pr0fane Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Artist: Sonic Cube Title: Filter Label: Tribal Vision Format: CD (Jewelcase with 12-page fold-out inlay) Released: February, 2006 Review: After a very successful 2005 with some truly outstanding releases, which for instance resulted in being voted as the no. 1 new label by the users of Isratrance.com, Tribal Vision Records is ready to make an even bigger impact on the scene in 2006. Their first release this year is by the Swiss duo Sonic Cube, consisting of Ueli Schilli and Daniel Müller, also known as Sonnenvakuum. Not much have been heard from Sonic Cube since the release of their self-titled critically acclaimed debut album back in 2003, and since then the 3rd member, Tobi Wirz, left the project to pursue his solo-career, with his highly successful progressive house project Greed. But now, 2½ years later and following the recent release of the "Cloud Buster" EP, the duo is ready with their 2nd full length album "Filter". Can they live up to the expectations after the first album? 01. Hide [125 BPM] The album starts very promising with "Hide". The intro is really atmospheric, with sounds reminding me of older scandotrance - and luckily it doesn't seem as hasty as most album-intros these days. The rest of the track is rather sweet as well - despite a BPM at only 125 BPM it seems rather fast, bouncy and groovy, and the vibe is super positive. Great opener. 02. Last Jedi (feat. Sonnenvakuum) [134 BPM] The tempo is kicked up a good notch with "Last Jedi" - a track with very distinct qualities, but also a track which is sadly slightly disfigured by some corny and terribly misplaced jedi voice-samples. Despite the samples, it isn't all bad though - the groove is pumping and beefy, and the atmosphere is ranging from slightly gloomy to uplifting and melodic. Ok track overall. 03. Cloud Buster (Album Mix) [135 BPM] Next up is "Cloud Buster", a track which recently was released on an EP with an absolutely lovely André Absolut remix on the flipside. Although the cover says it's an "Album Mix", I don't hear any distinct differences from the original - it's still a nice morning track with sweet, toned down melodies that climax with 1½ minute left to go. Good work. 04. Amnesia [134 BPM] From the rolling slightly psytech-influenced grooves in "Cloud Buster", the album is taken in a slightly more tribal direction with "Amnesia". The grooves are quite housey but faster, while the melodies are more in the vein of traditional psychedelic morning-progressive. Sweet and very enjoyable morning tune. 05. Test [135 BPM] "Test" continue with the fast, yet housey grooves - this time with a lot more punch than in the predecessor "Amnesia". For the first half it proceeds rather well, but with a few minutes to go the track is rather demolished by some, once again, quite misplaced voice-samples. This time vocoded vocals telling about "dancing in the skylight" - I don't like it, maybe because it reminds me of an annoying French discohouse-hit that polluted the radio a while back. 06. Danger [135 BPM] The album is taken back on track with "Danger" - the hard groove from "Test" is still intact (but this time more in the background) and the rest of the tune is much, much sweeter, with lots of emphasis on the melodies and big pads. The overall atmosphere is lush, trancy and uplifting in a sweet, almost naive way, and this is surely one of my favourites on the album. 07. Microbes [132 BPM] The tempo is lowered a bit with "Microbes", but this track surely still packs a good punch. The most dominant element here are some female vocals, and - unlike most of the other tries with vocals on this album - it works rather well. They are rather sexy and fits the atmosphere and the pumping housey grooves - add to that a few simple, yet very effective melodies, and you have another highlight. 08. Xcute [128 BPM] "Xcute" is the last dancefloor track on the album, and it could have been a very worthy way to end the album as a whole. Despite having a low BPM compared to most of the material on the album, it is probably the most trancy of the tracks here, with big, eternal pads, and sweet melodies. Generally it has that lovely epic-trancy vibe some psy-purist might consider over the top, but I personally find very appealing. Delicious tune. 09. Astray (feat. Sabrina) [66 BPM] "Astray" marks the end of the album in a weird, yet very non-traditional way - for a psy/progressive album that is. In short it is a laidback pop-track with some fairly nice guitars, but also with some very cheesy female vocals, which didn't suit my taste at all. By far my least favourite track on the album. Bottom line: After a few years where the