When I first heard this double CD from BNE, I didn't really like it, but like any good trance album, the more I listened to it, the more I liked it, now it's one of my favorite discs.
CD 1:
The first CD is fairly light. It starts out with a total morning track from Yahel (Last man in the universe). It's a great track for any DJ on dawn patrol, it's uplifting melodies are perfect for setting the mood when the sun comes over the horizon and everybody has been drained from a night of hard dancing. It gives the dancefloor a chance to relax their brains and collect their thoughts before the sunrise set gets into full swing Then comes the first Future Prophecy track on the album, Indra rmx (the original appears on Seeds of Rage). Again, same style, with two build ups, the first is pretty good as it brings with it refreshing melodies (with some fairly housy ovetones) that make you feel so good. However, the track's melody soon becomes monotonous and by the time of the second build up, you're expecting a fairly large break, which they fail to provide, the track picks up nicely towards the end, although it is only for about 40 seconds. After that, the CD picks up its pace with the Passenger remix to California Sunshine & MFG track (the original from Flying Eye Land), Breaking Through the Window (T3), bringing into the CD the hard bass that is loved all over the world. It uses some fairly common oscillator rhythms, but they're brought in by short snare rolls that help to fit it all together. Reminiscent of old Goa, this track is quite a pleasure for those who enjoy the large sounds that are synonymous with it. It's fairly old school, but I like it. The last minute and a half is beautiful, with the entire track pushing out an uplifting melody that just washes over you like pure sunshine. Enter the first Infected Mushroom Track, (Dream Theatre -T4). The intro sort of sounds like something that Sandman would do, but it soon progresses into the typical mushroom style. The cool basslines are overlaid by a melody that while it has the potential to become uplifting, is kept just menacing enough to put across the dark feeling that they started through the intro. The track just keeps getting better, with mushroom pushing out bass rhythms that groove along over a punchy kick. The track turns into pure rhythm with breaks every now and again keeping you on your toes, they slowly fade out the darkness and end it off leaving you feeling great. New Horizon (T5) by Space Cat with Ofer (Oforia) Dikovsky (T5) from Beam Me Up, follows, it is pretty pumped up and fairly dark (but not too dark, that's for the second disk), a very groovy track. It would be a pretty good choice for starting out a night set, but only if you were planning on making it quite a dark one. Then Erez goes solo as I.Zen. Blue Rhythmic Night (T6) is fairly rhythmic, (hence the title) and makes use of more discordant sounds, but somehow, they all fit together to make for an interesting track. While still using the groovy basslines from IM overlays, they make you want to grind your teeth (but to the complex rhythm that they make). Mystica have the number 7 slot on the disc with Orient Express. Again, the track is reminiscent of the old Goa days, but has a pulsing rhythm that makes it very hard to resist. The arrangements used manage to put across an oriental feel and the hard laser bass they use makes for a foot stomping dancefloor track. Ending the first CD is Papa by Diablo. It is darker than the previous tracks, just one of those tracks that leave you looking over your shoulder, not very fast, but leaves your spine tingling with the feeling that something's out to get you. It's sets the scene very nicely indeed for the second CD.
CD2
The second CD is my favorite out of the two. It is mostly dark and fairly hard (my two favorite things in trance: dark & hard). It start off with Sandman's STP, there is no way that you could mistake this track for anyone else than Itzik Levy himself. The rhythms twist and turn in true Sandman fashion, while not the hardest of tracks, it is pure magic to listen to. The sounds are amazing and although slightly reminiscent of Witchcraft are far more progressed, the voice sample "Are you scared?" is perfect as this track could scare quite a few people. I love it. Oh, and the breakbeats he throws in every now and again are just so tasty (and unpredictable). From here on in, the CD grabs hold of your mind and lets rip with it. Future Prophecy have their second on the compilation (At the Rim of Chasm part 1, T2, from Shadows). Gone is the uplifting and in it's place is a solid kick and a super rhythmic bassline, oscillating like crazy, it is impossible to sit still while it's playing. This track has attitude and is great for a dancefloor full of trance junkies. About halfway through the track, the melody steps up an octave and suddenly you're flying (You find yourself asking when exactly this happened!!). Then BNE's two brightest stars Space Cat and Infected Mushroom team up for the next track (The Fly, T3). Cat on Mushroom brings to you a delightfully dark yet pumped up and twisting track. The intro has you huddling in your seat with sounds from a psychotic fly...in steps the kick and the track is on it's way. With more sounds from the psychiatric fly hospital being put over a very interesting snare the track starts to get a life of it own. This track would kill a dance floor, with it's winding melodies and darkly groovy basslines you're guaranteed to have at least half the crowd screaming for more. Just to top it off, once everything's in place, they take out everything and bring back the dark intro in the form of a break, then they just let rip with the track. The result is a brain turned to mush. Definitely one of my favorite tracks of 1999! Then comes X-File (quirk '99 rmx) by Chakra and Eddie Mis (T4) (appears on Psychedelic Krembo 4). Although I like this track a lot, I don't think that it should have been put after the Cat on Mushroom track, as it is a slight come down from that. Next up is one of the most interesting Mushroom collaborations I've yet to see. Infected Deedrah- My Mummy Said (T5). It's dark, it's hard and best of all it's got that tick tock type of rhythm that makes a trance party march like a bunch of maniacs. Dado brings to IM a sound of technology that when laid over Mushroom's spiritual basslines and sounds, just drowns your senses in insanity, I don't know if psychedelic is the right word for it, but it's the closest I can find. Just as the track starts to get monotonous, they bring in a break with Sigorney Weaver from Alien Resurrection, telling us that her mummy was wrong when she said there were no monsters- not for the faint hearted!! Then Diablo appear again. Hop She Goes (T6, from Insufficient Memory) starts of with a voice sample that ends up as some type of twisted lullaby or nursery rhyme. Then in come a kick and bassline that grind you into a pulp, interspersed throughout the track are tortured screams and a man shouting "can anyone hear me?". Definitely a track for the middle of the night, the delayed snares are used really well for fillers in the track. Five Minutes into the track they create an almost total silence and then come back in with a vengeance using one of those really slow foreboding melodies. Slam are up next with a track titled Oriental Mono (Arabian Techno Tribe rmx.) (T7). The beat starts straight away and from there it only progresses. Some great sounds are used in this track, I especially like the wailing siren, at times it can get fairly monotonous, but just as it starts to get to much they change the track. What really impressed me with this track is that one oscillator they've used sounds almost like someone chanting. Most of the way through the track, they have this great melody going, it sounds like a cross between an eastern adventure movie and a Sci Fi flick, it's fairly experimental but I like what they're doing. Jorg Kessler, Amit Duvdevani and Erez Aizen team up to make what is in my opinion the most dynamic track I've ever heard (The Messenger, also in Kum Haras). It starts out with chilled out breakbeats that dispel all the dark that's been gathering, and let you relax. Before you know it you're feeling good again and then they bring in the real beat. A hard and fast kick that has classical melodies flying past it with weird and warped voices coming from nowhere, the track chops and changes between beats and speeds of beats, but still manages to stay in harmony and even better, it's amazing. I'm a big fan of the Shiva Shidapu days, so seeing (hearing) Jorg team up with Mushroom is a pleasure for me. This track would be perfect for the Classical Mushroom Disk as it has the whole feel of a court in renaissance times. It's beautifully put together and somehow the jazzy wind instrument (maybe a clarinet, not really to sure though) even fits in. It's incredible! Hard to explain really, you have listen to it. |
