V/A - Magnetic Storm

[DeathPosture]

V/A – Magnetic Storm

 

High-res cover

 

Artist: Various

Title: Magnetic Storm

Format: CD (jewel case)

Label: Groove Zone (Japan)

Cat. #: GZCD-003

Distribution: File Records

Date: April 2005

 

Track listing:

 

01. 08’14” Moses – Mushrooms Approach

02. 08’40” Djruth – E-Motion Sickness

03. 07’16” Sensient - Optimize

04. 08’08” ItaiTaiko – How Low Sauruman

05. 06’39” Genetic Spin – Lord of the Strings (Cujorious One Rmx)

06. 07’21” Tetraktys – Burning Palace

07. 09’03” Setherian vs. Oxyd – No In Sense!

08. 07’42” Clutch – PH

09. 07’40” Fine Diner – Go Go Yubari

10. 08’24” FREq – SHM (Melodic Mix)

 

Review:

 

The darker side of prog...

 

This is the third release by the Japanese label Groove Zone – run by Taku Yoshihaya who’s on a never-ending trance-mission to release smooth progressive morning trance… I thoroughly enjoyed the last release, the compilation Back To The Future released in January 2005 – and the tracklist here looks like another stroll down smooth proggy lane… Let’s find out!

 

Let me take you thru the tracks…

 

#01: Moses – Mushrooms Approach [136 BPM]

“The wind whistled through the tops of the ancient trees. Suddenly, something enormous crashed and rumbled through the eerie woods.” Moses is Rasmus Moses Jørgensen from Denmark and so far he’s had a couple of tracks released on Zenon Records and on Crotus Records… This is very atmospheric progressive trance with thick psy-electro influences… Floating soundscapes and rich percussion… Nice!

 

#02: Djruth – E-Motion Sickness [138 BPM]

“Here, lemme buy you a drink […] This overpowering force! Instinct is inextricably bound to unreasoning impulses, and today we clearly see its true nature. Instinct has just become aware of its irrelevance, and like a cornered beast, it will not go down without a bloody fight.” Djruth is an alias of Per Skov from Denmark… Under his Meeloo alias he’s had a couple of tracks released on Crotus and Froggle Records… This is my first encounter with his stuff though! The bass starts out harder here – perfectly corresponding with the fat reverb sound that accompanies it… This is much more a party-track – for the late hours of the night during a proggy set… The break with the Half Life 2 quote is really cool and the track goes full-blown after that… Sweet!

 

#03: Sensient – Optimize [136 BPM]

“I refer to myself as an intelligent life form because I am sentient and able to recognize my own existence…” Sensient is Tim Larner from Australia and besides his album on Tatsu he’s got tracks released on numerous compilations… I really enjoyed his track on B.T.T.F. – and this is pretty good too… The very distinct Sensient style in which he mixes the best of progressive trance with trippy, psychedelic FX… A hybrid track really! I’m not sure how well the first part of this track will work on the dancefloor, but for home listening it’s very refreshing…. And the second half will definitely tear up any proggy dancefloor… Sweet metallic Sensient madness!

 

#04: ItaiTaiko – How Low Sauruman [135 BPM]

ItaiTaiko is Itay Berger from Israel… Perhaps he’s better known under his Kukan Dub Lagan alias under which he released the brilliant debut album Life Is Nice on Candyflip in 2004… This is a very percussion-driven track – somewhere in between progressive and darker night-time psytrance… The atmosphere is gloomy and kinda spooky at times… The re-occurring horn is just plain evil and the overall sound is raw and gritty! What a surprise, I never knew Itay was capable of this style… Kick-ass!