Sonic Cube project seemed faded into oblivion, "Filter" is a worthy re-entry on the scene. Compared to the first album, the self-titled "Sonic Cube", where Tobi Wirz (Greed) was part of the project,"Filter" seems trancier - the highlights are really excellent, but sadly the CD is slightly disfigured by some, in my opinion, cheesy and misplaced vocals and voice-samples. Especially in the final track. Overall, that doesn't change the fact that "Filter" is another solid release from Tribal Vision records - not the best so far, but a recommended buy for fans of clean and polished progressive house/progressive trance crossover music. Favourites: 1, 3, 4, 6 (!!), 7, 8 (!!) Verdict: 7,5/10 Link: Sonic Cube: http://www.soniccube.ch Tribal Vision Records: http://www.tribalvision.cz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tox Posted March 9, 2006 Share Posted March 9, 2006 Allright: Another full length album out on Tribal Vision, my fav new label! 1 Hide (7:52) 2 Last Jedi (7:35) Featuring - Sonnenvakuum 3 Cloud Buster (Album Mix) (8:27) 4 Amnesia (8:55) 5 Test (7:21) 6 Danger (7:57) 7 Microbes (7:35) 8 Xcute (9:09) 9 Astray (5:31) This is innovative progressive spiced up with some very tasteful, clubby vibes. Where acts like POTS or Gaudium rely more on hypnotising rhythmic structures these Swiss boys keep you smiling with an optimistic melodic touch. It’s been a while since I’ve been this enthusiastic about a recent full album! So it deserves a full track-by-track-review! Hide: Great opening track! Slow house-beats but with a lot of dark & groovy atmosphere. The hypnotising male vocal gives it kind of a clubby feel & there’s nothing wrong with that in my book. If progressive is deep trance than this is an abyss! Last Jedi: One of the weakest tracks in this album imo… The music’s pretty minimal, without surprises… Not bad at all, but the Star Wars-samples seem a bit childish & out of place. Cloud Buster (Album Mix): I already knew this track from the Street Art-compilation, where it’s featured in an André Absolut-RMX. Well, usually André adds something special to the original, this version is WAY better, if you ask me! Nice flow throughout the track & a powerfull rhythm that’s best described as a pounding, uptempo breakbeat. It slightly disappears to the background as the gentle melody breaks through at the end of the track Very cool! Amnesia: Just more warm melodic progressive trance! Nice track but (as the title suggests?) not very memorable in comparison to the rest of the album. Test: Another instant favourite of mine. The gentle melody might lack a little power for some but I think the electro-influences really lift this to another level. Especially since the combination of the cold synth-sound with the warm & positive bass-line works so well. It’s like there a second melody hidden inside the bass! A bit fluffy but it puts a smile on my face & makes me run to the stereo to put in on again from the beginning. Danger: Another ingenious combination that works really well! The main theme is a short & fast melody that sounds like a synthetic xylophone & is repeated throughout the track. But after the break slow, subtle & epic soundscapes creep up out of the underground & make sure the trip doesn’t get boring. Microbes : Nicely sliced-up samples here, too bad they make little sense. But they’re used in a cool way. The music itself, is pumping dancefloor material with enough variation because of the human voices. Xcute : Saving the best for last? This track is pushed forward by a relentless drive & pumping beats. But it’s got everything from build-ups those thrilling progressive waves of white noise that come crushing down all over the track. From morning-festival-stomper to sweaty-nightclub-groover: can’t miss with this one Astray : nice coming down track, I like the emotional female vocals on this one. What can I say more? When5 out of 9 great tracks are sure winners you can’t complain these days! The artwork is very different form the usual Tribal Vision-style graphics, but the futuristic & minimal white look fits the music quite well I think. The POTS-cd really had to grow on me but this has instant appeal. Hopefully that won’t mean I’ll get tired of it any quicker, but only time will tell… Highly recommended release: 8.5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathPosture Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Sonic Cube - Filter Hi-res cover: front + back Artist: Sonic Cube (Swizterland) Title: Filter Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Tribal Vision Records (Czech Republic) Cat. #: TVRCD007 Distribution: Psyshop.net Date: February 2006 Track listing: 01. 07’52” Hide 02. 