V/A - Zen 2-Out Of Time

[Ormion]

ZEN 2-Out Of Time

Déjà Vu 2004

 

 

TRACKLIST:

1.Krumelur-Kicks

2.KinDzaDza-May Day

3.Fungus Funk-High Feelings

4.N3xu5-Genki

5.OSOM-Over Game

6.Psykovsky-Wooden Child

7.Penta-Gone With The Wind

8.Psychotic Micro vs Toxic-Crucifiction

9.Damage-Can’t Stop

10.Suria-Earth In Trance Set

 

Chapter two of the succesful release “Zen” and one of the big hits of 2004, this is a hard & dark compilation with some completely freaky tracks, including the instant classic dark anthem Over Game.

 

Track 1 from Krumelur.Minimal but hard Psy,lot of farts, and darkness all the way.Not my cup of tea (I prefer more maximal style) but one of the best minimalistic stuff around IMO, especially for the Dark forest feeling in it. Nice one.

Track 2 from the well known Russian producer KinDzaDza with a track called May Day. You can hear the KinDzaDza style from the beginning-evil bass,typical Russian mindkilling effects- but this track is a bit different from the most Lev’s tracks, especially the second half with an interesting insane and spooky melody.One of my favorites here.

Russia again.This time for the other freak-Serghei Funk.Do you like his style? Then you gonna love this too.You don’t? Then this is not for you.Typical FF sounds but you never get bored of them, violent and dark of course with an industrial touch.Great.

N3xu5(Nexus) is well known for some very interesting hard killers, but Genki ain’t something awesome.Nice bassline and perfect production, but this track is too simple for me.Good but nothing outstanding.

Over Game.What can I say fot this one? I guess everybody knows that,right? This is maybe the hardest track ever made.The last two minutes are so intense…sorry but it’s impossible to describe it. SICK!!! Asilisa (or should I say Lev and Vasily?) thank you!!!

And when you think it can’t be any weirder, Psykovsky throws you a Wooden Child and he’s driving you crazy.This is certainly the most weird stuff ever. The bass is sick, the bpm changes all the time,the sounds can bleed your ears and the atmosphere make this track slightly melancholic. Warning this track will make you look like the guy in my signature.

Penta is next.Rolling bassline all the way,this is the trademark of this track (just like in every Penta track).Some simple but cool melodies and enough insanity but not something extraordinary.Nice one.

Next are two big Israeli acts of the dark scene, Psychotic Micro and Toxic.I guess this is more PM style than Toxic.Anyway.Although this track fits perfectly in this comp, I expected something better.It’s not bad and it has a really spooky melody in the middle of the track but I was hoping for something even harder.Nice one again but certainly nothing groundbreaking.

And time for some techno-groovy stuff.South African act Damage is here with their best track IMO.More Chemical Crew style but not cheesy at all.Nice percussion, raw beats and the most important-a bouncing melody from 5.22 till 6.30.Very good!

Last but not least another Portuguese artist after N3xu5, Suria. I know what you’re thinking, what Suria do in this compilation? Well, Earth in trance set is a dark full on track with (Thank God!) no cheesy melodies here.Instead of cheese we have three great first minutes of pure psychedelia just before the melodies start.The last minutes really remind me Fractal Glider but in a darker way.More like this mister!

 

Overall a must buy for the Dark lovers especially for the track Over Gamea must have!

But there are more great moments in here! 8/10

 

Best:2,3,5( ),6( ),9,10

 

(plus great cover)

[NT]

Great release indeed, but putting suria on it is a big mistake imo, cheesy vocal sample.. Osom is amazing as well as psykovky's track and yes it does make you feel like the guy in your undersign, great compilation, one of my favourites

[SpawN]

What can i say this comp is great deja vu is 1 of my favs labels good comp great tracks on it

favs....2,3,5,6 agree for osom track my fav too

 

 

7/10

[Gnome]

Penta track is great!

Osom is a pure party track,i really love it

Psykovsky!!!This is one of my favorites tracks!!This one and Lastbus Madrus from this guy!He kicks!Great!Pure!Beautiful

[pedro]

Agree with the other posters in this thread that this is a good compilation. However it is not as solid as Zen 1 and there are a couple of tracks in this comp which are below average.

 

My favourite tracks are the ones by Osom (massive, massive!), Psykovsky and Suria.

 

I am not always a fan of Suria's style although he does seem quite talented, but he delivers a likeable, harder (for him) track in this comp which ends the CD very nicely.

 

Moderate recommendation (i.e. I purchased it and I do not regret it).

 

 

Pedro

[IAMbenjy]

9,9/10

every song made me go bezoing

i love it when a cd rocks that hard

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Various

Title: Zen 2

Label: Deja Vu Records

Date: March, 2004

 

1. Kicks - KRUMELUR

2. Mayday - KIN DZA DZA

3. Feelings - FUNGUS FUNK

4. Genki - N3XU5

5. Over Game - OSOM

6. Wooden Child - PSYKOVSKY

7. Gone with the wind - PENTA

8. Crucifiction - PSYCHOTIC MICRO VS TOXIC

9. Can't Stop - DAMAGE

10. Earth in Trance set - SURIA

 

 

Sometimes you have to jump off the known road and find your way through the wilderness.

