V/A - Hunters

yantra · July 3, 2005

Label: Red Cells Records

Media Format: CD

Catalogue No: REDCR001

Release Date: June 2005

Hunters is the debut compilation by Red Cells Records, a brand new France based label, with quite a refined taste in music. For this first bomb, Red Cells reserved an amazing selection of tracks by some of the hottest artists currently in the psytrance scene, paying particular attention to the French scene. Names like Silicon Sound, Chromatone, Artifakt, Phyx, Triskell and Digital Talk, among others, are the names responsible for making this album an absolutely smasher!

Ok so from the outside the album is quite appealing. It's not exactly a ground-breaking state of the art cover, but it does look nice. Once again, goes my personal rant regarding album booklets. Seems like no psytrance album these days has anything to admire besides the music, which is sad. This is a culture highly associated with other forms of art besides music, and asking visual artists to give their contribution, wheter in the form of paintings, digital art, video (no one seems to care for multimedia tracks, heh?), or any other form of art that complements the music and actually gives people a reason to buy the real thing. Well, with not much to say about the artwork (simple trendy 3D), let's go on to the music...

01. Silicon Sound - Modulate

Long before even pushing the CD into the stereo, I knew this first track was going to be a slow-paced, proggy track. The 138 BPMs were a huge clue and, come on, it's Silicon Sound opening a compilation, what would one expect? Well, I'm not much of a fan of progressive trance, I find it hard to digest and so it's hard for me to do an impartial review of this track. Nonetheless, this is the kind of proggy I can take, in small doses. The first three minutes are quite boring, in my humble opinion, but things eventually turn out ok as these morning uplifting melodies and pads come in. Johannes never gets off track here so don't expect any huge pulsating synths and rolling basslines. It's just a regular progressive track, which I find quite hard to describe and distinguish from all the other progressive tunes around. Well actually, the best way I have to describe this track is this: it's the kind of track you'd easily listen to at home, but would hate to listen to sober on a dancefloor. Kinda' something like that...

02. Chromatone - Automagic

A few second spent on the intro, not too much time to loose (is 12 seconds ok?). Once the kick paves is way through the ambience of the intro, you get the feeling the transition between these two tracks could be a bit smoother. It's a huge change of style, but you easily forget about it once you're into the rythm. Well, I've never been the greatest fan of Chromatone, probably because I know very little of his work. However, I'm quite into this track. Its pumping bassline, the well defined drums and the scratchy synth lines remind me of the more melodic side of Artifakt - you know how he manages to create an amazing atmosphere only from one-hit effects? You get some of that here too. The bassline work here is great. The bass starts in a monotonous rolling style and slowly evolves into a great melodic piece of bass madness. At around 2:30 it's when it really scores some points. I love this style and Chromatone does it quite well. The pads on the background also help out marking the pace and the entire track just gets quite groovy and dance-friendly. Synthlines pop-in from time to time, always respecting the natural order of all the elements on this track. When Chromatone tries to blend the best of two worlds, the result is a melodic night-time track, in a style that many have tried before but few have succeded. Most times the soul of the track gets lost in the way and you don't really know which way to turn. Chromatone found a way to go around the problem and everything is well-defined and hits you in the body and in the head, but also in the hearth. And when you manage to do that, much respect is in order. For me, it's a monster track that will surely make me keep an eye out for more of Chromatone's stuff.

03. Artifakt - Razor

You can't go wrong with Artifakt. Little doubt remains in my head as to who's the best South African artist. In a place where four out of five dudes are amazing ground-breaking producers, it's hard to pick the best one. However, if Rinkadink is the dude with the best production skills and Shift is the dude who knows more about shaking a dancefloor, Matthew is the guy who manages to combine both things best, and does it with a touch of class. His music is, indeed, original, innovative, ground-breaking and FUCK(!) it gets your legs moving! Well, there's a reason why Red Cells decided to request Artifakt's brain-smashing services, and they got one hell of a deal. I'd say the intro to this track is quite odd, if we weren't talking about Artifakt. There's this symphony-in-reverse kind of thing at the beggining, to serve as a taste of what's coming (the same distorted symphony comes in again later on). The track takes a whole to evolve but at around 2 minutes there's already much noise to dance to. Synthlines are always scratchy and acid, obviously, and there's not too much use of drums (who needs 'em right?). The first real break brings back the noisy introduction and a cool little melodic synth has a say in this. Ok, here's where Artrifakt scores a lot of points. I don't remember hearing an original build since, hum... Well, it was a long time, you can take my word for it. This track, however, has a greatly original build, that's always mutating. You know how some producers try to make breaks and builds in a way that the listener is not expecting what's coming, yet somehow you always know from the start how the track's going to evolve? Well, with this track you seriously don't know what's coming next, you can expect anything, really. Well, after a while you get once more break and this time there's the sweetest melody of the track (5:35, for reference). Not unlike other tracks by Artifakt, the bass is always very deep and fat, in a warming way, but with a melodic side to it for good measure. Well, I wasn't expecting anything less than a huge dancefloor smasher, and that's what we all get indeed.

