pr0fane Posted June 20, 2005 Share Posted June 20, 2005 Artist: Various Artists Title: Aerocruz Label: Groove Zone Format: CD (Jewelcase with standard 4-page inlay) Released: June, 2005 Review: The Japanese label Groove Zone launched last year with the self-titled debut compilation "Groove Zone", and have since then released 2 other compilations – focusing on both basic progressive psytrance ("Groove Zone"), more house-oriented psytrance ("Back To The Future") and darker, slightly more minimal sounding psytrance ("Magnetic Storm"). Their newest compilation “Aerocruz” has just hit the market, now concentrating on blissful morning tunes somewhere on the border between progressive and full on. 1. Side-A - Hybrid Rise First track is from the up-and-coming producer from France, Side-A, who have had releases on labels like Tatsu, Sub Machine and of course Groove Zone in the last year. "Hybrid Rise" is in my opinion his best track to date – building on a static groove and more or less the same theme of bright sounds as used in his first releases. It feels a lot better executed here though, and the excellent use of blissful female vocals really is a perfect addition to his uplifting sound. 2. Natural Flow - Flying Toaster "Flying Toaster" (not exactly the best track-name of the year) is the first release fro Natural Flow – a new sideproject of Blue Vortex and Rumble Pack. Like with the more well-known main-projects, this is pure uplifting trance – progressive, but with several layers of slightly Israeli full on inspired melodies. Good work, but perhaps a bit too naive for my liking. 3. Son Kite - Let Us Be (Vibrasphere Remix) Vibraspheres remix of Son Kites epic "Let Us Be" was already released last year following the “Colours” album, and here we find it re-released. "Let Us Be" is my favourite track from the album, and Vibraspheres version is almost equally stunning: the atmosphere is very lush and more dreamy than in the original, and the theme-melody is simply amazing – less subtle, and more straightforward. Great remix. 4. Counter Tech - Aerocruz The japanse act Counter Tech get his first release with "Aerocruz". The track seems a bit to fast at first, but gets more balanced later on with the introduction of a hint of a melody. At the breakdown in middle of the track it gets really pleasant – a simple, naïve melody is accompanied with some different bright stabs, and the track takes of again. Not the most original track, but with simple means it leaves a very good impression. 5. Soul Surfer - Bonzai Beach Of Magic Anders Nilsson is surely one of the busiest producers at the moment, and last year alone he released 3 full-length albums under the projects Andromeda, Chromosome and Soul Surfer. His sound is very distinct on "Bonzai Beach Of Magic", and though it perhaps isn't as formulaic as some of his earlier works, I didn't find it that interesting. Still looking forward to the new Andromeda album though. 6. Visua - Stage Of Evolution “Stage Of Evolution” is the first release from the Mexican project “Visua”, and it's a quite fine debut. He combines a crunchy, minimal-sounding bassline with a simple melody and some very pleasant pads. My only criticism with the track was the already overused "We are now seeing the beginnings of another stage of human evolution" sample from "X-Men" 7. Triptych - Two Ears And One Mouth Triptych (who also did the mastering on the compilation) appears with one of his usual full on'ish tracks. If there ever was a style called freestyle full on, this would be it. Fun and funky, and with a very entertaining Triptych-trademark voice-sample as the final touch. Not my favourite to come out of the Triptych studio though, but a quite enjoyable track that will surely cause a lot of smiles on the dancefloors. 8. Sync - Cursor Sync is a new sideproject of the German progressive duo Vaishiyas, and "Cursor" is pretty decent. Compared to much of the earlier work of Vaishiyas this isn't nearly as deep and pounding, but instead with much more focus on melodies – perhaps most similar to "Babe Watch" released last year. But even though the melodies are very catchy, the track never really reaches the excepted climax, and therefore doesn't fully live up to my expectations. 9. S>Range feat. Z-Man - Wonderful Last track is "Wonderful" from S>Range and Z-Man (old member of Logic Bomb). I completely love the first 2 albums from S>Range, but haven't really liked his recent move towards full on, so it was certainly a nice surprise that this track was only running at 134 BPM. It's by far the most laid-back track on the compilation, and is a very pleasant come-down after the more dancefloor oriented tunes – good, mellow morning-groover. Bottom line: "Aerocruz" is no doubt a good purchase, and most of the tracks will work wonders on the dancefloors in the morning hours. None of the tracks are bellow the standard of the average morning tune, but after the massive "Back To The Future" compilation I was perhaps expecting a few more tracks of really spectacular "hit-quality". That said, "Aerocruz" is certainly no waste of money – not the most essential releases of 2005, but certainly very enjoyable. Favourites: 1(!!), 3 (!!), 4, 9 Verdict: 7/10 Link: Groove Zone: http://www.groove-zone.