Sonic Cube - Filter

Well, here’s an album that turned out to have its' ups and downs.

Perhaps not completely taken aback Sonic Cube has me steadily set on a train to Psykedeliaville with opening track Hide when disaster hits. The most hideous euro trance sample at 4:37 totally fucking up any dedication I had. WTF?! And skipping to the next track won't put and end to my worries: That sample was no error. Has Tribal Vision gone astray?

Sure thing. Last Jedi (even the title is outrageous) trips my mind just perfect when another sacrilege enters at 3:51: “I have come for the Jedi ... they are all dead!” Delivered in a dark male voice I have no choice but immediately to ask for a pair of UV-pants and some light sticks. Holy crap!

In a sense this is worse than if it all stank. So close, yet, so infinitely far away :o(

So, the album could be skipped from here? Hell no! As it turns out Sonic Cube just wanted to place a couple of *crowd pleasers* in the beginning. Track 3 carries the same energy but without corny samples. Is this coming around still?!

Yep! Track 4 is the best and the darkest track yet. Repetitious and relentless Amnesia is not giving anything away. Dedication is required but with a sound this smooth and receptive it captures me from the outset. And any fear this will be messed up by a corny sample is impossible. This is way too good.

And so it goes. Practically the come back album of 2006. Of course, I have preferences but besides some annoying vocals at the end of track 5 (vocoded, though) all of tracks 5 to 8 more or less delivers and belts another Tribal Vision safe purchase. Sure, this is not groundbreaking stuff and most of the way reminiscent of earlier TV stuff ... but you can say that to me again when I’m dancing my bones off on the floors!

Sonic Cube (Daniel Müller & Ueli Schill) from Germany is out with their second album, this time on the progressive trance label Tribal Vision Records in the Czech Republic. Previously, also Tobias Wirz has been part of the band, but has left to work with his wellknown project called Greed. Sonic Cube released their first album three years ago on Millennium Records, but has released several tracks on various compilations, also as Sonic Soul together with Swedish Anders Nilsson, known as Andromeda, Soul Surfer, Chromosome and Airona. Tribal Vision delivers a tasty cover art as usual, with a fat booklet, including informative info about the band etc.

These guys are known for producing trippy progressive trance all the way, and that’s for sure what we get in this album too. Track one starts slow, before a groovy beat starts pumping together with mystic, floating vibes and atmospheric sounds. We also get some kind of uplifting melody in there, without falling over to the cheesy side. Track 2 is one of my favourites on this album. Some kind of mystic vibe with far out trippy sounds. I like this kind of groovy, quite hypnotic progressive trance. Track 3 goes slightly more rough. Trippy as hell, with nice use of small melodies. Pretty massive sound picture all the way, without falling over to any kind of full on. Track 4 is another one of my favourites here. Totally atmospheric, drifting vibes, which makes at least me want to fly out on the dance floor. Track 5 is a really pumping track, but goes in a little bit more electro house direction now and then. Track 6 is a groovy, quite uplifting track with a melodic vibe. The melody is sort of fluffy, still it doesn’t fall over to the cheesy side. Perfect for an early evening dance floor. Track 7 continues the melodic style, here with slightly more happy vibes. Still, the nice atmospheric, trippy vibes follows us through. Track 8 slows down a little bit. This must be the perfect summer hit for the sunny dance floors this summer. I can see myself moving under the sun at a nice festival with this one on the speakers. The most housy track on the album, still I find it trippy enough to spin for a progressive trance crowd. They finish the album with a short chill out track, including female vocals by a girl named Sabrina. Not among the most impressive chill tracks I have heard lately, but it’s nice to get a chilled ending on a nice progressive journey anyway.

Sonic Cube has luckily not gone too much over to the electro influenced house direction that many progressive trance artists go these days, but keep steady to the hypnotic, trippy side of trance as they have done before. Still, it’s easy to hear that these guys have developed their sound a lot since their first album. With other words, a quality release as usual from Tribal Vision Records. An album that will stay a lot in my CD player this year, because it suits me well for relaxing at home, and for dancing to progressive beats on the dance floor.

Hands-in-the-air, cocktail trance, cheddar and a broken jedi…

Filter is the second album by the Swiss project Sonic Cube (aka. Sonnenvakuum) which nowadays consists of Daniel Müller & Ueli Schill. (Tobi Wirz left the project to concentrate on his housy Greed-project). Most of the stuff I’ve heard from these guys has been smooth, well-polished progressive house/trance – though a few tracks have had the ever-sought-after-by-me ‘edge’. With this second album I’m hoping we’ll get more of that edge… The fact that it’s released by the very upfront Tribal Vision label would also indicate something totally fresh… Let’s find out…

It really, really, REALLY pains me to say this, but this is the worst Tribal Vision release so far… Don’t get me wrong, there are still some excellent tunes here, but overall this album wasn’t as ‘edgy’ as I’d hoped for and the good tracks kinda drown amongst the commercial tracks… In that sense this reminds me of the Gaudium and Insane Creation albums… It’s all quality music, but the clubby moments are too many for my tastes…

The cover art is also very unlike what we’re used to with Tribal Vision, but I guess in a sense it fits the somewhat commercial music pretty well… So, to conclude: Besides from the few stand-out tracks listed below, this album is probably not gonna get a lot of playtime in my house – but on the other hand I’m sure it’ll go down very well with fans of progressive trance that crosses well over into club territory… Cos in that genre, this album is definitely a hit! … Enjoy!

Favourites: 1(!), 3(!), 5, 7