V/A - Speed Of Light (Magma Records 2004) CD [Full review!]

DeathPosture · August 14, 2004

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V/A – Speed Of Light

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Artist: Various

Title: Speed Of Light

Format: CD (jewel case)

Label: Magma Records (Italy)

Cat. #: MGMCD 002

Distribution: Ajuca Productions (U.K.)

Date: June 2004

Track listing:

01. 06’30” Flashback vs. Virus – Chemical Brain

02. 07’53” Golikem - Patafrax

03. 06’31” Vik On Injection – R2D2

04. 06’52” Insect Sun - Inertia

05. 07’35” Parasense – Animal Turn

06. 08’11” Suria – Sky Stone

07. 07’21” Parasense – Amnezing Tango

08. 07’25” The Misted Muppet - Odessey

09. 08’57” Noga - Precious

Review:

Lasagne trance!

Magma Records (based in Italy) is out with their second compilation called “Speed Of Light”. Just like the first compilation; “Spaghetti, Pizza And Psychedelic” this CD was released without much publicity – well, at least I didn’t hear much about it when it came out a couple of months ago… But on this compilation, Magma line up some pretty impressive names, so I think it’s worth a review (though the cover-art is an eye-soar… Yuk!)… Let’s see what the Italians are up to…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: First up is a track by Flashback & Virus – An Italian dude and a Greek dude… I have no idea whether they are upcoming producers or veterans!?… But this is night trance – stripped down to the basics, and with a minimal structure with hints of full-on sprinkled lightly on top… Loads of industrial sounds and your typical darkish FX… It’s not a bad track per se – I just can’t find anything memorable about it… Run of the mill track!

#02: Golikem is the moniker of Italian producer Paolo Passerni, and this track is a preview of his upcoming album (actually it might already be released – I dunno!)... We start out in breaks-territory and it soon evolves into a percussion driven, odd-ball track… Very stripped down, and rid of all ‘unnecessary bleeps and acid squelches’ – you wouldn’t want to confuse this with a psy-track, right? With all fairness, let me stress that this is not a bad track – it’s just not very psy, and this is supposed to be a psy-trance compilation right?

#03: Viktan + Cyber Cartel = Vik On Injection... I’m not sure I would have used the word ‘on’ here… ‘Featuring’ sounds less fruity, but that’s a whole different story… Anyway, this is the Star Wars track complete with both voice samples and the sound of light-sabres and tie-fighters … And as the title suggests, R2 is also present… This is a full-spectre night-time trance track with loads of different ideas – not hugely original, but effective none the less…Oh, and Sebulba from Phantom Menace makes an appearance or two here as well… “Slimo!” Great track, I like it!

#04: Next track is by Insect Sun from Israel who released an album on Balloonia a couple of years ago… This track is also best enjoyed at night – it’s pretty basic in structure… A dark and simple, yet stomping bassline + some synth effects, a little percussion and the occasional acid-riff… This is a little too stripped down for my taste… Average track!

#05: Parasense, the infamous Russian trance duo is up next… Alex & Victor have experience massive success the last couple of years with their 3 albums and numerous tracks on compilations… And thanks to that, this track helps lift this compilation to higher grounds… Animal Turn has a dark, eerie feel to it – the trademark of Parasense… I dunno how they incorporate all those demented FX into their tracks… It must be something in their vodka-supply. Water? It’s gritty, it’s improper, it’s even vulgar – and I like it… Sweet track!

#06: Portuguese producer Suria has released two albums already, and is best known for his uplifting full-on style… ‘Sky Stone’ is of a somewhat darker nature though - but I think it will work wonders on the trance floors at night…For home listening it’s a little to anonymous for my taste though… Average track!

#07: More Russian delights on this amnezing tango! Remember some of the really weird polka stuff on the ‘Past Present Future’ album? – Well, this could easily have been on that album… Also, I hear a little Wizzy Noise in this track – and that’s not bad at all… It’s weird, it’s dark, it’s bizarre – it’s good! Very, very twisted, complete with digital drops, tribal’esque percussion and an evil, haunting bassline… Me gustas mucho!

#08: And now for the highlight of this compilation… The Misted Muppet! They’ve just released their outstanding debut album on Trancelucent Productions, and here’s is more stuff in the same vein… This track has that “what-Infected-could’ve-sounded-like-if-they-didn’t-changed-direction” sound – without being plagiarism… This is multilayered, night time full-on with raging acid-lines, rapid melodies and dark, pumping bass and percussion… To top it of the build-up/climax parts are excellent… Perfect track!

#09: “My preeeeecious!” Last up is another Israeli, Noga! … As you might have guessed from the title, this track has Gollum-samples, but they are very well-fitting… This is not as dark as the rest of the compilation… I guess the sun is setting after a dark night, and Noga brings us some lighter melodies - but still with a distinctive, dark edge… The bassline is subtle and good, and the overall feel is happy… I really dig the spacey part from 3’20 to 3’47 + the take-off near the end – that shit can mess with your brain…Beware! Very nice ending to this compilation…

After a weak start, this compilation really picks up for the second half of the disc… Right, so we have 3 excellent tracks – 2 nice tracks and 4 not-so-good tracks… If DJ Nicholas (who compiled the thing) had thrown in just a couple more good tracks, this could easily have been a top-notch, essential compilation… However, the tracks that ARE good are in fact so good, that I would seriously encourage anyone with a taste for darkish, twisted, psychedelic night trance to check out this compilation… It deserves more attention than it has gotten!

Favourites: 3, 5, 7(!), 8(!!), 9(!)

DeathPosture

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