V/A - Blue

[Setsuko]

V/A - Blue

 

 

Artist: Various

Title: Blue

Label: Flow

Date: 2002

 

Track listing:

 

01. Neum : Deep End (Rmx)

02. Morphem : Tora Toa

03. Metatron : Electronic Trouble

04. Vaishiyas : Konkret

05. Prisoner Of The Sun : Hippies With Attitude

06. Human Blue : Multipus

07. D-Tector : Scooter Intruder

08. Matenda : Prisoners Dilemma

09. Antix : Celubrious

 

Review:

 

After the non-toxic frequencies DJ Pena offers us a smooth groovy compilation,

covered with a very nice design by Loets. Blue is a collection of crystal

clear deep mind expanding trance music starting with a fresh track by Neum #1

the atmosphere is spacey , like a futuristic waterfall somewhere in the

universe , this is one of my favourites . #2 watch out for this funky

masterpiece. can’t stop grooving when listening to Tora Tora. The melody is so

happy and jumpy. Best track imo. #3 Metatron, side project of Necton is

extremely hard and stomping. The sounds are very deep and powerful. #4 to be

Konkret: not bad but misses a bit of creativity, the samples in here are a bit

lame but then on the other side some are funny. Strange track. #5 POTS impress

me. After Retrophon on One Point Perspective they composed another deep groovy

killer. Hypnotising structures and subtle synthlines. #6 Multipus … waaaaaaw,

Human Blue proves again he is one of the trance professionals. The progre!

ssion in here is overwhelming. The sounds at the end of the track are 4D.

Handle with care, this is a pure jewel. #7 the contrast with the previous

track makes this D-Tector one a bit lame. Not entirely rubbish too. #8 smooth

dreamy psytrance. The flanger on the vibrating loop is really nice. One of the

better trance created by Matenda. #9 Antix. This time not the two Strom

brothers together but only Hayden and Leo Rowels. You can hear something is

missing in here. A bit average imo but pretty nice to end BLUE. Summary: some

tracks really stand out for me, like 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 … the mastering is also a

step forward compared to Filtered Beats for example. Keep up the good work

Flow; I give BLUE 8/10.

[RTP]

I more or less agree with the former reviewer, though I might add a few things:

 

The actual reason for me to buy Blue was track 8, Matenda - Prisinors Dilemma. I knew that one and knew it was good, so I wanted it in hardware. I didn't care too much about the other tracks at first to be honest. But overall I can say I'm happy I own this now.

 

The opener is very good, I like it because of the nice progression and the comfortable feeling light effects. A bit of a spacy atmosphere is in that one indeed, although I'd not associate it with a waterfall...

I also like the second one because it has good bassline, good progression and even though there's not much melody it's catchy.

The third one feels stomping. It somehow reminds me of the second CD on middle-aged Goa-Head compilations (around vol 13). Don't know if anybody can relate to that...

Fourth one I don't like at all. Well, a little bit maybe. But if that's Vaishiyas I'll steer clear of 'em.

Fifth one, POTS - Hippies With Attitude is actually a gem. I'm so happy this is on Blue, I heard this before and knew it was good, but didn't know it was on that compilation! Really great tune, very progressing, absolutely addictive bassline, kick, rhythm. Awesome!

The next one, Human Blue - Multipus I don't find that great, I know better (way better!) Human Blue stuff. Goa fans will probably like the effects in second half of the track and towards the end, but I don't think this compilation is mainly directed at people who like those types of tracks (judging from the other material) ... but well, anyway ... it's not that bad, I'm just not impressed.

The seventh one I think is better than said before. Not a masterpiece, but I percieve the atmosphere as spacey as in the first track...

The eigth one, finally, is my beloved Matenda - Prisinors Dilemma! When I listen to the CD I mostly skip instantly to this one. It's so great nothing else on the release comes even remotely close to it, already because no other track is in that style ... actually I don't know what this one has to do on that CD anyway, it would look much better on a 12". But well. This track is perfect because it just sounds honest, bright, morning, nice ... it doesn't sound pretentious, overpacked with stuff or anything like most of todays's prog stuff. What you get is generally a recurring morning trance effect paired with an addictive fast synth melody - this is probably what is refered to as the flanger above(*) - and the characteristic early Matenda progression and sharpness in the sound. In other words, perfect. A little bit of amateurish undertone in it aswell, that's what I like and what gives this piece some kind of warmth that makes up for the fact that it's not released on 12". To quote the sample, "This is the sound!". It is.

The last track to me seems not very special in comparsion to the one before, but it seems ok to me. Well, actually I don't know, the Matenda is so great I don't want to brabble about that one now, want to listen to Prisinors Dilemma again

 

Overall: a must for crazy Matenda fans such as me. The others will find a nice prog CD that doesn't disappoint on casual listens, yet there are better releases out there than this one...

 

Favourite tracks: 1!, 2, 5! and ... 8!

 

(*) actually the flanger is cool (I get now what that is), but what makes it so addictive to me is not the flangered base melody per se but the conglomerate that is produced out of the flangered melody and the oscillator-like effect that comes in after the first third of the track AND the third bassline-like effect. So you basically have three flangered sounding layers and that's what makes it so great when that peculiar moning trance melody comes in again (yes, it's really that awesome)...