 

#05: Genetic Spin – Lord of the Strings (Cujorious One Rmx) [140 BPM]

Danes remixing Danes…The original version of this track was on the album Backspin by Genetic Spin in 2004… And this is the remix done by Cujorious One (Cuja A. Hora & Barney Jacobs)… It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from them, but they’ve still got it… This is another track spawned from the darker realms of progressive trance… Groove is replaced by repetitive drum-programming and an overall gloomy atmosphere – assisted by Gollum’s freaky voice… Not much evolution I’m afraid, and this is a little too repetitive for my taste…

 

#06: Tetraktys – Burning Palace [140 BPM]

Next up is Sub Machine regular Vincent Courcot from France… I’ve always liked his distinct dark style – and this is just as you’d expect… Darkish, yet groovy in a pounding kinda way… Metallic hisses, a rich percussion section and clever use of stereo FX…The track changes appearance halfway through increasing the funk-level and making it deeper… Again, I’m not sure how well this will do on the dancefloor, but for trancing at home it’s cool! Nice track!

 

#07: Setherian vs. Oxyd – No In Sense! [138 BPM]

No incense? A collaboration between Christian Zahn and Rodrigo Carreira – both from Brazil… I don’t know much about Onyx, but I remember Setherians’ debut album Multiverse well – as a very well-produced album somewhere in between progressive and morning… And that’s pretty much what this track is also – a hybrid! Though this time it’s a cross between prog and night… Progressive rhythm-section, but with distinct nightly sound… Kinda tribal at times – melodic at others… This would work best in the beginning of a proggy night-set… Ok track!

 

#08: Clutch – PH [135 BPM]

Next up is Clutch (Tonio Harada) from Japan… He’s released tracks on Sub Machine among others but I have not heard any of his stuff before… Anyway, this is pretty straight-forward proggy night-trance… A blunt, repetitive bassline and loads of percussion FX as added value… The first half is way too boring for my taste, but as it is often the case this track picks up for the second half… Despite being minimal, it has an almost hypnotizing quality to it… But still – not among the best tracks here…

 

#09: Fine Diner – Go Go Yubari [138 BPM]

“The young girl in the school uniform is O-ren's personal body guard, 17-year-old GoGo Yubari!” Matt Larner from Australia is Tim Larner/ Sensient’s brother…And this track proves that musical talent runs in the Larner family… This is very sweet proggy night-trance with bubbling playfulness… It’s very groovy and has enough variation to keep me interested… The Kill Bill samples are cool and so is this track! Nice indeed!

 

#10: FREq – SHM (Melodic Mix) [135 BPM]

And to finish things off: FREq! It’s no secret that I am utterly and truly in love with the FREq-style… Aran Gallagher from Australia has yet to let me down – and I absolutely love his debut album Strange Attractors released on Iboga in 2004… Anyway, this track is just as good as I’d expected… FREq has a very unique sound that totally fills the sound spectre with phat grooves – and that’s exactly what he does here too… This is very uplifting, yet deeply progressive trance… And as the title suggests – a fair share of melodies… A great combination that will work wonders on both the dancefloor and at home… Class track!

 

This compilation is definitely not as silky-smooth as B.T.T.F. was – but diversity is a good thing. We’re still in progressive territory though, so Taku stays on his proggy path… This is just intended for the late hours on the progressive trancefloors, and as such it serves its purpose to the fullest… And also it’s a nice companion to B.T.T.F. in the sense that they both serve the same crowd – only at different times during the night… Nice!

 

There are mediocre tracks here however – they are a little to minimal for my taste… But luckily it’s only a few tracks, and they are more than outweighed by the many good tracks featured here… Fans of progressive trance played late at night will most definitely enjoy this – as will fans of hybrid night-trance… If you belong in either category, I encourage you to check this out! Enjoy!

 

Favourites: 2, 3(!), 4, 6, 9, 10(!)

 

DeathPosture

 

External links:

Groove Zone: http://www.groove-zone.com

Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/3nrtd

[Guest Le Lotus Bleu]

1.My first impress is negative, coz of the plastic kick sound & the relative flatness atmosphere. I need to pass over the first quarter in order to perceive more catchy elements. It’s especially from the gull‘s sample at 4’20 that Mushroom Approach start to grow on me for the second half of the tune more lively.

 

2. Kinda strange western film soundtrack atmosphere all along E-Motion Sickness, it’s a bit a like a lost alone desperado in the middle of a desert walking without anymore water in his gourd, starting to get cycling hallucinations, mirages due to major solar exposition of his head under a burning sun.

