SUN Project - Zwork

[Anoebis]

SUN Project - Zwork

 

 

Artist: SUN Project

Title: Zwork

Label: Nova Tekk

Date: 1999

 

Track listing:

 

01. 08'18" Zwork

02. 09'12" Subsonic Overdrive

03. 07'49" 380 Volt

04. 08'18" Elevator

05. 06'16" Copeland

06. 08'04" Casio Paya

07. 08'20" Alienated

08. 08'22" Planet Earth

09. 06'53" Deeper And Deeper

 

Review:

 

This is the kind of album that make me doubt, sometimes I think it's pretty

cool

and sometimes I think it sucks!! So let me say this album is rather bad...!!

)) (maybe it depends on the mood...)The problem with the album is that they

use too many guitars in some songs (nr1,3)!! Sometimes it can be cool but after

a while it's getting rather boring!! I like track 7 here, it's something very

strange... And the intro is wonderful!! From the other songs nr 1&9 is

good!! And there are two songs that I really hate on this CD, nr 5 & 6!!! So

a rather bad album, but live they are GREAT!! I've seen them twice and they

kick

ass!! Bom Shankar

[Guest X - Dreamer in NYC]

What the hell is the guy above talkin about SUN Project rules and so does this

album. 8/10 By the way they are one of the best live acts out there.

[Guest a_ozi]

The problem (or highlight if u like it) with SunProject and all their other

projects (Majic Sun, Slap, Ouija etc) is that they have such a recognisable

style that it can lose its psychedelicness because of its predictableness and

similarity in use of sounds and percussion rhythms. This album doesn't really

evolve from their previous album, Macrophage. Its in totally the same vein. It

might work very well at a party with its high energy and ego-rock sensbilities

but i just find it way too repetitive and derivative at home. 12/25

[Guest mrsyed]

This album is probably the worst of the 3. It's hardly goa anymore. It's not

even psychedelic. What's worse is the simple repetetive metal guitar samples

that simply goes no where. I heard paranormal is a step in the right

direction. But can that release mask this bad one.

[Guest SpaceCowboy2002[at]hotmail[dot]c]

If one would draw a graph to represent the quality of SUN Project?s

productions, it would look like a bell curve. Drosophilia would be the first

low, Macrophage the peak, and Zwork, I?m sorry to say, their second low.

Basically, what we have here is a few sound effects scattered onto a beat,

with an occasional splash of vibrant electric guitar. Track 2: Subsonic

Overdrive approaches the quality that we desire from SUN Project, and it is

followed by 380 Volt, another powerful song with heavy guitar riffs. Track

6: Casio Paya contains a nice breakdown and re-build from 5:32 to 6:26. Track

8: Planet Earth is slightly above decent, and a bit funky. Track 9: Deeper

and Deeper is a mellow ambient track, a bit Shpongle-esque. The best songs on

this album are good enough for most people?s standards, but the goa

connoisseur will likely be a bit disappointed. The rest depart from greatness

of any sort, sometimes containing elements that clash, and often sounding like

something a novice techno artist could have easily thought up. Overall, 7 out

of 10.

[Guest AlexG]

i agree with the above: tracks 2,3, and 9 are by far the best of this cd, 9

being and outstanding ambient track. everything else is mediocre and more on

the techno/nrg side than trance. and about the bell curve, mine would look

like this: first, "drosophilia" at the very low, then "macrophage" at the top,

"zwork" somewhere in the middle, and "paranormal" at the top again, but maybe

not quite as high as "drosohpilia", merely by a few points though =). 6/10

[Guest F-AcTivE]

This is the best S U N Project album i've heard. The problem with sun project

is that they use to much guitar and trance togetha.. it sounds nice sometimes

and sometimes it sounds very bad. My fav tracks on this album is: "Subsonic

Overdrive" , very nice track and i love the ending! , "Alienated" ,

killertrack! made for the dancefloor! "Planet Earth" ..cool funky track , and

Deeper And Deeper ..very good ambient track. The rest of the tracks isn't that

good..and contains lots of guitar.. my rating: 6/10

[Guest theone666[at]sol[dot]dk]

S.U.N Project RULES!!! espially live ...Great album a must have ....Goa or not

it is great ..8/10

[Guest Leon_de_Bourgy[at]yahoo[dot]com]

the 3rd number makes this album worth it's money. It's a killer at parties and

gets me jumping every time.