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathPosture Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 V/A – Aerocruz Hi-res: cover Artist: Various Title: Aerocruz Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Groove Zone Records (Japan) Cat. #: GZCD-004 Distribution: File Records Date: July 2005 Track listing: 01. 08’16” Side-A – Hybrid Rise 02. 07’35” Natural Flow – Flying Toaster 03. 08’26” Son Kite – Let Us Be (Vibrasphere Rmx) 04. 09’03” Counter Tech - Aerocruz 05. 09’00” Soul Surfer – Bonzai Beach Of Magic 06. 07’28” Visua – Stage Of Evolution 07. 06’21” Triptych – Two Ears And One Mouth 08. 06’27” Sync - Cursor 09. 08’14” S>Range feat. Z-Man - Wonderful Review: Afternoon sushi… This is the fourth release by the very productive Japanese label Groove Zone Records… I really liked the previous compilations: The smoothness of Back To The Future and the darkish night-time tool Magnetic Storm. Again Taku Yoshihaya has carefully selected these tracks which in his own words are ‘perfect for the morning and afternoon dancefloors under the sun’… So yeah, this looks like a pleasant, uplifting experience… Let’s find out! Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Side-A – Hybrid Rise [133 BPM] Side-A is Olivier Cambier from Paris, France and his track on previous Groove Zone compilation Back To The Future was pretty decent… This is very mellow, well-polished progressive trance… Melodic in nature and very uplifting… The epic female vocals really top it off and send this right into crossover land… Like a lo-fi version of Antix really… It’s all very fine and dandy, but I prefer my progressive trance to be edgier… #02: Natural Flow – Flying Toaster [140 BPM] Natural Flow is the combined forces of Swiss producers Rumble Pack & Blue Vortex. To be honest I don’t know much of their work, but I do know that Blue Vortex released the debut album Mirage on YSE in 2004… Again this is melodic progressive trance – and this time with a little more bite! Yeah I really like the retarded main melodic lead – it’s funny really – it’s usually one of those things that piss me off, but it seems very well-placed here… That lead literally makes this track… Refreshing! The tribal break-down with the synth-stabs is also very well executed… Yeah, my head is definitely bobbing along to this track… #03: Son Kite – Let Us Be (Vibrasphere Rmx) [140 BPM] Vibrasphere remixing Son Kite – that sentence alone is enough for me to cream my pants… We’re dealing with progressive royalty here – two of the very best and most talented progressive outfits Sweden has spawned… Anyway, this remix was already released on last years Colours Remixes EP – and it still rules! The vocals from Son Kite’s original track are still here, and so are the melodies – though they’ve been cleaned up a little… Vibrasphere has rebuilt this track into a rich, groovy progressive gem of Balearic descent… Omnipotent crossover material… Very nice track! #04: Counter Tech – Aerocruz [140 BPM] Counter Tech is the alias of Japanese producer Daisuke Inoue and this is his debut release… We’re on the less-melodic, more experimental side of progressive trance… To be honest I wasn’t too impressed with the first part of the track here… Weird cuts and off-beats – sounds a little too experimental for me… Also, the melody line doesn’t sound very original… Things pick up after the breakdown though… It even gets interesting for the last couple of minutes – too bad it’s not all like that… #05: Soul Surfer – Bonzai Beach Of Magic [140 BPM] Anders Nilssen from Sweden is the personification of Yellow Sunshine Explosion Recordings… He has released three albums on this label under his monikers: Soul Surfer, Andromeda and Chromosome – and to be honest none of them has impressed me too much… It’s all fine and well-polished, but that’s it… Not enough edge for me! But on this type of compilation it fits in perfectly… Epic, floating, well-polished progressive trance – with enough uplifting melodies to be played @ Ministry Of Sound… The breakdown is the attraction here – I like how tension is build through both digital and organic FX… Pretty sweet… Also the melodic lead in the last three minutes rules! It helps lift this track from the bottomless pit of cheese despair… Nice one! #06: Visua – Stage Of Evolution [140 BPM] “We are now seeing the beginnings of another stage of human evolution…” Mexican producer Rodrigo Roggi Montiel is all over the place now… He debuted on