Trance2MoveU Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Artist: Astrix Title: Red Means Distortion Label: HOMmega Productions Date: September, 2010 1. Acid Rocker Astrix 2. Mir Astrix 3. Take A Shot Astrix 4. Lepton Head - (Astrix Remix) Shakta 5. Antiwar Astrix 6. Dharma Astrix 7. Sparks Astrix 8. Silver Sky - (Astrix Remix) Delirious 9. Harbour Candy - (Astrix Remix) Emok & NDSA 10. Killing Time - (Astrix Remix) Infected Mushroom feat. Perry Farrell Oh no he didn't! Yeah, I'm gonna. There are a lot of opinions about this individual. Astrix is Avi Shmailov and he has been in the game for a very long time. He has certainly become more commercial ranking # 18 in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ's in 2007. His first album Eye To Eye holds a special place in my heart as it was one of the albums that introduced me to this genre. Good beats, soaring melodies...there wasn't a lot to dislike. As time went on he began to really ride the cheesy full-on wave. Sure he still had a couple of solid gems like Poison and Tweaky but most of his tracks got lost in the shuffle of mediocrity. Every time I tried to take him seriously pictures like this began to surface: With the internet it has to be really tough to make it with this type of music. So can one really hate on Avi if he decided to take his music to that "other" level? The Mushroom seemed to have done well, why can't he have a piece of the pie? If he has the opportunity to put his music into commercials, video games and movies shouldn't he be applauded? I think most people wouldn't have a problem with his music if he just stopped calling it psytrance and just became the next Tiesto or Paul Van Dyk. This was put out on once proud label HOMmega or "Help Our Music" Productions so I have a good guess at who this is trying to target. Nonetheless I wanted to see how his new sound has evolved. The cover is sweet looking; not very psy but the visuals are striking. The only problem I have with it is the girl in the water seems to be a little young to be featured on an album with just an flowing orange covering. One cannot accuse him of not going big. Acid Rocker is epic trance with great attention to detail. The break is beautiful with sounds echoing all around and reverberated screams. With the second break a new melody arrives that also brings a typical trance buildup. Still, I'm liking this. Mir is more of the same with characteristic melodies intertwining over big beats with an "Out here we is stoned" sample. The break is another beautiful, euphoric example of how massive the scope of this track is. Love it. More rich, full pads begin Take A Shot with a slowed sample that I cannot interpret. The rising 303 is a great touch and the break brings sparkling touches with a return of that delicious 303. If you are going to remix a classic like Shakta's Lepton Head you better know what you are doing. Luckily he does. This remix is fuller but still captures that goa sound. It starts off as another epic trance tune but morphs into a goa track at about 3 and a half minutes only to return to its epic trance beginnings. Some purists may hate it, but I thought he did an ok job. Antiwar is that generic full-on track that I was anticipating. Not much to say about this filler, but I did enjoy the larger than life break. Dharma is another full-on track that didn't blow me away, but it had its moments. I can pick up on some house influences, but once again his mastery of the break makes an ok track into a more listenable affair. Sparks is the next track in the full-on parade that seems to veer way into the cheesy direction. And that was before the singing. I'll stop right there. The Silver Sky remix is another epic tune. Big strings, wailing, and progressive style rushes. The break is nice yet again, but the backbone is pure full-on however. The remix of Harbour Candy is a big production that would be very suited for the clubs of Ibiza. It's bouncy and catchy, but also very detailed. This isn't psy, but it is good sunshine trance. I liked it. House alert! House alert! The beat reveals all. The Killing Time remix is more of a mid tempo groover. But as soon as IM starts to sing on it, you cannot really take it seriously. That guy needs some auto-tune. Nah, scratch that, it would be more annoying. You know what you are going to get with an Astrix production. Crystal clear sound, soaring melodies and a big beat. Is it psytrance? I think some of it is, but I will leave that up to the listener as definitions vary. While the album started off strong, it did unfortunately nosedive into cheesy full-on and pop trance. Listen, this isn't Derango or sHift, but it isn't trying to be. I do know this. Some tracks sound wonderful. I think he did some good work and it should be appreciated for what it is. Melodic, epic, genre crossing trance that is beautiful in its sound. Yeah there is some filler here but be honest: didn't you expect the whole disc to be filler? Psyshop Beatspace Saiko Sounds GoaStore Juno Downloads Beatport Mdk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klas Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 After listening through this once: I like Astrix. I like the colours of the cover. I like his sense of creating intense, exciting soundscapes. I don´t like the picture above of him. It makes me laugh. I like the flow of the tracks. I like the tracknames and I like this album. I have a small issue with them looong buildups sometimes, but I can live with them! This album is not a classic, but it´s as good as I´ve expected from Astrix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longloststar Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Simply horrible. Stupid melodies, stupid samples, generic sound overall. Would rather be caught wearing pink panties than listening to this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRS Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Simply horrible. Stupid melodies, stupid samples, generic sound overall. Would rather be caught wearing pink panties than listening to this. keep saving me 10 minutes, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathmandu Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I like Astrix. The big beats, clear sound, clear synth melodies. I try geting whatever new music he has. Even downloaded the Special TD. I would like his music even more if I hadn't seen him play LIVE right after Hallucinogen Live at a festival, where Astrix music sounded just blank. The good thing about this album is it still sounds like Astrix. But lacks any innovations with this one as seen with his past albums. This album didn't impress me very much. But I would still listen to it sometimes if I am by myself. With the Lepton Head track would be nice I think if the melody used in it was created by Astix himself or another track in the album would be nice similar but with Astrix's own created Goa melody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAM015 Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Simply horrible. Stupid melodies, stupid samples, generic sound overall. Would rather be caught wearing pink panties than listening to this. yea to the point, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frix Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 for being more pop oriented music I think it's good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 Well, like many people in the scene, I had a lot of negative preconceptions whenever I heard the name Astrix... I didn't even want to try to listen to this album and then some months later I stumbled on the Lepton Head remix on yourtube and had to humbily admit that it wasn't bad at all, even rather good. So I got the whole album and it's is pretty darn good! We're still in cheezy territory, but a good kind of cheese IMO, everything sounds uplifting but not TOO uplifting, and I really like the occasional winks at some oldschool classics like putting an "Out here we is stoned" sample in the track Mir. 3,5 /5 from me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Submoon-Records Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 the shakta remix is good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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