[Guest FinnHawk]

I heard Track 3 at a goa trance party here (in BC, Canada) and everyone went

crazy for it. The next day all I heard was people asking "What was that

awesome track with the guitars in it?"

[Jeff]

The three songs I like here : Subsonic Overdrive, Casio Paya and Deeper and

Deeper. The point is that they aren't typical of their style, they sound very

old school. But I hate the guitar part on 380 Volt, doesn't sound Psychedelic

at all ! Nice use of guitar sounds can be found in Infected Mushroom or The

Delta. But here, yurk ! The other songs are a bit boring. 4/10

[Guest Freaky Fab]

The guitar tracks Zwork and 380 Volt are very good. And Deeper and Deeper is a

wonderful Chill-Out-Track, i like it a lot.

[Guest gbantel[at]goatrance[dot]com]

Uhm... i think i'm the only one that liked this album... also liked Copeland.

380 Volt is nice, but sometimes it sounds very bad, depends on the moods,

Subsonic Overdrive is fantastic, has the real spirit of SUN Project.

Casio-Paya is also like 380 VOlt, depends on the moods, sometimes is amazing,

but sometimes u can't hear it. Deeper And Deeper and also Alienated are

amazing. Outstanding tracks. Nothing special on Zwork. Rating 7.5/10 it's

still SUN Project

[Guest -Ahiru-]

One of the best trance cds available.These guys have a totally original sound

and especially on this album.Casio Paya is fucking non stop bass and shows

what these guys can do.Anyone who doesnt like these guys needs to listen to

them the right way,if you know what i mean.

[Guest diablo_mxmn[at]hotmail[dot]com]

this is such a great album!!!

thhe guitars' oh the guitars!!!

 

zwork: 11/10

subsonic overdrive: 10.3/10

380 volt: 10/10

elevator: 8.9/10

sopeland: 9.1/10

casio-paya: 10.7/10

alienated: 9/10

planet earth: 6.5/10

deeper and deeper: 7.1/10

 

the whole cd: 10/10!!!

 

psychedelic teacher/psy-t

[Guest spitribe[at]wanadoo[dot]fr]

Juste a little word about this good (again !) album of SUN Project...

and a special very thanks for Deeper and deeper...

THE Perfect track (in ambient) is here !!! perfect perfect and PERFECT...

Deeper and deeper.... arghhhh ! So so so so goood !... mhhhh... only pleasure

to listen it and listen it again...

But how could you do that ??? are you magicians ?

;o)

[rino]

Even though I was never a huge S.U.N. Project fan, and I found "Macrophage" to be their standout album, I was negatively surprised by this album. For starters "Zwork" is much more bass heavy, hard, stripped down and simple than their previous albums. There are no real stand out tracks or instant classics like for example At The Edge Of Time from "Drosophila" or Space Dwarfs from "Macrophage", and as a whole album, I think this lacks inspiration when compared to their sophmore release. The first 2/3 of the album has a great driving and pumping energy to set any floor on fire, but that is only because of their pumping beats. But IMO all of the above mentioned tracks suffer from the lazyness virus. Whereas great versatility was displayed on "Macrophage", most of the tracks here have cheap and simple effects thrown over hard beats. To me it sounds like they just threw them over in order not to be labelled as some... I don't know what... Techno? Or just for the hell of getting the psy trance sticker on it. Zwork, Copeland and Casio Paya have guitar riffs that seem like S.U.N. Project's garage band outtatakes when they were about fourteen yeas old, while basically the first six tracks have entire sections where literary nothing goes on, until some what are supposed to be acidic melodies kick in. And those suck. If you are known for skilfully incorporating electric guitars in your tracks, then you don't put corny riffs as these on top o' your tunes. There isn't a single guitar section on this album that has edge, or that sounds like it was actually anything more than a product of a 30 second improvisation. I don't even mind the absense of "real" melodies, but nothing is decently compensating for them. The guitar riffs, which were once great on tracks like Dance Of The Witches and Spaceships And Spacepeople are nowhere to be found here... The song Planet Earth very much stands apart from the rest of the album due to its funky and easy digestible flow, and that makes it the official misplace here, in a good way though. And even though I occasionaly enjoy its groovy bass line, apart from it sounding so different from the rest, the track goes nowhere, eventhough it does come off as refreshing after a bunch of shallow stompers, but that's about it. It doesn't have any determined flow or direction, it lacks evolution, catchy sounds or melodies, so apart from creating a pretty pleasant vibe, it doesn't add anything new to the rest, ultimately resulting monotome and dry.

