Lemmiwinks Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 1. Arabian Nights 2. Soul of a worm 3. U know this 4. Hard Coffee 5. Mysteria Lane 6. The family guy 7. The way of the fly 8. Quality Seconds 9. Outro 10. Bonustrack, 1994 Aladdin is a young swedish producer releasing his first album of which the promo text says it blends full-on with hardstyle... Uh oh, this doesn't really sound promising... In practice it is what I call "goofy full-on": massive use of old and tried melodies from the rave era and funny samples. Oh and the cover must be the ugliest cover I've seen in 2008. But anyway, let's get to the tracks: Arabian Nights starts with some interesting arabian little melody which makes you wonder if there isn't a touch of oldschool in there. Well, there isn't. Just that little melody repeated a few times, then a variation of the James Brown Is Dead melody. Nothing really profound but nice to listen to on a dancefloor. Then comes Soul of a Worm (I officially nominate this the wierdest track name of 2008 lol). It starts off pretty mystical actually but it rapidly changes into full-on with some hardstyle-like hoovers. Nice, but nothing special. U Know This uses a variation of the main melody hook from New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel Reconstruction Mix) (you know, the melody playing in a club in the beginning of the movie Blade). Well, I like the original and I must say that having a full-on remix of it is not a bad idea IMO. Hard Coffee starts with some interesting hardcore distorted kicks and also a funny sample from (I think) the classic comedy Airplane. Again, pretty generic party stuff, then around 5:30 there is the little melody when Windows shuts down. Funny trick, especially on the dancefloor but when it is the 100th track using the same trick it gets pretty annoying. Mysteria Lane starts with some nice pads that sound like the music to some movie (it wouldn't surprise me if it is taken from a movie, but I don't know which one). Then some pretty deep melodies that reminded me the oldschool feeling. Then come some arpeggios which reminded me a LOT of Astral Projection - Trance Dance. It is a beautiful track I like the way it has a more serious, sad feeling to it, by far the best track here. I love sad trance, too bad it's very rarely made... The Family Guy starts, as you could expect, with a sample from the cartoon Family Guy "to put it simply, there's a reason why they call it dope". Then it turns into some pretty generic full-on with various samples from the cartoon. The Way of the Fly starts with what I think is a sample from one of the Cheech and Chong movies. One of the better tracks here IMO, less generic than the others, you can feel that Aladdin is unleashing his creativity in this one. Quality Seconds starts with a guitar riff that reminded me some Lenny Kravitz but then continues with a beat that is WAY too fast. It sounds like playing full-on with the pitch turned up... Don't really understand why Aladdin felt the need to speed it up like that. Then comes the Outro which is NOT the last track (funny eh?). This is a downtempo experimental track that I find pretty cool. Last track is 1994, and you'd probably expect some old trance but Aladdin uses some elements from the rave and eurotrance scenes to make some full-on. Interesting track but nothing really memorable. THE GOOD: There is some potential here like Mysteria Lane, Way of the Fly and the Outro suggests, Aladdin can make some very good music when he wants to. THE BAD: The overall sound in most tracks is too generic. You can feel this is one of those albums that you hear everywhere on the dancefloors for a month and then never hear it again. CONCLUSION: Pretty average "goofy" full-on album, but this doesn't mean it doesn't have its moments. Mysteria Lane is actually one of the best full-on I've heard this year and there are some other interesting tracks as well. Too bad Aladdin focuses too much on the commercial side of things... 2,5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEMO.BOFH Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 U Know This uses the main melody hook from Warp Brothers - Blade (you know, the melody playing in a club in the beginning of the movie Blade). Well, I like the original and I must say that having a full-on remix of it is not a bad idea IMO.Wrong, its the Pump Panels remake of Confusion, originally written by New Order. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwrdp8RV5A thats a cheapscape remake by The Warp Brothers of Pump Panels original remix (and is not what is played in the movie, it is the Pump Panel Remake). However this track does not actually rip the acid line from that remake, it uses one of the Presets in a VST Synth called Sylenth1. Tells me a lot of the creativity of Mr. Aladdin. Listen to the above track and compare to the Aladdin, you will hear that the sequence is significantly different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 Wrong, its the Pump Panels remake of Confusion, originally written by New Order. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLwrdp8RV5A thats a cheapscape remake of Pump Panels original (Which is in the original movie, NOT the warp Brothers one). However this track does not actually rip the acid line from that remake, it uses one of the Presets in a VST Synth called Sylenth1. Tells me a lot of the creativity of Mr. Aladdin. Listen to the above track and compare to the Aladdin, you will hear that the sequence is significantly different hehe like they say "that's when you know that you're a 90s kid: you think that 90s remixes of 80s tracks are the originals ". Anyway OMG who would've though they made acid techno in 1983??? I should definitely buy the original EP. (edit: oh wait, the original New Order version is quite different... ah well, I guess it makes sense now lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEMO.BOFH Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 hehe like they say "that's when you know that you're a 90s kid: you think that 90s remixes of 80s tracks are the originals ". Anyway OMG who would've though they made acid techno in 1983??? I should definitely buy the original EP.New Orders confusion is no Acid Techno, its the Pump Panels remix that makes it sound that way. http://www.discogs.com/Pump-Panel-Confusion/release/19442 that was released in 2001, but the original remix made in 1995. The Original from New Order: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ABdNJrOYg far from Acid Techno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share Posted January 13, 2009 ok I understand now... it would've been cool if the original version sounded like that though edited my review with the new infos, thanks for the corrections Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzman Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Like Lemmi says, this is SOO generic.. Unless you're into unintelligent dancefloor fool-on, this album is not recommended Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sideffect... Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 does not happen a lot, but this kind of trance if definitely - not what I want - looking for - ever have been looking for - or ever will it's different but not my style Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penzoline Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I think the first half of this album(Arabian Nights, Soul Of A Worm, U know this, Hard Coffee) is just plain great, banging full-on with hardstylish big sound. They just click for me. The best track being Hard Coffee, I just love that hard hitting sound and the brilliant sample use(imo of course). The rest, however, I don't like much. Not a bad album. I wonder if this guy can improve from here though, could be interesting. But goddamn, whoever chose the cover has problems. It's shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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