Day.Din - Sync Yourself

[abysis212]

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Artist: Day.Din

Title: Sync Yourself

Label: Spin Twist

Release: Nov. 2010

 

 

 

1. Sync Yourself

2. Complete Paradox

3. Heaven and Hell (Day.Din and DJ Fabio rmx)

4. Zurich

5. An Ordinary Day

6. Shadow Of A Smile

7. Run (Day.Din rmx)

8. Knock Out

9. Twin Peak

10. Northern Lights

11. Eyjafjallajoekull

 

 

This is Day.Din's third studio album. And this is my first 'first person to review' on psynews.org! I'm excited. Just a little background so you know where I'm coming from. Long time psy-trance/progressive-psy listener that has in more recent years transitioned to listening to house, prog-house, techno, electro, and other genres of dance music. I do the DJ thing a little bit...mostly in the bedroom at the moment...though I have pretty strict standards for what I find worthy to play out. Day.Din I am somewhat familiar with. Have listened to his previous release (not in depth) and liked some of it though wasn't hugely attached. I always like hearing artists mature so I was looking forward to hearing what came out of this one. Now for the review:

 

 

Track 1 - Sync Yourself:

 

The very first sound you hear is crickets and then the sound of a mosquito is buzzing in your ear. I love it! Great atmosphere. Its followed by some bleeps, a thud, and strange vocal like pads that make you feel like your entering through a gateway to another dimension. As the sounds continue you begin to hear a very interestingly effected kick and snare fading up (with a hi-pass filter on it so you don't hear the bass yet). This is great. I love when producer take this much time on creating a great intro. When the bass kicks in its a little heavier than expected but I'll have to withhold judgment completely until I hear it on a loud system. Anyway, I'm not complaining. The track is progressing nicely. Some very nice melodic pads come in as the bass cuts out for awhile. The first time I heard the track I remember being struck by how sudden it seemed the bass would kick in with not much build up (but kinda like it:). During the main breakdown we hear the nice pads again and then some stuttering vocals that Neelix has popularized. Familiar sounding in that regard but done very nicely. Overall, no complaints here. This will make a great track to start any party.

 

 

Track 2 - Complete Paradox:

 

The second track starts and I'm thinking 'alright now the test to see how well Day.Din can keep this energy going'. We have some pads and a vocal sample that has been used by other artists. Namely on the first track of Freq's album 'GoSub 20'. The kick and bass come in and they have a nice rhythmic interaction between them and the percussion. I like this sparseness. Then we get some pads and delayed synths. These sound alright...little fluffy...nothing to get crazy over. Around 3 mins we get a breakdown and a new melodic synth. This one takes over and has more promise. When the bass comes these sound great together. Very big and commanding. Once again nice use of sparseness. Overall not as consistently solid as the first track but still very good. Up until the 3 min mark I wasn't sure about it but everything after makes it a keeper. Nice work.

 

 

Track 3 - Heaven and Hell:

 

This track is done with Fabio. I like what I've heard from Fabio with Bitmonx as well as previously with Day.Din so I expect this to be good. We hear some atmosphere and a vocal sample about drugs at the beginning and then the bass is back in. A really nice synth hook comes in at 1:30. The breakdown happens and the bass takes over getting filtered in and out. The bass comes back and I'm enjoying myself. Then we get another breakdown and an unexpected vocal stutter saying 'heroin, heroin, heroin'. Near the end of the track I'm waiting to hear the nice synth hook come back to bring things full circle and it does:). This track like the second starts off somewhat generic and then goes some very interesting places and makes some unexpected twists. Once again very nice work.

 

 

Track 4 - Zurich:

 

Alright, finally a track I can critique a little. The bass in this one sounds like a square wave is humping the speaker...in a kinda butt rock way. We get some more somewhat fluffy synths and stuttering vocals throughout. There is a nice rhythmic synth that happens at various points to make things interesting. Overall this track is not bad and I would probably be dancing to it at a party. However, I'm not going to add it to my DJ list. It is pretty decent but doesn't do enough to stand out as something new in my opinion.

 

 

Track 5 - An Ordinary Day:

 

Some real nice guitars start this one out and I get the sense its going to be a good one. The kick is massive. We get an enjoyable slow progression of events. Some emotional synths that buildup and then breakdown the bass sounding pretty good. About 2/3rds through the guitars come back in. These will be a great sounding break at a party. Overall, this track is pretty solid.

