RAH Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Compilation: Interphase Label: Alchemy Records Year: 2005 Format: CD Web: http://www.alchemyrecords.co.uk/ Country: U.K Label Info: Established in London in May 2001 by DJ Shane Gobi and long time friend Stuart Bates. With the support of DJ Spencer from Australia, and DJ Starspine in South Africa, Alchemy Records reached out to psychedelic dance floors all over the world. Specialising in releasing full-on psychedelic trance, Alchemy Records created a stir within the global underground trance scene with a string of successful CD compilations and album releases Songs: 01. Freakulizer - The Awakening Process (145 BPM's) 02. Ultravoice - Log On (145 BPM's) 03. Wrecked Machines - Inner Space (144 BPM's) 04. Tristan & Pogo - Smoke The Unicorn (145 BPM's) 05. Protoculture - Dawn Razor (142 BPM's) 06. Rinkadink & Dj Spencer - Spektral Monkey (Broken Toy Remix) (145 BPM's) 07. Sesto Sento - Abacaxi Fever (146 BPM's) 08. Groundzero - White Lightning (142 BPM's) 09. Pop Stream & Chemical Drive - Sonic Boom (140 BPM's) 01. Freakulizer - The Awakening Process ‘The awakenening process' has smooth intro to bring us to speed gradually. Emotional piano lines echoing uplifting chords before the kick and bass drop down to start the journey. It feels almost like they were mocking the fluff since there is no wrap-around of the melody in the end. The feel is definitely a bit full-on-ish with good beats and minimum melodies, on top of an echoing drum arrangement with different sounds keeping the rhythm fluid. There are interesting bits of voice samples but they are not very clear to the naked ear on a number of instances. Freakulizer has released songs under Spliff music and Moonstone Records in the past with moderate success. This one is a step in the right direction. 02. Ultravoice - Log On Avi Levi is back, after having released songs for Com. Pact, Utopia, Spiral Trax and Psytropic records he maintains the pace of the compilation. A strong kick on the lower end, a tuneful assortment of peaking sounds and one-note sprinkles combined with a ‘quack' sound undergoing several layers of progressive distortion. Not much for melodies, except that piece of heaven on the last break and that seems to work just fine. 03. Wrecked Machines - Inner Space Having released his second album this year Second Thought on Spun records, Gabriel's work extends to Etnicanet, Solstice, Magma, Shiva Space Japan , and Wajanga records amongst others. The result of his work is a combination of tightly sequenced drum and bass, on top of morning melodies and uplifting sonic scenarios. On “inner space” the Brazilian one-man front takes us once again on a sunny path of light melodies and strong pulsating beats. There is this one particular sample I could swear I have heard somewhere else (it is clearly audible between minute 1:47-48). I would like to say it is Vibrasphere on the Limewire days, but who knows for sure. Either way the song is well coordinated fitting Alchemy's definition of ‘funky full-on'. 04. Tristan & Pogo - Smoke The Unicorn The duo gets together again after having worked on Wingmakers (out last year on Dragonfly records). Besides that collaboration, my only other experience with Pogo would be the “California Sunshine” with Protoculture released on Beaches and Cream last year. So what is in stock this time? You can hear the Tristan backdrop Riffs a-la ‘Cheap & Meaningful' (present in Origin 2 by Nano) chopped and diced plus the Pogo the sound: an energetic mixture of melodic bass lines on top a progressive feel. The song works well if wasn't for the voice samples. I don't know if it is me but the ‘let's take drugs' samples are getting old. 05. Protoculture - Dawn Razor Another interesting proposal by Nate, representing the other side of South African Psy trance. I am talking about the Nano records kind. Energized, uplifting, magnetic and downright melodic. Protoculture might not be my cup of tea sometimes, but I respect his production, is sharp, crystal clear and never boring. Let's put it this way if you liked “Oceanic” (again Origin 2 ) you might find yourself smiling with the “Dawn Razor”. 06. Rinkadink & Dj Spencer - Spektral Monkey (Broken Toy Rmx) This kind of incessant drum and bass arrangement for some reason just gets me going. You can feel the Broken Toy contribution to remix and it is downright spanking! I actually find myself mumbling the tuneful noises and the couple of breaks and pick ups reconnect the original tune quite well. By the end it gets a little repetitive and like most tracks of the compilation I find myself enjoying more the beginning. But if it's lively melodies you are yearning, look no further. 07. Sesto Sento - Abacaxi Fever The bass line intertwines well with the melody. But, besides that I don't enjoy Sesto Sento very much. It's like the Hawaiian Pizza: Some people think is a great combo to have pineapple with the ham. Some people think It's best when eaten separately. I like Matan Kadosh a bit more when he's working in Gataka with Moti… but I don't think it mixes well when you put them together Ferbi boys. But, that's personal taste on the type of music they produce together not on the actual quality of the output. 08. Groundzero - White Lightning Ground zero is basically Dark Soho with a helping hand of Shane Gobi. The song unfolds well and it remains the layered and complex like it could be expected. When you have four people working on a project, it better sound like 8 hands working. Well there is enough richness in the song to attest this fact. The melodies for the break are bit jaded yet musically it is a respectable song. 09. Pop Stream & Chemical Drive - Sonic Boom I knew had a slight distaste for Pop Stream and this confirms my opinions. The song is moving, is very musically coherent and it looks like a remix of the latest Billboard top 20's. This one is dying to be played on the clubs where the audience is typically wearing dressy shirts with the obligatory beer can glued to the hand. If you are those people… then smile because this one is great. it reminds me a lot of the spliff music compilations Overall The artwork, which is the first thing you come in contact with is amazing and it surely enough made a difference at the time of the purchase. Music wise, I thought it was pretty standard Alchemy compilation, with fluff levels starting to pile on the last songs bit too much for my taste like you could read, but there is couple of note-worthy mentions that should have not been left unnoticed. The ones that stood out 1, 2, 6, 8 Saiko Sounds Samples ps: hope this satisfies the reviewing rules Repost from: http://Sonic-energy.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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