04. Phyx - Ghost Blade

I seriously don't know what software Phyx (the other South African act here) uses to produce, but Fruity Loops aficionados will certainly recognise the phony guitar sound of FL Slayer here. Although it sounds nothing like a guitar, a lot of producers decide to go with it. Probably not the best choice for Phyx, but the rest track is well worth it. You can't go wrong with SA acts, the bass and kick are quite peculiar here. I like the work Phyx did with the FX, all quite scratchy, just the way I like it. A lot of ripping sounds and noisy lines on this one, which kind of remind me of that track Retch, by Artifakt (huh, all good tracks - yes, all three that get released every month - remind me of Artifakt these days). Closer to four minutes, a real synthline finally pops in and gives the track some direction. Although until this point the track sounded a bit off the hook, without a real line to take control of everything, it never sounds boring - quite the opposite. And at four minutes things get right back on track, anyway. Yes, quite a good track and I'm relieved to see Phyx did not make too much use of the Slayer VST thing - it pops in every now and then, but it's not like it screws the entire thing up. I'd say it's a huge dancefloor bomb, that lacks some orientation at first, but it slowly finds its way and gets your feet off the floor. Near the end, it's the noise chaos (sweet, sweet noise). The last couple of minutes make up for any flaw the track may have and make it all worthwhile. This one's gonna make a massive hole in dancefloors all around the world.

05. Triskell - Tensegrity

Next is the french act Triskell. First time I've ever heard anything by Triskell was not too long ago - Aya (Exciter Mix) then Here Knows When, both on Timecode Records, the first from compilation New Blood and the second from cult album The Turning. Not being a fan of either one of those tracks, anything more than mediocre here would be enough to surprise me. The intro is really in-your-face, with the bass rising alone, breaking in through a few minimalistic FX until the kick breaks in along with it. Doesn't take too long to find the South African influences here and the drums bring to mind anything by Shift. Takes a while for the track to evolve but when it does it manages to surprise me. It's not exactly heaven down to earth, but it's a nice track, full of rythm (the tribal drums now and then help out a lot). Here comes a nice litle sample: "The Experience is..." is in order. Triskell tries to finish the sentence with the music, but he could have done it a lot better. The synthline that pops in around this time is quite psychedelic, but it shows lack of harmony. That's cool though, 'cause the line that takes its place is a lot better and can seriously make your shoulders move. There's a break a bit later and this is when the track starts. It starts off very simple and it quietly grows into a blend of really fine psychedelic. All and all a nice a track, quite surprising for those who, like me, are not big fans of Triskell.

06. Phatmatix vs Audiobrains - Sonic Machine

Here we go, get ready to enter Phatmatix and Audio Brains' Sonic Machine. This is clearly one of the heaviest tracks on the album. It doesn't get off the path, in relation to the previous tracks. Rolling bassline, this time a bit heavier, with some dark scratchy synthlines and FX. A few minutes into the track and I'm already liking this one A LOT! The synths never come in off key and they always pop in at the right time. It doesn't get much more psychedelic than this, believe me. At the third minute you're given some time off to rest for a bit and get your act together and the journey starts again 45 seconds later. This really acid FX comes in and the melody will easily get into your head, it's seriously appealing. At this point I can honestly say this is the best track on the album so far, and from two producers I don't even know that well: I never heard anything by Audiobrains before, and I only knew a couple of tracks by Phatmatix. At 5:43 the track surprises me quite a lot with some sampled voices of some ethnic chant. It's not the kind of thing you expect to hear in a track as heavy as this one and, truth be told, the voices don't really fit. Especially because the voices last like a minute and you don't get anything even closer to it through the rest of the track. Which led me to think these dudes found some voices they liked and wanted to put them onto a track, regardless the fact that they could not fit. If nothing else, serves as a distraction and possibly some dancefloor-meditation (the concept's been around forever, but I just came up with the name right now). Deffinitely a monster tune, the best up to this point (and when you manage to beat Artifakt at what he does best, it's a serious deal!).

