Joey Beltram ‎– The Rising Sun

My two cents is that while there are a fistful of unquestionable techno bangers on "The rising sun", the album as a whole goes absolutely nowhere. It has no flow, and is mostly made of repetitive and recycled loops layed over uninetresting percussion and trivial bass lines. Extremely well produced though, but shallow, and to be honest, substandard for a release forged by Joey Beltram. Sure it's party material, and some of it is mighty fine to fulfill that purpose, but even when it came to pure and straight forward floor filling music, Joey delivered it much better than what's offered here.
Good news for DJs is that the album has been released as a fantastic 3xLP, so rest assured some numbers here will blow away the crowd during any proper techno party, namely and above all, Resurgence, It Works, The Rising Sun and Awaken, which simultaneoulsy mark the album's only worthwhile moments. Play it loud, turn the bass up and witness the roof tear off!

I've been a Joey Beltram fan from the early 90s. Though, I would not say I was disappointed when I heard this album for the first time, but... Joey Beltram has changed his mind into some much more commercial stuff. A lot less grounded on hard repetitive sounds than "Places", this opus is more dedicated to dancefloors. Take a four beat loop from any Daft Punk hit, let it go round and round and round with harder kicks and that's it! Target: cash and audience. My view.

Repetitive filter techno by a supposed once-master of the genre? Hang on there, this is good stuff. Yes, it's hardly a bold new step for electronica, but that isn't the point. This IS DJ orientated, but I would advice anyone into techno to seek out the "fan mix" going around on the net. This album works much better when mixed (as do most techno albums), and the filter tricks and reverse beats are used well throughout to keep things interesting, despite the incredibly simple melodies. Breakz is hideous though, a filtered guitar loop and overused breaks samples for two minutes. Shouldn't be here at all Joey, what the heck were you thinking!? Best tracks = Resurgence, It Works and Awaken.

Powerful fast Techno by one of the most talented and crafted producers ever. There are at least 3 very advanced Techno Bombs here, that sound better than anything else i heard in Techno this year. "Resurgence" shows already where Beltram will take us . The mighty Title-track "The Rising Sun" is overwhelming. "Awaken" is the best tune for the dancefloors
One could argue about Side E's 'Universal' and 'Beyonder' (Edit), already released as a 12" on Tresor 213 . Both Tunes are too fast, funky and monotone for me. The use of House Loops as the basis for Universal doesn't help to please most Techno heads. Already the next track Side F1 'Solar Storm' is a beautiful piece of work , much slower than the material before, but as effective as the title track. "Brreakz" closes this very advanced and fine produced album with some slower beats without loosing the edge.
I can understand that this album might go further than the usual Beltram Fan wants Techno to sound in 2004. Listen to it closely on a good sound system at high volume, chances are you will enjoy most of the 9 tracks. A daring piece of work and proof that Tresor still leads the way Techno can sound more than 15 years after it started out as a Club and label.

This new album from Joey is very dissappointing :(.. Doesn't come close to his past productions - Maybe i'm missing the point here ?.. Best track out of the bad bunch is 'Beyonder' and that utilises samples from a track on 'Places' - his last album with Tresor.

Back in the day Joey's name was enough to buy a record without even listening - I'll stick with Caliber(Warp), Aonox(Barramundi), Places(Tresor) they are techno classics... Compared to his past productions, this is mediocre at best.. . Sorry Joey..