 

3.Optimize is current Sensient style quite similar to Phobial to be more precize (his first track released on Groove Zone), it means rough tones coppled with industrial & cyber sounds, still this assembly line feeling. It’s a bit old hat stuff.

 

4.How Low Saruman is easily the heaviest stomper night tune of the compilation. Indeed, i was thinking Magnetic Storm will gather mainly productions going this way with warrior mood & fat sounds but actually & curiously this is the only one except maybe, in a second order, with the Genetic Soin remix & Tetraktys ones. To get the atmosphere more dramatic, obscur & tense , you’ll notice some deep & deaf breath taking sounds after 3’00. You even listen at 5’20 kinda jericho trumpett call to push one step beyond, the overwhelming force track’s feeling.

Around 7’00 some percussions are appearing in the background.

 

5.I’ve noticed when titles got a good name, their producers have often put all their creativity for this consequently these tracks sounds very dissapointing. That was the main idea i was starting with the listening of The Lords Of The Strings. So it’s not as smashing as Itaitaiko although it succeed in being percussive too.

 

6.Burning Palace is more tech-trancey flavoured than some too tech-housey dissapointing Tetraktys songs on his album. Unfortunatly Tetraktys doesn’t reach again his former techy level as a little background crossover & tech-housey taste still remains in my ears here for me. What would be great , i wish if he could still produce new stuffs closer to Itaitaiko’s job, i mean like his fisrt hours productions on Sub Machine (Mechanical Unit,Fight Back…).

 

7.No In Sense ! got a very evident warm feeling. Like if Setherian & Oxyd wanted to succeed in drawing your attention from the begining, they put the litte typical jingle’s station which annouces you a train is arriving.

The track reveals all its potential after 5’00 (the total lenght is 9’03), more rythmicwith brazilian percussions, more melodic & harmonic in proggy-dubby soundscape. The constrast between first & second half is striking like night & day : all the same elements are present but the prism is different & your perception get modified.

 

 

8.Clutch provides something apart, constrating with the rest, indeed it’s a pure groovy-techy rythmic exercice you’ve got here, i hardly notice the bassline presence, so discret it is. The kind of thing more difficult to appreciate in home listening circumstances & that more perfectly fits in proggy dj mixes. To be very clear if you know Tribal Warrior from Sonic Fusion you have a good perception of PH : not the most easy accessible & apreciated music but something possessing some limited adepts too. In the case of home listening, if you succeed in entering the mood’s track from the start , you’ll catch the step by step progression otherwise you won’t bare it at all i think.

 

 

9.Go Go Yubari, i don’t know what’s or who’s Yubari but reminds me of this film’s cue : Run Run Forest ; if a personn just hope he’s as sympathic as Forest but more clever, just a little bit

However the tune is great maybe more connected to morning than night stuff but who really cares if it’s good, it posseeds with a special symetrical build up (intro/outro).

Nevertheless I have a regret : the voice sample before the outro which brings nothing & don’t suit with the track’s harmony. So from my view, in the Larner’s familly the best prog artist is Fine Diner even if he’s less konwn than Sentient.

 

10.While first listening to SHM, i needed to check 2 times the tracklist to find the artist, so much i was surprised coz in my head this sound wasn’t matching with Freq name probably due to these nice twisted-strectched leads conferring a slight psychedelic side to this production. Actually, SHM is one of my favorite track on Magnetic Storm, i find it very different from former Freq works.

 

 

In this new compilation opus from Groove Zone, the aim is to be more night focused but don’t expect too much heavy pumping beats. Here, the tracks’s spirit keep most of the time this modern, urban vicious circles, muffled sound textures trademarks of Groove Zone, already encountered in the previous volumes, thanks to Metronome’s mastering.

The other particularity of Groove Zone in general & Magnetic Storm due to the night orientation , is the ability of always renewing its track-artist-listing (7 newcomers here for me) from cd to cd without compromises too much on the global quality result.

 

Everestish Climax :4,7,9,10

Effective ones :2,5,8 (only if you aren’t techy groove allergic)

7,5/10