the Soulseeker 3 compilation released by Midijum earlier this year and has a track on the new Cosmic Conspiracy compilation Contact Lens… And now here! Ahh yes – this is more like it… Though still epic and uplifting, this track is much more down my alley… A very impressive rhythm section, reverb-FX and a tribal-slash-industrial-slash-electro approach toward progressive trance – with a splash of melodies thrown in just to please the ladies… Sweet! A very, very fine track here! #07: Triptych – Two Ears And One Mouth [142 BPM] “Activate dance mode countdown. Five… Four…Three… Two… One! … We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak!” Charles Michaud from France is one of the veterans on this compilation… He’s released two albums, two EPs and a number of compilation tracks and remixes… This is one of the fastest tracks here – and also one of the most experimental… We get a funky hybrid of EDM/electro/progressive trance here… As always Michaud is quite the risk taker, but he pulls it off here… I dunno about the dancefloor potential, but it’s definitely a very original track… #08: Sync – Cursor [142 BPM] Sync is Hasse Klitta – one half German outfit Vaishiyas… We’re in the deeper end of uplifting progressive morning trance now… There melodies are still here, but this is less cheesy than some of the previous tracks… I like how this track has sort of a raw edge – without venturing too far away from the melodic, progressive trance theme framework of this CD… A pretty nice track – but way too short! #09: S>Range feat. Z-Man – Wonderful [134 BPM] “It’s necessary for us now to go beyond…!” Sweden representz! S>Range is Anthony Sillfors who has released two albums and a number of EPs and compilation tracks… His third album Another Theory is in the pipes… Z-Man is Jonas Bergvall (one half of Logic Bomb and is closely associated with Hux Flux)… These guys go hand in hand… On the Liquid Records compilation Build Your Own Reactor they hard two very similar tracks – and now they working together… As the BPM count indicates, this is a very subtle, laidback morning tune… Very smooth and very groovy – and a great way to end this compilation… Nice one! I actually have a hard time grading this compilation… I mean, it’s all high-quality progressive trance with melodies en mas – but somehow parts of this seems a little too dull for my taste… Whereas Magnetic Storm focussed on the darker side of progressive trance, this focuses on the lighter sides… And as I’ve mentioned several times, I prefer to take my progressive trance a little edgier than this… However there are also some very fine tracks here… I just wish all of them were fine… It’s hard for me to explain. Luckily we get a bunch of stand-out tracks… And they rock in their own way! I like the previous Groove Zone compilations over this one though, and I don’t consider this an essential release… The cross-over potential however is huge here – and as such this compilation already has a higher fan-base than anything released within the psychedelic trance scene… So yeah – fans of epic, uplifting progressive trance sprinkled with melodies will dig this… Enjoy! Favourites: 2, 3(!), 5, 6(!!), 8, 9 DeathPosture External links: Groove Zone Records: http://www.groove-zone.com Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/b93qb Tower JP: http://tinyurl.com/cg7px Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/85wno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumble Pack (Blue Vortex) Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 #02: Natural Flow – Flying Toaster [140 BPM] Natural Flow is the combined forces of Swiss producers Rumble Pack & Blue Vortex. btw...."rumble pack" are the same two guys like "blue vortex"....and of course aswell the same two in "natural flow"... we changed our name once..from blue vortex to rumble pack...thats all...still the same two guys... we have now our two projects: rumble pack is full on and natural flow is proggresiv... blue vortex we dont use anymore as name... cheers more infos: www.rumble-pack.ch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amphiton Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 I can't find this CD interesting and I agree with DP that I previous releases were much better. Son Kite has been previously released... but I liked Natural Flow's track Flying Toaster, just wish they still produced Blue Vortex-like music well... waiting for new releases by Groove Zone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riton Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 i have ot agree and say this is a very pleasant listen! recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pawelek Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 LEt us be is superb! ): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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