Tomic - My Number One (Spiral Trax , March 2009)

[exotic]

 

1. Perpetual Movement 9:35

2. Cell Phone Spell 7:50

3. Restless 7:29

4. Groove 7:58

5. Tears of Joy 7:50

6. I Call it Acid 8:14

7. Twister 8:38

8. Memories 8:24

9. Downer 5:45

 

Tomic is German progressive trance producer Thomas Wagner. Born in Wuppertal, Germany he has been a producer and DJ for more than 15 years and having played in legendary clubs like the Move Club in Cologne he is a veteran of the electronic genre in his own right. After releasing some deep vocal house on labels like Kunstfu in the early 90s, he moved on to writing some progressive house and trance tunes with a psychedelic flavour. Thenceforth his works have featured on labels like Stripped , Iboga and Spiral Trax and his own Fraud recordings.

 

The opening track Perpetual movements sets the tone for this percussive journey. The mood is laid back, the beat warm and comforting, almost endearing, and the groove sexy. A subtle melody plays around in the background. These are the perfect ingredients for a progressive trance track that in my opinion is going to be played a lot this springtime. Next up is (T2) Cell Phone Spell. There's a remarkable characteristic to German electronic music taking Klopfgeister as a reference. They are in absolutely no hurry! I love the build up in this track, elements forming the main structure are added one by one and not once do you get the feeling that it is done for the sake of it. Brilliant! (T3) Restless combines some decent percussion, effects and voice samples. The following track (T4) Groove is gentle in its approach initially but the bass gets progressively heavier and the sound more tribal. This reminds me somewhat of Etnoscope which is a very good thing! I am really beginning to enjoy the minimal nature of various elements in Tomic's music. There is a much more pronounced tribal feeling now which is clearly evident in (T5) Tears of Joy. The melody is again in the background and helps shape the track as a whole like a catalyst. It participates but doesn't consume any noticeable auditory space. (T6) I Call it Acid is a belter of a tune! The main melody is a call to the dance floor to come shake up whatever it is that you have been holding back. (T7) Twister isn't really a twister in the conventional psychedelic sense of the term. No twisted stuff, just pure trance with some housey influences. The sample goes "Damn I forgot the record again, I'm gonna have to just use our own knowledge". The track really picks up around the six minute mark with the introduction of a signature melody. Good work! (T8) Memories is a work of art done with a touch of class. Thomas Wagner shows us through this tune that he really knows how to catch the audience by the ear and pull them in- there is just no escape! This is absolutely divine! I would love to be caught dancing to this next to a beach on a sunny sunny morning!! It’s just too good to be true. (T9) Downer isn't really a downer, but a balmy chilled-out tune with a soothing female vocal to wrap things up.

 

Recommendation: All in all My Number One is a great progressive trance/house album with a pinch of the psychedelic thrown in to draw audiences from all forms of electronic genres. We are sure to hear more in the future from Thomas Wagner aka 'Tomic' so don't go anywhere and watch this space while you lap MN1 up.

 

Favorite tracks: 1(!), 2, 4, 6(!), 8(!!!)

[Soundsen]

Is this album similar to Atmos' and Neelix's latest releases?

[exotic]

Haven't heard the neelix album but i can safely say its not like atmos even though both released on spiral trax. Its more tribal and percussive like etnoscope if you wanna draw some comparison.