion, a milestone in the recording; look back from here and forward to where we can't imagine. "Fieldwork" has dark spatially-spinning drums pounding underneath a melancholy horn-cry. A synth bass growls, bubbling up from primeval spinning drums. Swishy noise and drum loops swing up and down in tempo during "Escape," while glassy chords arc into existence from another warped tonal center. Kozo's horn tells it like it is--this is the sound of channel-surfing in an alien motel--nothing seems quite in one's own dialect, puncuated by wacked double-time synth basslines. "Power Station A" contains a sample from Eno and Byrne's My Life In Bush of Ghosts in a new context of ratcheting drum rhythms, stuttering, and inner synth lines; a great break in the middle, full of tricky sonic shufflng. Throughout this LP, the melodic style references Jon Hassell and Miles Davis, building on those modes of heartful solo horn, raga-like in expressiveness, with new electronics and creative breaks. Kozo's sound has a kind of resigned, killing-time color, reflective of the motel theme used in the titles and cover art. Turn the knob now. Greg Jalbert
Waldeck's first full-length release Balance of Force brings us a very melodic, blissfully vocal downtempo journey, balancing atmosphere, rhythm and emotional solitude. This album is the first full length release from an Austrian electronic artist since Falco hit he scene in the eighties. What were you guys waiting for? If Austria has more talent to offer as good as this, bring it on! "Children Of The Ghetto" featuring vocalist Joy Malcolm views social, and economic strife portrayed by the media in this deeply emotional track. My favorite track is most definitely "Aquarius," electronic remake from renowned stage and motion picture performance Hair. Klaus Waldeck is a true artist defining his own path to success in the soulful electronic music biz. Jefsta
Feeling far from home, light years away from the nebula you always felt you were from? Don't panic, TIP can help you. Tracks like "The Real Wrong" by Tripiatrick, full of hard-pumping basslines, will drive you into the earth. The growling madness of GMS' "Lumber Jack" will challenge you to chop up your alter-ego. Only then will you be gifted with "Ten Years of Trance" from Total Eclipse, reminding you of all the lost time before your earthbound sonic excorcism. Oforia's "Raw" will help rid you of excess baggage and blast you into the purity and funkadelia of Logic Bomb's "Herr Ubermann," hinting towards a crunchy bassline. Step into hypno-zone with Bus's "Swipe at the Big Blue" and regain your senses to "Eat the Beat" by Man Made Man. Finally you remember that you took the red pill from "1200 Mics" provided by 1200 Micrograms, two of the pillars of trance music: Riktam and Raja Ram, and you're back, a hint of a familiar melody caresses your ears, whispering with gentle "DMT" voices--another masterpiece remix by Shpongle! This album is full of new sounds and very intriguing frequencies by the innovative leaders of psychedelic trance, TIP World. Max
The first CD from Swedish label Kavator is a compilation of tracks in the popular Scandavian psychedelic style. Kavator owner, Richard Ahlberg tends to include these tracks in his selection when DJing various parties in different parts of the world. This music is not particularly melodic, nor are the beats particularly intense. The CD focuses on strange & abstract synthesizer sounds. It has just enough rhythm to keep the dance floor grooving without getting in the way of the synthesized weirdness. This is perfect music to play at three in the morning during an acid test. I particularly liked "Vinyling" from the Moscow band Paranoic Sensations and "Gizmos Turned On" from Sweden's Twin Freaks. Rob Rayle
Movers and Groovers at the Temple of Dawn is a collection of various Tip World artists, condensed and pressed into a little trance package that you wonder how you ever did without. "Millennium light...millennium light" has vaporous flutes mixed with sounds of the thump, thump of happy little elf feet running through a "Techno Tae-Bo" studio--bound to make you happy at 4 a.m. "zorba...the deep" is a initially subliminal, later overt driving track with tribal beats you don't get bored with. A smart sense and wise use of samples sets the plot of "cyberbabes...cyberbaba," while "tranan...moody" comes in softly with a gentle rhythm, slowly allowing you to not notice your leg twitching to the lighting beats to come, and--I'm not kidding--a refreshing use of a cow bell. Movers and Groovers at the Temple of Dawn, is an edgy, beat-filled, ethno-trance commodity that pulls off breaks with forethought and skill--a must for all of us. Max
Ceiba Records takes us back to the 1998 Burning Man Community Dance experience, with tracks from the artists and those played at the dance itself. This compilation CD is an experience all of its own and features bands at the forefront of the Psychedelic-Trance movement. There are tracks from Space Tribe, Bufo, Ceiba, Kode 4, Prana and many more. This CD truly reflects the community the groups formed through the music, the members of these groups are frequent visitors to the U.S. west coast and there influence on the local artists can most definitely be heard here. Look out for the relentless funk of Big Green Pleasure Machine, EPSG and the groove of Metal Spark. This is more than just a collector's CD--welcome to the trance dance experience. Dov
I didn't mind dematerializing (losing) CD1 of this double-CD compilation by Transient because every track I liked from it was from CD2. I found CD1 unlistenably fluffy. So if fluff's your thang, then listen to CD1 and don't bother with CD2. If you're old-school Goa like me, but are hungry for groovier new sounds, proceed directly to CD2. Every track, from Vibrasphere's "Autopilot" to Astral Projection's "Searching for UFOs" to Human Blue's "Protonica" took me to the trance-out zone. Imagine bare wet feet dancing on a tropical beach--total tripping morning bliss! So if that's what you're looking for, buy this compilation just for the second CD. Serious uplift! Sprout
Hurray for Youth and his label, Dragonfly! The first CD of this twin compilation, soundtrack of Parallel Youniversity's Warp Experience rates the best trance offering so far of the new millennium. The second CD is experimental ethno-eclectic electronica par excellence. On the trance tip, it starts with sunrise classic "Spiritual Healing" by Ibiza Music's Juan Verdera--The Muses Rapt. More huge tracks by huge names follow. Sandwiched between mind-bending tracks by Shakta and X-Dream/Spiralkinda is a wicked gem of warpedness called "Trezecie X" by Tromesa. "Everyday" by Slide and Bus has more groove than you'll know what to do with. Zodiac Youth's "Still on Earth" is the nicest track I've heard in a while; it just goes deeper and deeper! CD2 has some luxuriously lazy listens as well as ethno-spiced breaks and beats. Dragonfly's Liquid Sound Design production oozes trippy textures on downtempo delights like Celtic Cross' "Jade Garden (Coloured Power Child Remix)" and "Aqua Sufi (Electric Kidds)" by Industrial Suicide Tribe. Welcome to soothing psychedelic World Beat with Sons of Arca's "Khamaj," and to psychedelic-ethnic-trip-hop-groove--what I label Tripnotica, in "Tonto's Return" by Rasmus. The spaced-out beatless rhythms of the enchanting "Intro" and "Outro" encapsulate this audacious sonic science project. Warp Experience has the best of all universes: an acoustic-ethnic-electronic music meld sure to expand your mind. Sprout
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Artist: Common Tongue
Artist: Jondi & Spesh
Artist: Kozo
Artist: Waldeck
Artist: Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
Artist: Various Artists
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