UX - Audissey: Live & Beyond

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: UX

Title: Audissey: Live & Beyond

Label: Anjuna Records

Date: July, 2015

 

1. Slide - Waking Up To Chaos (Live Remix)

2. Pure Intellect (Live Remix)

3. Third Eye (Live Remix II)

4. Dominion (Digital Frontiers Live Remix)

5. Millennium Generation (Live Remix)

6. Cyberkrist - Crossworld (Götterdämmerung Live Mix)

7. Master of the Universe (Epic Live Remix)

8. Chrysalis (Judgement Day Live Mix)

9. Audissey (Excerpt)

 

 

"Boundaries are good...They keep things separate."

 

 

 

 

Ahhh...I remember when this was first announced. Everything was golden. Rainbows and unicorns. Cotton candy clouds and pixie stick joy that one of the masters of dark goa trance was going to release an album that we had been craving. Kris Kylven and Pete Martin made up UX back in the day and their debut album release Ultimate Experience is a classic foray into the dark and industrial side of goa trance. Understandably hopes were raised that this would be a return to the sound of greatness and bring back that rich, layered sound that we crave.

 

Who knew that it would be accompanied by a monkey throwing sh*tstorm?

 

From accusations of fake crowd noise, oft delayed release dates, anger issues, rumors, posted social media screenshots, the label turning on the artist whose album they're trying to release, anti-semitism...whew!

 

So much drama y'all needed Dr. Phil on speed dial. But f*ck that I couldn't care less. You wanna dive into the mud go read the locked thread or the 11 page one. I'm sorry that friendships were ruined and bad feelings saturated the atmosphere of this release, but the only thing that matters is the music seeing the light of day. Which it did. Eventually. Finally. I'm a reviewer. Impartial. Switzerland. I love UX and I loved a lot of the music from Anjuna Records, but I don't know either of them so I'll focus on solely the music thank you very much.

 

In 2012 we got a remastered and enhanced digital version of Ultimate Experience that really got the juices flowing. So fast forward to this release and now we get live versions and remixes of classic UX tracks and a mix of one by Slide and one by Cyberkrist. The artwork is beautiful (from Samuel Farrand from New Hampshire USA!) and the sound is impressive. Truly immersive and I pretty much love everything about this release from its dark acidic goa sound to its futuristic and aggressive atmosphere. The tracks are true storytellers constantly evolving with frequent twists and turns. It's layered madness with sinister sonic tsunamis that are just...unrelenting.

 

The Waking Up To Chaos remix is a brutal assault with screaming leads (original by Pete Martin of Slide). Pure Intellect is just a wave of concussive force that hangs with the original. And that's a common element in all the remixes found here. While I wasn't fond of the Third Eye Remix on Tribal Encore the one here was raw and unapologetic with a dark techno base. This is how you do remixes expounding on music of which we are all certainly familiar. It's as if all the tracks have been given a shot of adrenalin becoming great companions to the originals. he brings the same industrial fury to Crossworld (a track I've never heard) with a deep guitar crunch and bubbly electronics.

 

I'm not sure what Antic is listening to, but this sounds awesome in my car, on my headphones, and on my computer. I'm certainly not an audiophile (and don't doubt what he detects), but if he feels he cannot get joy (he might get joy, I don't know) from the sound quality of this release than all I can feel is pity. I agree that the volume level of Masters of the Universe sounds a bit lower (and if we're being honest it's not as brilliant as the original), but it's certainly not a deal breaker. Also, I would love some clarification on whether this mix is the same as the one found on the Ektoplazm release. The final excerpt raises hopes that perhaps a dark industrial tinged downtempo goa album (did I check enough boxes?) may be in the future.

 

If you're a goa fan then this is an absolute must in your collection. The quality far outpaces all the drama that unfortunately went with it. Although to put a bit of a positive spin on it the drama certainly assured that it will skyrocket in value.

 

Suntrip Shop

[antic604]

I'm not sure what Antic is listening to, but this sounds awesome in my car, on my headphones, and on my computer. I'm certainly not an audiophile (and don't doubt what he detects), but if he feels he cannot get joy (he might get joy, I don't know) from the sound quality of this release than all I can feel is pity.

 

 

[technosomy]

one of the best releases for along time

[antic604]

Ok, since I was literally called out...

 

I think this album is only OK and not really essential if one has "Ultimate Experience". For me, UX was always about those twirly, wiggly, elastic melodies heard on 1st half of their debut album ("Life Support Technology", "Chameleon", "Mind Over Gravity", "Dominion") and I never cared much for their more industrial / metal side. This release sadly - again, for me - concentrates on this "harder" side, peaking with "Third Eye" which I simply can't stand - the screams, metallic clangy sounds, etc. just make my head hurt and I can't appreciate how the track dies in 2nd half in terms of energy (I could never understand those "arsy" types and their innovative arrangements ). On the other hand, the newer tracks - "Millenium Generation" in particular - strike a good (again, for me) balance in terms of my preferred mix of melodies and heaviness, even though I'd rather them trying some new sounds outside of the established UX palette... I really need to complement the "live" additions, because I can hear influence of Juno Reactor (or sometimes Nine Inch Nails?) in those atmospheric, dramatic chords that appear in intros or transitions - they add so much space and emotion! For example, "Pure Intellect" here is a much better version than the one on debut album.

 

With those being live versions and all, I can understand some imperfections in mastering or sound quality and they're there - some tracks (the beautiful "Waking Up To Chaos", "Pure Intellect" or "Chrysalis") are crystal clear - despite their 'dirty' aesthetic - while others appear muddy, clouded ("Dominion", "Crossworld"). But the biggest disappointment is (awesome otherwise version of) "Master of The Universe" which is much quieter than the rest and gets too busy in places, losing a lot of clarity. As I explained numerous times, I listen to CDs in one go and this is simply distracting - the whole energy is just gone. But maybe I'm just hearing things

 

All in all, if you can find it and have the money then by all means buy it - it's solid 3.5/5. Otherwise save up and track down a copy of original album (as a whole it's much, much better!) or download the "remaster" for free from Ektoplazm.

[Mental Explorer]

one of the best releases for along time

Yeah +1! - One of the few newer Goatrance albums I could listen completely through in one go without getting bored or needing to skip some tracks.

 

The Pure Intellect Remix is awesome :-)!!

 

However, I need to agree with Antic the "Dominion" remix and Crossworld are indeed quite muddy; for the latter some great lead synth sequences at the last third of the track are almost "eaten up".