 

Practically all the elements they previously used to create a highly unique and recognisible sound are simplified and degraded to the maximum here, in favor of thumping beats and rehashed sounds, which are supposed to ignite a frenzy on the dancefloor. And Subsonic Overdrive is, IMO, the primary example of that here: it has everything you'd expect from a S.U.N. Project tracks, but think some five steps down on the ladder. The elements that could have been used to create a killer tune are just lousily and quickly put together. Not that it is an unbearable track, I just have a feeling that this trio just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. As they probably did with the entire album.

 

There are exceptions, like my favorite track ever since the first time I heard this album, Alienated which soooooo perfectly samples Pink Floyd's mega classic "Welcome to the Machine", and the track itself is really energetic stands as the highlight of the album. The guitars are, for example, absent in that track, but it still contains enough flavor to satisfy the most picking S.U.N. Project fan! It has some cool build-ups, accompanied by nice acidic synths. Different from the typical S.U.N. Project track, but still maintains the energetic feel! Great tune! The CD ends with the ambient Deeper And Deeper which I dare not compare with the utterly amazing closing track from Macrophage, Energia Magica, but it's good nonetheless. Very atmospheric with some female vocals. Hell, it sounds good enough to make me regret why S.U.N. Project hasn't made an ambient album instead of this pile of banging beats + horrible guitars.

 

While I actually saw no point in them releasing another album sounding like the last one, and I can understand the flirting with new ideas and sounds, mainly because the style they pursued on their first two albums was slowly fading away from the scene, the real problem here, however, is that they don't elaborate on any of them. I tend not to bother about genres or S.U.N. Project's determination to pursue a newer, more minimalistic sound, but I must say that this sounds uninspiring, not because of its minimal structure, but mainly because it just fails to come across as psychedelic in every aspect, let alone interesting. There is nothing that strikes me for its constructive musicality, detailed elaboration and provocative or challenging sound. To me this just sounds like some drunk punk band members being rushed into producing an electronic music album, while they are well behind their times. But that is just me. Most tracks follow the same formula, and none of them have any sign of greatness or epic and memorable parts. They do their share as dancefloor numbers, but once the party is over, except for the standouts, I don't think anybody will have these tracks sticking in their heads for a long time. So yeah, a disappointing release, I'd give it a 5/10 for the three great tracks, the rest is just filler material.

[Trance2MoveU]

"Deeper and deeper into meditation and nowhere to go...but inside."

 

Rino summed this release up perfectly. Unimaginative, amelodic, and too many guitars that don't add any psychedelia. Stripped down to the bare bones and empty this has zero staying power. If they're not annoying with guitars it's droning synths. There are flashes like the break in 380 volt, but it's never explored and just stumbles into already trodden territory. Alienated is the best trance track here, but that's like choosing between a rock and a notebook for a pillow. Boring with a total lack of variation. For all I know they still have the sequencer running.

 

The one saving grace is the final downtempo track which is slow and brooding. Now if they made an album like this...

 

 

Mdk