Super8 & P.O.S. Present Aalto - 5

A sample, resembling a snippet of female vocal, is spinning in your mind like a paper boat in a vortex against the backdrop of a distant pulsating bass. The sample gradually morphs and blends into the background, and the bass comes to the fore. No longer a muffled thud, it now possesses an insistent juicy squelch, a bit like the good old TB303, but not as abrasive. Towards the middle, the percussion fades away, making room for an extended ambient interlude. When the beat returns, the pensive mood remains, enhanced by splashes of piano flooding the soundscape like a valley at sunset. The vocal sample briefly attempts to resurface, but the fabric of scene is already unraveling, with individual elements spinning down the vortex and vanishing one by one. In a few seconds, it's all gone.

Maori's Dark Mix drops the squelch and shortens the bass loop to achieve a harder driving sound, without losing the ambience of the original completely.

Before the release of ‘5’, Miika (Eloranta) and Paavo (Siljamäki) had built up a strong back catalogue of collaborative productions. But this production was to blow all of them completely out of the water, with a big, muscular sound not heard even on ‘Taurine’ or the epic ‘Rush’.

The Original Mix of ‘5’ is underpinned by a churning, ripping bassline that even the God of Groove himself, Andy Moor, would give anything for. Distilled into the mix are short, sharp vocal effects that dart in and out and soft keys that are used to good effect and are not lost behind the relentless bass section. The breakdown, all wailing sirens and tremor-effect bass, is something special, eventually imploding back into the groove dominated sound sprinkled with delightful piano keys, with the siren effects punctuating above them intermittently. Its hybrid sound, which simultaneously embraces the structural elements of trance as well as electro rhythms, means that it will undoubtedly appeal to a broad range of tastes. A long-time personal favourite of mine.