 

"Excuse me sir, I seem to have lost my way, can you help me find the corner of progressive and goa avenue? Sheesh, no need to have a hissy fit...and would a tic-tac kill you?"

 

I've been reviewing the most recent stuff out there for a while but sometimes you have to look back. 2004 is a long time ago and that's a mighty long time but I'm here to tell ya, there's something else...Deja Vu.

 

Now this Russian label specializes in the dark side of things, a sound I don't normally get into, but you can only listen to so much progressive and goa. Gotta shake things up a bit. I've had this on the ol hard drive for a while and thought I would give it a fresh listen.

 

Kicks- This is a dark and gritty journey with echoing sounds and a bubbling cauldron of forest deliciousness. When I heard this long ago I hated it. But nowadays I dig deeper into music and this is pretty thick. You won't find any glow sticks here, it's meant to scare the sh*t out of you. Very atmospheric with ripping leads and hallucinogenic visions at a moderate pace. Total Alice and Wonderland vibe.

 

Yeah, that's got it

 

 

May Day- I'm not really familiar with Leo's work, but giving it a fresh listen has opened my eyes. I mean it's everything you want in a darkpsy track. Modulated leads tear through the dark night, but he adds layers of ghoulish fun with a bouncy beat and filthy atmospherics. The lead at 5 and a half minutes really gets me and Lord help me I'm starting to like where this is going.

 

So I'm 8 years late to the party...you ain't never been late?

 

 

Feelings- "It's just a feeling."

 

I got a feeling this is how the bird flu started. KFC with a big f*ck you to all my canines!

 

Less impressed with this as it's just "that" modulated, fuzzy darkpsy lead over a deep bass line. I'ts scary dark, with effects whizzing all over the place. Sounds like a lot of stuff I've heard from those guys across the tracks.

 

Yeah you stay over there...where I can see you.

 

 

Genki- "When you cut the power you unlocked the doors, you let them out."

 

And there they go! Horrible...simply terrifying. B*tch hit every f*cking hurdle.

 

Luis began as a darkpsy kind of guy and then morphed into...whatever he's doing these days. No money in darkpsy and the chicks all have tatts and piercings in places that look like it would really hurt. I get it buddy, just upgrading your choice of tail. Can't hate.

 

I liked the scary sample, but there wasn't anything that stood out on this track. It's your typical make noise over a horror movie. So if you're gonna do that...I'm gonna make fun of it.

 

Over Game- "Shut that Goddamn thing off!"

 

You said it not me.

 

Kindzadza and Psykovsky. Together. Well this should be a ray of sunshine shouldn't it? I hear laughing...are you mocking me? Sounds like they sampled some farts and twisted them over a bass line. That's cool, I like a good fart joke as much as the next guy. But that high pitched screeching lead has zero value whatsoever. Except to make me angry. Don't make me angry...you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

 

You know how some say that darkpsy can just be loud noise? Your honor I would like to present exhibit A.

 

 

 

Wooden Child- Keep f*cking that chicken sir. Whew this descended into the weird and unlistenable quickly, eh? But what's this? An eerie pad. Yeah you can definitely hear it if you sort out all the clamoring noise. Faint, but there. He's got this robotic speak and spell voice, an elephant trumpeting...all in all it's a bit of an unfocused mess, really.

 

Gone With the Wind-

 

Tornado humor? Yeah, I get it. Like white noise? Me neither. But this has a lot more going for it. Bubbling synths and a dark melody for starters. Sounds like we're deep within a dungeon where nobody will find us. All this needs is a few tortured screams and some alien overlord and you've got the soundtrack for despair.

 

Crucifiction- These guys seem to be running a tighter ship with less entropy and chaos. Looking at the remaining tracklist that's the way it seems to be heading. Still dark? Oh yeah, but you can actually detect some melody. With a stomping beat the leads fire at will. It's a swirling tornado of frightening samples and effects, but well done.

 

Can't Stop- "If you can't stop him...he ain't gonna stop himself."

 

If I lost 3 fingers in a horrific frostbite accident, I could count on 1 hand how many tracks of his I have enjoyed. He's got this chunky style with distorted hi-hats and leads that always came off as loud and abrasive. But f*ck a duck now I'm gonna have to regrow a finger cause this has some character. It's intense with dancing leads and groove. He's always been able to make to booties wiggle.

 

Yeah, can I get a Triple Whopper Combo go large? What's that? Uh....no, better make it to go.

 

 

Earth In Trance Set- I wore Logical Evolution out...if you can wear out a CD. Loved it. But I ain't heard much from him and it looks like Discogs says he hasn't been active in over 3 years. Sad, because he that album was a great twilight experience. You can hear some of his lead work with this one but there isn't much to talk about. I think he left the sequencer running. Any idea when he's coming back?

 

 

I was surprised by this. Especially how lush the first two tracks were. After that it turned into punch my grandmother music and then softened up a little bit. It's eight years old so cut 'em some slack. Far from essential, but it was worth giving this another go.

 

 

Psyshop

Beatspace

 

Saikosounds

 

 

Mdk

[kiriyama]

Oh so many memories... The Krumelur track is awesome!