07. Digital Talk - Mathematrix

What can I say, this is my kind of album. I've always admired Digital Talk (hell, Droidsect - DT's older project - is one of my favorite acts ever; Poltergeist always makes me smile). It's not like Digital Talk is what it once was (at least under the name of Droidsect), but I still think it kicks some serious ass. Well, don't expect anything new here, unless you've never heard New Age Surf. If that's the case, I'll try to explain Digital's music in a few words. It's a fast-paced, full of rythm, digital sound, that tweaks a lot of knobs. With a warm rolling bassline, very dance-friendly and no real line, you're left with effects after effects, which is also a good thing. The effects keep on changing and the background "lines" mutate their way through the track. However, after 6 minutes of the same bassline melody, it starts to get on your nerves a bit. The feeling I get from listening to this track is that Digital Talk are running out of ideas, 'cause their work is sounding all like the same lately and, although it's one of the biggest names on this album, it's deffinitely not among the best tracks of the compilation. It's a huge bomb, just like most tracks by Digital but, also like most of Luc and Julien's tracks, it sounds exactly the same as everything they've ever done. In the end, it's the shadow of all it could have been.

08. Phatmatix - Back to Earth

I seriously cannot understand the name of this track because listening to it I deffinitely do not get the feeling of returning to earth. I get the feeling of leaving it, instead. It's a really heavy track, you can tell that just by its heavy, heavy bassline. I now understand the reason why Ananda (Red Cells label manager) chose to include two tracks by Phatmatix on the album. This one is another smasher, full of (truly) psychedelic effects and a lot of interesting looped melodies for good measure, just like in his previous track with Audiobrains. Production is really good, the style is just perfect for night time dancing and Phatmatix managed to keep the melodic side of trance alive at some points, without sounding a bit cheesy at all. There are some breaks that, although sounding off place, are certain to make you smile in the dancefloor. There's this high background effect at around four minutes that I just loved. It sounds like a pinch, it's hard to explain, and it could easily go unnoticed. It really got to me though, and I think it makes all the difference here. Later on things get even heavier with a dark, low-key synthline that later on collides with a really high-pitched line. Calling is Psychedelic Madness does not make it justice. Right when you're ready for the track to start dying, a new synthline (one of the best on the entire track) comes in. The entire track is brilliant and, even though it's far from being the absolute best of the album, it's deffinitely the most psychedelic, hypnotizing even.

09. Blue Planet Corporation - Groove on the Moon

Much respect to Red Cells for taking the risk of including a chill-out track on the album. This is something which is not done nearly often enough and Red Cells risked it right on its debut. A big thank you to them just for that! Blue Planet Corp is the extremely well-known French act. Gabriel has been around since I can remember, has released loads of tracks on many compilations, has seen his work remixed by names like Wizzy Noize, and released an album through Flying Rhino called Blue Planet, back in 1999. He's really well-known for making some of the most ground-breaking Goa Trance, but has recently turned his attention over to dub and chill. This track starts off suddenly, very in-your-face intro. It's deffinitely an ambient track and it's more of a dubby slow-paced (132 BPMs) breakbeat than exactly chill-out. It's really spiritual and the ambience it creates around the listener is an amazing experience. Just the perfect way to close an album like this - in fact, it's the perfect way to close any other album too. The drums provide a really good rythm, which results in a big amount of positive vibes all around. Although I'm more of an ambient and no-beat-chill-out fan, BPC haven't failed to impress me here. Highly reccomended!

Ok so the album's a proove that the French psytrance scene is alive and well, kicking with some of the hottest dancefloor tunes I've heard in a while. If you're a fan of Timecode Records and Nexus Media's work, this won't certainly disappoint you. It's an album that easily grows on you and that, aside from the huge gap there is between the first and second track, is a really enlightening psychedelic experience as a whole. Plus, it presents a big, big surprise: Phatmatix, who I'll be keeping an eye out for in the future. This guys is the next big thing from France. I'd say Red Cells deffinitely has a bright future ahead of them, although I'd reccomend they start searching for other acts outside France as well. Globalization is one of the most powerful features of the trance culture and getting an album out almost entirely made of French producers will only contribute towards the destruction of that globalization. We certainly don't want to see this faction of the music industry break apart like all other styles, where it's really hard to get your music out in smaller, less-evolved countries. That being said, I'd like to wish the best of luck to everyone at Red Cells on behalf of Psylosophy and keep up the good work. For potential buyers, I hope all your doubts are undone and you go buy this album, if you're into the style. A debut in style into the scene!

