X-Dream - The 1st

[Mergi]

Artist: X-Dream

Release: The 1st

Year: 2004

Label: Boshke Beats/Gravity Plus/Solstice

Cat-#: BBS011/G+001/SOL-WEP003

Rating: 3/5

 

Tracklisting:

A: Quantumlab

B1: The 1st

B2: The 1st (Club Mix)

 

A triple label 12" for the highly anticipated The 1st track. This one has reached a rarity status very quickly, for reasons I'm having trouble understanding.

 

Quantumlab is a minimal journey into the lab with a seriously thick dense beat and few bleep-bleep from the computer consoles. Also the talking Ariel who explains about "quantum logic" and "billion different universes"... the setting is there but the track fails to deliver, IMO. An imposing melody layer with distorted drawn out single note stabs is introduced after a break in the middle but then it takes a horrible turn to the worse, a totally annoying and out of place high-pitched drone enters the track somewhere in the latter half and prompts me to lift that needle of the record... it's a pretty decent track up until then, but I'm having a hard time enjoying the track as a whole.

 

The 1st is a great track! Breakbeats accompanied by a perfect atmosphere and a grinding FX-drone that somewhat reminds of the one used in MidiMiliz - No Alibi. Also the vocals fits perfectly. Works nicely both on the dancefloor and for homelistening (at least for me, but then I like beats).

 

The Club Mix of The 1st is a stripped down version of the original, it's also edited down to less than four minutes. The breaks and the rhythmic pads are still there, so are the vocals... everything else though is removed leaving you with a track that lacks atmosphere and substance. This is probably good as a DJ-tool as it doesn't hold up very well on it's own but could work if you want to sample the beats.