V/A - Double D

DeathPosture · October 7, 2005

V/A – Double D

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Hi-res: front + back

Artist: Various

Title: Double D – Compiled by Ashrun

Format: CD (jewel case)

Label: Dance N Dust (Israel)

Cat. #: DNDCD05

Distribution: Cosmophilia

Date: September 2005

Track listing:

01. 07’56” Shaman - Bomullstuss

02. 07’46” Decoy – Fatty Finn

03. 09’34” Pythagoraz – Constrainment

04. 07’24” DJ Asherun vs. Darwish – We Are Stoned

05. 09’17” Remote Access – Doors To Dream

06. 06’18” El Zisco - Littleway

07. 07’39” Decoy - Suparoo

08. 08’56” Itaitaiko – In The Groove

09. 08’51” Threshold Productions – Sound System

.m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/dzk3o (all tracks!)

Review:

Double groove!

Dance N Records from Israel didn’t really make any notice of themselves until the release of the Dustynation series – two CDs released in 2004 that featured some of the top producers of progressive trance… Now the label is out with its fifth CD release – and once again the focus is on groovy progressive trance… The tracklist reveals a mix of new and established artists… Let’s dig deeper…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Shaman – Bomullstuss

To be honest, I haven’t heard too many of Shaman’s many compilation tracks despite the fact that this Swedish producer (Andreas Henning) has released loads of tracks… Anyway, this is pure, percussion-driven progressive trance with a techy touch… Stiff metallic beats and groovy rhythm pads… Electro-tribal hypnotizing trance… Sounds kinda German in all its cold, stiff harshness – but there’s enough Swedish warmth and a couple of little melodies here to balance things out… I like it, despite the facts that it’s kinda monotonous at times… A nice little track!

#02: Decoy – Fatty Finn

Ian Chaplin & Philip Rex are a couple of hard-core jazz musicians from Australia – and they are now crossing over into progressive trance! Cool! The intro is maybe a little annoying but the rest of the track takes care of that… This is low-key progressive morning trance – soaked in reverb and with a ton of melodic pads flying around in the background… Kinda experimental, oddball and heavily fragmented… I like experimentation like this… Another nice track!

#03: Pythagoraz – Constrainment

Rasmus Tue Jørgensen from Denmark has been a classical pianist for many years – and this is his first release ever! This is more uplifting, progressive morning trance… Melodic at heart and with enough progressive elements to satisfy the purists… Again this track is drenched in reverb and twirling little melodies which helps ensure the deep, phat groove… Also the break is fucking sweet! Nicey nice! All in all this is a very notable debut from Pythagoraz…. I’m impressed!

#04: DJ Asherun vs. Darwish – We Are Stoned

“Now listen to this! I tell you about Texas radio and the Big Beat! … Reach in your heads! … Out here in the perimeter there are no stars …Out here we are stoned!” Asher Ezra from Israel is the man behind the Dance N Dust label – and he also compiled this CD… On this track he collaborates with fellow countryman David Abramov…This is still very much progressive trance, but the pace has quickened now – and this is more dancefloor friendly than some of the previous tracks… I like the classic Doors samples which was also used in X-Dreams remix of the classic E-Rection track Out Here We are Stoned… This one is longer though, but fits the track perfectly… Another fine track!

#05: Remote Access – Doors To Dream

Szymon Kupsik from Poland is another act that I have limited knowledge about… Anyway, it’s definitely approaching night-time now and this track is the tranciest so far… Fused somewhere in between groovy, tribal progressive trance – and melodic psytrance… A radical departure from the previous tracks – and this one kinda throws the flow a little off I think… Not a bad track at all – in fact it’s very nice!

#06: El Zisco - Littleway

Francisco Oyarce from Germany is another newbie… This track is banging from the get-go – oh yes, we’re definitely in pound-mode now… This is an experimental, genre-bender on the loose… Fusing all kinds of styles from progressive trance over house, electro and club trance… To be honest, I don’t really like it… It’s too… Clubby? The bridge part is cool and all, but I still tend to skip this track…

#07: Decoy – Suparoo

Ian Chaplin & Philip Rex are back with another track from down under … We stay in cheesier territory on this tribal-stomping, funky number… A well-polished, uplifting track with an impressive rhythm section… It has an old-school feel to it – along with a touch of Antix… A nice combo for sure! This is however – a little too clubby for my taste… But nice nevertheless!

#08: Itaitaiko – In The Groove

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… Itay is also a highly skilled progressive producer, and I really liked his track on the compilation Magnetic Storm released by Groove Zone in early 2005… This is raw, gritty, dirty progressive trance – and really, really groovy! Oh yes – this is really cool… Just check out the break-down and the phat groove that follows! Sweet track!

#09: Threshold Productions – Sound System

Threshold Productions is Torsten Edwinson from Sweden and he’s been hyped a lot lately… This track was already released on vinyl by Dance N Dust and now it’s on CD… Dreamy, floating and uplifting progressive trance here – with hints of electro… This is all very fine and dandy, but I’m afraid it’s too commercial for my taste… A decent track!

Right, this is pleasant compilation… There a no bad tracks here, but obviously there are some I like better than others… For me the first part of the CD is the best, whereas I’m not particularly impressed by the more commercial tracks on the second half… Also, I’m not sure how well the flow works here – I would have put the tracks in a different order… Anyway, the mastering by Space Cat sounds great to me – and I really like the cover-art… It holds a few little nice surprises!

All in all, this is a pretty nice compilation… For sure not the best progressive compilation out this year, but definitely not the worst either… You could do a lot worse that this one! I like the fact that we get exposed to a lot of new names here… Nice! Fans of progressive trance with cross-over potential will most likely dig this piece of plastic… Get into the double groove! … Enjoy!

Favourites: 1, 2, 3(!), 4, 5, 8(!)

DeathPosture

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