07’35” Last Jedi (feat. Sonnenvakuum) 03. 08’27” Cloud Buster (Album Mix) 04. 08’55” Amnesia 05. 07’21” Test 06. 07’57” Danger 07. 07’35” Microbes 08. 09’09” Xcute 09. 05’31” Astray (feat. Sabrina) .m3u-playlist: http://tinyurl.com/pc3mm (all tracks!) Review: Hands-in-the-air, cocktail trance, cheddar and a broken jedi… Filter is the second album by the Swiss project Sonic Cube (aka. Sonnenvakuum) which nowadays consists of Daniel Müller & Ueli Schill. (Tobi Wirz left the project to concentrate on his housy Greed-project). Most of the stuff I’ve heard from these guys has been smooth, well-polished progressive house/trance – though a few tracks have had the ever-sought-after-by-me ‘edge’. With this second album I’m hoping we’ll get more of that edge… The fact that it’s released by the very upfront Tribal Vision label would also indicate something totally fresh… Let’s find out… Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Hide [125 BPM] “When light comes down on me, when darkness shines on you…” The opening track is huuuuuuge! This is majestic stuff - wide span progressive trance with a deep, funky rhythm section and floating, groovy melodic pads… If you were to describe this track with one single word, ‘phat’ would cut it… It’s not edgy, in fact it’s even pretty clubby with the vox and the hands-in-the-air appeal, but somehow it just works wonders… A really nice tune! #02: Last Jedi (feat. Sonnenvakuum) [134 BPM] “I have come for the jedi… They are all dead… In search of the jedi... And one broken jedi cannot stop the darkness that is to come.” Haha – what the HELL is up with those Engrish lyrics? What the hell is a broken jedi? Haha! Guys, I dunno what you’re trying to achieve, but those lyrics are downright horrible… And what crazy gimmick is ‘featuring Sonnenvakuum’ anyway? That’s like ‘me featuring myself’! Anyway, the track itself is much faster than the previous afternoon groover… This is stripped down progressive trance without a lot else going on that what we’re used to hearing… Reminds me of Insane Creation or Sensifeel… Not bad at all, but not special either… #03: Cloud Buster (Album Mix) [135 BPM] Cloud Buster was released as an EP in late 2005 – it featured a fantastic André Absolut remix which was also on the 2005 Tribal Vision compilation Street Art. But hey, the original is pretty damn fantastic too – this is a monstrous tune… Rich, phat and totally groovy… The thunder FX adds to the overall excitement and this is a certified dancefloor bomb… Very smooth and instantly rewarding! #04: Amnesia [134 BPM] Next up is another morning tune with a strong emphasis on tribal percussion and nifty little uplifting melodies… It’s all very nice and well-polished, but unfortunately it lacks a little bite… Not bad at all, but sadly a little too forgettable… I tend to skip this track… #05: Test [135 BPM] But luckily things pick up again on this electro-infested little house number… That’s right, this is electro-house which crosses over into progressive trance – or maybe the other way around, I don’t know!? What I do know is that this track has the ‘edge’ I was looking for earlier, and that’s obviously a good thing…The voice-samples are a bit tacky, but the retro-cool synths totally make up for that… This reminds me of Meller and/or D-Nox & Beckers and similar acts… It’s real pleasant! =D #06: Danger [135 BPM] Next up is a much more wide-appealing track… This is epic club trance with a very strong emphasis on driving, twirling melodies… And yeah, not as edgy as I like… This is for the clubbers, and as such a little too commercial for my taste… #07: Microbes [132 BPM] More dancefloor material here, but I’m happy to report that this is much less cheese filled... This is focussed, driving progressive trance with a pinch of electro-house… A very uplifting tune that is just dying to be played out loud at a sunny beach party… This is cocktail trance! Cheers! #08: Xcute [128 BPM] *Sigh* I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise any longer, but this is another very commercial, clubby outfit of a track... Technically this could have been a very sweet tune and it’s very similar to track #1 in construction with its huge melodic pads and majestic appearance… And sure, this is very nicely produced music… Lush, plush and uplifting… I just wish they’d upped the edge-factor and toned down the cheese… #09: Astray (feat. Sabrina) [66 BPM] Just like on the recent Flowjob album we get a closing track that revolves around female singing – only difference is that this is a VERY laidback, downbeat track… And just like the Flowjob track, the actually music is pretty damn cool – but it’s totally destroyed by the vocals which are mediocre at