Ed Nunes ( Delusional ) Review

redcellsrecords · August 2, 2005

Thanks a lot for your support and this very nice review ..

Da red cells team ..

yantra · August 2, 2005

No problem

I wish all the best to Red Cell Records.

Basilisk · August 2, 2005

This one gets my stamp of approval... it's diverse, and the quality is high. I will probably do a full review in a bit but wanted to throw my recommendation in while it's still hot.

RAH · August 3, 2005

i got this one a few months back and i liked a few songs, it definatelly has pace to it... unfortunatelly i disliked the south africans here as i ussually do is the same timecode sound... that really high pitched screetching-trupet noise that ends up giving me head-ache... ... there i said it you can crucify me now...

thank god for digital talk, triskell and silicon sound... they pulled their weight on this cd positively for me, and that phatmatix song (him alone) does quite well too

Ormion · August 3, 2005

I LOVE South African Psy and this comp kicks ass!!!!

Phyx did it again

Nefarious · August 4, 2005

Nice comp. I actually like the Silicon sound trak :huh: Prefer pure analog style though.

Artifakt rox hard. As usual

Phatmatix and Phatmatix vs trax kick ass.

Nice varied comp that sounds great.

DeathPosture · August 18, 2005

V/A - Hunters

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Hi-res cover: front + back

Artist: Various

Title: Hunters

Format: CD (digipack)

Label: Red Cells Records (France)

Cat. #: REDCR 001

Distribution: Trance Shop

Date: June 2005

Track listing:

01. 07’40” Silicon Sound - Modulate

02. 07’14” Chromatone - Automagic

03. 07’05” Artifakt - Razor

04. 08’13” Phyx – Ghost Blade

05. 07’11” Triskell - Tensegrity

06. 08’52” Phatmatix vs. Audiobrains – Sonic Machine (S.Scape Edit)

07. 08’09” Digital Talk – Mathematrix (Cryptic Edit)

08. 08’41” Phatmatix – Back To Earth

09. 06’24” Blue Planet Corporation – Groove On The Moon

Review:

Full-power hyper-trance w/soft edges…

Red Cells Records is a new label from Paris, France. It’s run by DJ Ananda who was formerly a part of Turbo Trance and Mechanic Sound Records. According to the promotional text what we can expect from this debut compilation is ‘twisted leads, emotional and crunchy melodies, deep and dark atmospheres with strong rolling rhythm and phat beat’… Right, that’s promo-talk if I ever saw promo-talk… But the tracklist does look impressive, so why don’t we find out for ourselves…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Silicon Sound – Modulate [138 BPM]

As the BPM-indicator reveals we kick things off with a softer track – just to get you in the mood. Johannes Regnier from France has seldom let me down with his softy, uplifting morning trance… This is not re-inventing the wheel – not by a long shot. But it does what it’s supposed to do – it’s uplifting, joyous, fluffy morning trance with distinct progressive influences… Pretty nice, but surely not the best track on this compilation…

#02: Chromatone – Automagic [145 BPM]

Next up is a track by the American producer and mastering expert Lawrence Hoffman – despite his tracks being on loads of compilations recently, this is my first encounter with his own music… Anyway, the pace has quickened now, and this is full-blown party music to be played at night… Rolling synth lines, bubbling acid-bits and melodic pads – with a pumping bassline somewhere in the back… I really like the breaks here – they spice things up… This sounds really well-produced – Mr. Hoffman’s studio experience doesn’t go unnoticed - but somehow it also sounds a little hollow to me… I dunno it just seems like we’ve heard this a billion times before… It’s a familiar flavour – it even tastes good… But something’s missing…

#03: Artifakt – Razor [144 BPM]

Artifakt is Matthew De Nobrega from South Africa… A Time Code/Mushroom Mafia/Afrogalactic regular…The party-vibe is still pumping and this is much more to my liking – the edges are harder now and this reminds me of Xatrik and to some extend also Rinkadink… Yeah – this track is dope! Constantly evolving, changing direction and generally this track keeps surprising me in a good way… I mean, just listen to the build-up here – so fresh, so trance-inducing, so fucking great… Brilliant track!

