Ronen Dahan (PerPlex), with his fourth installation, takes trance to its familiar places, with panache, elegance, and a little help from some friends.
The album kicks off with Thunder (T1), co-written with Visual Paradox. A simplistic, yet powerful opener, with a deep, low rolling bassline, a pounding kick and an exquisite buildup with those choir boys singing, old Goa never looked so new. Complex (T2) is a progressive tune, with a rolling bassline, fluffy sounds and a cool, mellow opening, which surges into a full scale morning tune, with an unmistakable lead sound to take you towards the sunrise, with some nice pads to give it a morning feel. To (T3), another progressive tune with a touch of full-on with a mellow kick-bass combo, great loop work, and an altogether feel of the sun shining, the breeze blowing and the people are dancing. Slightly monotonic, it's one of the weaker tracks on board this album. T4, Control, is a sweeping dancefloor hit, with dramatic leads from start to end, a groovy, pushing bassline and a great sensation. Not the strongest track here, but still has great sound and dance-floor potential to it. Tina Bell (T5), opens with a winning sample, a cool synth line and moves on to be one of the best tracks in the album, with an interesting bass-line/bassdrum games. A mellow track, yet pretty powerful and will work rather well in any hour. When you listen to Ice Glass (T6), imagine a cold ice cube rolling in your mouth. A cool, calm track, with excellent percussion work, and an overall good groove. Another Dancefloor hit, soon to rock your world. Life Style is arguably the best track in the album. Co-written with Intergalactic, it incorporates the groove of progressive, the broken loops of techno, and the roaring kick and leads of Full-on. A perfect blend, coupled with some excellent samples, it is, with no doubt, the perfect track in this album. PerPlex's vision of a Dream (T8) is, indeed, a dreamy track. Soft melodies, sweeping leads, groovy bass, and yet another winning sample. With caressing synths and pads, this one will etch itself into a lot of people’s memory. Bearing the album title, Offbeat (T9) is an eclectic, eerie track, with weird, plastic sounds, and a scary movie feel to it. Albeit the suggestion given by its name, the track lacks any offbeat maneuvers, leaving any jazz enthusiast with half his desires met. Still, a great track, none the less. The finale, given to us by both PerPlex and Bog of Visual Paradox, Electric Therapy is a brilliant finishing touch. Slow, deep bass, lined in with terrific percussion work and bubbly sounds, it is a splendid finishing touch. |