best… Argh, finally some edge, and it’s soiled by those crappy vocals… ;o/ It really, really, REALLY pains me to say this, but this is the worst Tribal Vision release so far… Don’t get me wrong, there are still some excellent tunes here, but overall this album wasn’t as ‘edgy’ as I’d hoped for and the good tracks kinda drown amongst the commercial tracks… In that sense this reminds me of the Gaudium and Insane Creation albums… It’s all quality music, but the clubby moments are too many for my tastes… The cover art is also very unlike what we’re used to with Tribal Vision, but I guess in a sense it fits the somewhat commercial music pretty well… So, to conclude: Besides from the few stand-out tracks listed below, this album is probably not gonna get a lot of playtime in my house – but on the other hand I’m sure it’ll go down very well with fans of progressive trance that crosses well over into club territory… Cos in that genre, this album is definitely a hit! … Enjoy! Favourites: 1(!), 3(!), 5, 7 DeathPosture External links: Sonic Cube: http://www.soniccube.ch Tribal Vision: http://www.tribalvision.cz Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/634433 Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/fqtvf Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/hj8nh Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/e7xo7 Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/fwcg9 Juno: http://tinyurl.com/zku4c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTP Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 I got myself this album I like the sound. You all know I am not the fan of "too psychedelic" things, don't you? So I appreciate this one ... it's a nice and fresh and actually very clubby contribution to today's progressive scene And I find it especially funny how everybody says Last Jedi is bad ... during prelistening this one was the one that gave me the smile in my face - and not the first track! Seriously, I think Last Jedi is a damn good track! The first half lacks a bit, I agree, but the second half is absolutely cool, brings a grin to my face! I don't see the point why people don't like it, haha ... for me last Jedi is not worse than the rest of the tracks. All very good (And about the engrish vocals ... I can understand what he could mean with "broken Jedi" ... "broken" in german can also mean emotionally down.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benf52 Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 first track started really great for me... but then when that super cheezy vocals showed up and they swicthed to the electro mood they lost me... everything else is pretty forgettable imo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkeletonMan Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 Well, here’s an album that turned out to have its' ups and downs. Perhaps not completely taken aback Sonic Cube has me steadily set on a train to Psykedeliaville with opening track Hide when disaster hits. The most hideous euro trance sample at 4:37 totally fucking up any dedication I had. WTF?! And skipping to the next track won't put and end to my worries: That sample was no error. Has Tribal Vision gone astray? Sure thing. Last Jedi (even the title is outrageous) trips my mind just perfect when another sacrilege enters at 3:51: “I have come for the Jedi ... they are all dead!” Delivered in a dark male voice I have no choice but immediately to ask for a pair of UV-pants and some light sticks. Holy crap! In a sense this is worse than if it all stank. So close, yet, so infinitely far away ( So, the album could be skipped from here? Hell no! As it turns out Sonic Cube just wanted to place a couple of *crowd pleasers* in the beginning. Track 3 carries the same energy but without corny samples. Is this coming around still?! Yep! Track 4 is the best and the darkest track yet. Repetitious and relentless Amnesia is not giving anything away. Dedication is required but with a sound this smooth and receptive it captures me from the outset. And any fear this will be messed up by a corny sample is impossible. This is way too good. And so it goes. Practically the come back album of 2006. Of course, I have preferences but besides some annoying vocals at the end of track 5 (vocoded, though) all of tracks 5 to 8 more or less delivers and belts another Tribal Vision safe purchase. Sure, this is not groundbreaking stuff and most of the way reminiscent of earlier TV stuff ... but you can say that to me again when I’m dancing my bones off on the floors! In other words; I could hardly agree more with Profane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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