#04: Phyx – Ghost Blade [144 BPM]

Ahh – good old Phyx! Ian Summs moved from South Africa to the UK (I guess!?) and pretty much everything I’ve heard from him has been great… This is a darkish, guitar-driven night time track… To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the guitars like this – if Skazi did one thing, it was ruining that for me… Luckily Phyx doesn’t overuse the guitar, and the rest of the track is pretty decent too… I like the eerie, razor-sharp stabbing sounds – and the kick-ass full-on part that starts @ 3’47… Effective stuff for sure! I just wish those damn digital guitars weren’t there…

#05: Triskell – Tensegrity [145 BPM]

“Everything we’ve done is forgiven…Everything!” I’ve only heard a couple of tracks from French-based producer Fred Sauvand – and they didn’t really do much for me… This is spacy night time music – with distinct electro parts and a disturbingly bland bassline… It’s like Sauvand is trying a little too hard sometimes – which causes a bit of a mishmash of confusion… This track is pretty decent, without being amazing…

#06: Phatmatix vs. Audiobrains – Sonic Machine (S.Scape Edit) [145 BPM]

Next up is a collaboration between Phatmatix (Stephane Rault) and Audiobrains (Simon Ly) from France… Both have released compilation tracks, but again I’ve been missing out… The intro is really cool here… Distant humming/classical music – whatever it is, it sure sets the darker mood which is present throughout this track… Yeah, this is spooky stuff… Full on like The Misted Muppet, acid-driven like Yum-Yab and evil as Kemic-Al… Check out what goes on in the background – you’ll be amazed what you find if you poke around a bit… Also the Sanskrit chanting is way cool – reminds me of ancient Shiva Sidpao… Yeah - this track has it all… I like this loads – it’s close to perfection!

#07: Digital Talk – Mathematrix (Cryptic Edit) [147 BPM]

Who else than Digital Talk to follow such a track… Julien Fougea & Luc Achintre from France released their spooky album New Age Surf on Acidance back in early 2004 – and since then I’ve only heard one track from them… Anyway, they’re back – and this is one mean-ass motherfucker of a track… The fastest here – and intense as hell! Yeah – their Halloween trance heritage does not go unnoticed… I’m digging the hardcore acid-lines and the many twirls and tweaks… Great stuff – should be played during the darkest hours of the night….

#08: Phatmatix – Back To Earth [145 BPM]

Stephane Rault from France is back with a solo-track…Nice! The intro is sleek with clever voice samples about intuitive disco… The rest of the track is just as good – tons and tons of layers and constant evolution…Hard-hitting and extremely psychedelic… Dark to the core – and very dancefloor friendly… Yeah – this is a nice track for sure!

#09: Blue Planet Corporation – Groove On The Moon [132 BPM]

We started soft – and we end even softer… What we get here is a downbeat morning tune by the living legend Gabriel Masurel from France… I really like this guys comeback – the stuff coming out of his studio recently is as originals as it is good… This is subtle, floating, melodic downbeat – of ambient proportions …So relaxed, yet so groovy… … Fucking aye – we’re grooving on the moon now… BPC style! What a beautiful track – and what a great way to end this compilation!

The first and the last track alone are enough reason *not* to label this as your average hyper-trance compilation… It’s not! There are a lot of good tracks here + a couple of tracks that doesn’t really do it for me… But the vast variation within a dancefloor friendly framework makes up for that… I guess what I’m trying to say is, that this is a solid compilation… I like how we get a mix of different styles here – from uplifting morning trance w/proggy roots and melodic, floating downbeat – to acid-ridden, full-power, nocturnal hyper-trance… That’s a great mix for the most part!

Also let me take a minute to comment on the very classy artwork here… Alaska from France sure knows his graphix and this is absolutely stunning… Well done! Yeah, Red Cells Records has pretty much hit the spot here… With only a couple of less good tracks, I like everything about this compilation… Already I’m looking forward to the next one compiled by DJ Saykoyan called Ultim Atom… Bring it on! This compilation is recommended for fans of full-power, nocturnal hyper-trance and intelligent dance music in general… Enjoy!

Favourites: 3(!!), 6(!!), 7(!!), 8, 9

DeathPosture

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