 

 

Track 6 - Shadow of A Smile:

 

Track 6 starts and I am beginning to trust Day.Din's putting together a solid album at this point. He uses a similar vocal sample to bring in the bass/kick on several different tracks on this album and it is an interesting effect. About 2 mins in Neelix makes another guest appearance (it just sounds exactly like him). Halfway through, we get a lady singing something during the breakdown. Its kinda cheezy and while I'm not opposed to vocal this sounds kinda cliche. After she has finished the first line Day.Din does a very intesting job effecting her voice in such a way to build up the track for the bass to come back in. This sounds real nice and in fact the vocal clips used in the rest of the song (as well as the rest of the song itself) sound quite good. Its a shame about the middle being just a bit too much. Kinda ruins the track for me.

 

 

Track 7 - Run:

 

I swear Neelix has reincarnated into Day.Din's album. The bass in this one is all over Neelix as well as the stuttering vocals used. Its a short track and it has a very nice short melodic breakdown in the middle of it that reappears at the end. Despite me nagging on Day.Din for sounding like Neelix I'm not complaining. This sounds good and I'm actually enjoying more than the little I've heard of Neelix's new album. Nice track.

 

 

Track 8 - Knock Out:

 

Nothing new here. More of the same themes used throughout. But unlike track 4 I fink this one works for me. I'm happy to hear more of this fat bass (which sounds much like track 2). This track is placed well in the album. It is kinda a summing up of some themes that have taken place before it and does a good job of keeping you in the flow without being boring or cheesy.

 

 

Track 9 - Twin Peak:

 

Starts off letting you know we are getting things started a little new again with an energetic kick/bassline. We get some somewhat fluffy melodic stuff going on and then a breakdown about halfway through with the melody carrying through. Some more distorted organish synth sounds come in to make it really full and it starts sounding nice. When the kick comes in we get a really great simple synth line that rhythmically stabs between the kick and bass and sounds great. This section makes it enough for me to consider this track a keeper though overall it is not as consistently exciting as this part.

 

 

 

Track 10 - Northern Lights:

 

I like how this track gets going. The Kick and Bass are really pumping but in a kinda subdued way and there is a nice repetitive synth bar that creates some anticipation. The break happens and we get some washing over type synths. The track reminds me of Vibrasphere. It has kinda a lost at sea sort of feel to it. I'm not exactly a huge fan of this style which puts me a little on the fence but this track does some other things very well...namely the bass:)....and that catchy synth line dammit!

 

 

Track 11 - Eyjafjallajoekull

 

As with tradition a somewhat chiller track ends the CD. Day.Din is also one of the producers behind the 'Nordlight' project. Here we get some nice pads and nice clicky percussion with a soothing bass hit every once in awhile. This track evolves nicely adding in some real cool stutter horn type synths and then a unexpected very slow kick drum. Reminds me of the slow kick drum used in Vibrasphere's track Erosion. Good song to end the CD with and also a good song to bring the party down with as well.

 

 

Overall:

 

Very Solid release in my opinion. Better than I expected. Fav tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Definitely has Neelix to thank for some inspiration on this one. However, that said I think Day.Din pulls off the Neelix thing better than Neelix in many cases here. Anyway, it will be fun to mix the two of them together:). Freq will also go well with this album. There isn't a lot of new ground here but Day.Din does a good job of taking the familiar and making it sound new and interesting. One thing I particularly liked about the CD is that it felt like Day.Din gave the songs a chance to evolve and didn't just try to force a particular theme to work throughout. This led to some fun and interesting twists and kept me curious to hear what might happen later that would increase a songs interest. Also, the album seems to have a bit more emotional depth and melodic interest than his previous work. I used to be a big fan for rating a CD on a 1-10 but I listen to so many different genres now it is tough to compare across genres sometimes. Within the Progress Psychedelic Trance/House Genre this rates highly in my opinion and among other genres it rates pretty highly as well. Hopefully you enjoyed my review. Hope its not too long;p

[Trance2MoveU]

Congratulations on your first review here!

 

Mdk

[abysis212]

Thanks

 

 

Congratulations on your first review here!

 

Mdk