Various Artists – Groove Control

[pr0fane]

 

Artist: Various

Title: Groove Control

Label: Nervine

Format: CD (Jewelcase with 4 page inlay)

Released: October, 2005

 

 

Review:

 

The Danish label Nervine Records launched back in 2003 with the "Stimulus" compilation, containing progressive psytrance acts like Lish, Frogacult, Genetic Spin and Psyless Groove. A compilation that was later followed by Genetic Spins second album "Backspin", released in 2004. The following two EP's, containing tracks by Marcello Castelli, Thomas Penton and The Funky Badgers, marked a new time for the label though, now focusing completely on the housey market, and this month we finally saw a new CD-release from the label, the new compilation "Groove Control", originally announced already in December last year, but hit by heavy delays somewhere in the process.

 

 

01. Beckers - Road Movie [132 BPM]

Opening the compilation is Frank Beckers, without a doubt one of the biggest players on the progressive house/progressive psytrance crossover scene at the moment, releasing one of the biggest hits the last year, "Switch". "Road Movie" is more laidback than most of his newer stuff though, with a tight, dance friendly groove and some well thought-out female vocals. "This is the road ... to hell". Solid opener.

 

02. The Funky Badgers - Funky Tramp [129 BPM]

Swedish duo The Funky Badgers is up next. It's my first encounter with their sound, but it's certainly quite impressive. There is massive emphasis on the tribal percussion, very heavy and with a simple yet lovely groove. The atmosphere is somewhat deep, with some uplifting (yet perhaps a bit over the top) male vocals, giving it a quite clubby touch. Very nice work overall.

 

03. Fitalic - Farscape [128 BPM]

Fitalic from the Netherlands, is a duo who have impressed me a lot in the last years, with releases on Plastik Park, Vapour and Sprout. "Farscape" was released on the Israeli label VP Records earlier this year, well produced and with a tight, precise groove. Perhaps lacking some more drive and more distinct characterises of Fitalics earlier work, but a fairly good tune though.

 

04. Conny G - Cliff Drum [129 BPM]

Conny G, one half of The Funky Badgers, make yet another good impression with "Cliff Drum". Starting slow with a simple kick and some distinct tribal percussion, before reaching a short breakdown around the 2 minute mark, followed by the addition of a seriously fat and pounding bassline. Deep and raw progressive house, with an obvious Scandinavian forest trance touch, embellished by some trendy, yet never over the top house stabs.

 

05. Gift - Please Dont Go [130 BPM]

Up next is another fairly unknown act in my book, Gift from the US of A. My only encounter with him before "Please Dont Go" was an EP on VapouRise, but judging from his releases so far, he's got a bright future ahead of him. "Please Dont Go" is pretty gloomy, with dark synth stabs and some quite haunting female voice-samples. Deep, atmospheric grooves and very high quality in this tune.

 

06. Space Safari - Groovy Time [130 BPM]

Frank Beckers' second contribution two the compilation is "Groovy Time" under his Space Safari project: A delicious, laidback groover, and like always from Space Safari, totally soaked in summer vibrations. Add to that a long, cheerful Austin Powers sample, and you get a tune bound to bring loads of afternoon-smiles on every outdoor dance floor. This is simply delicious.

 

07. Thomas Penton - Distorted Reality [131 BPM]

One of Americas best exports, Floridays Thomas Penton, raise the intensity with "Distorted Reality", a peak time tune with a good, relentless drive and some quite catchy melodic structures. Unfortunately there's a bit too much autopilot - a bit too much of the same, and my impression is that we've heard it all before from Thomas Penton. Good dance floor material though.

 

08. Robert Elster - Random Reset Machine [128 BPM]

Final track is by Robert Elster, one half of the Swedish progressive trance duo Vibrasphere. "Random Reset Machine" is quite close to Vibraspheres last released track, "Bitter Deep", with a long atmospheric intro and a more housey touch than some of the duos earlier creations. The Vibrasphere sound is still there though, heavily reverbed and massive wide soundscapes - stunning progressive house/trance crossover.

 

 

Bottom line:

 

"Groove Control" really caught me by surprise. Yes, most of the material is quite formulaic, and it doesn't contain the most forward thinking and cutting-edge progressive house on the market - but after repeated listens the last couple of weeks, I must conclude that it just works. Really works. The flow is maybe a bit odd, but overall the quality throughout the compilation is very high, ranging from sunny outdoor tunes to deep grooves - and I could honestly imagine playing every track in a set.

 

Nervine continue a good trend, following in the footsteps on labels like SOG, Avalanche, Plastik Park, Tribal Vision, VP and others releasing progressive house unmixed on CD, and I can highly recommend progressive house CDJ's picking this one up.

 

 

Favourites:

 

1, 2, 4, 5, 6 (!!), 8 (!!)

 

 

Verdict:

 

8/10

 

 

Link:

 

Nervine Records: http://www.nervine-records.com