Here we are with Czech progressive label Tribal Vision's 10th cd release. Tribal Vision Records formed in the beginning of 2004 has come a long way since its establishment by DJ Slater And DJ Schwa. Tribal Vision has craved a niche for itself in a comparatively short span of time introducing a new sound to the psychedelic spectrum with their unique crossover between different progressive styles (house, trance and electro!!). After the massive success of Lime Light released last year I cant wait to hear what the dancefloors have in stock. Just one thing before getting to the review, "Dont attempt to put these tracks into strict progressive genres, some call it house and some call it trance, make up your own mind."

And bang we have Czech artist "Roman Rai" opening the compilation without wasting any time on Intros, who needs them anyways, "Inspiration" has a really sweet clubby summer groove with that "Ohh yeah" vibe, there couldnt have been a better opening. Next we have "Fitalic" who has released tracks on top progressive labels like Bedrock, Plastik Park, Iboga and Plusquam, "Manufactured Miracles" is all about Inca gatherings, bouncey basslines and excellent percussion along with some humming female vocals bits, this might be a preview to what we can expect from Robin's upcomming album on TV. I dont quite remember hearing any of German artist "Ryan Halifax's" earlier works but Iam digging "Give And Get" for its disco reincarnation, retro pads and solid house grooves. Notching the tempo a lil' higher the Swedish progressive duo Omar and Jason from Sweden with their project "Tegma" who recently launched their 3rd solo album on Tribal Vision give us 50,000 Watts of Funky-Tribal-Electro-Progressive-Psychedelic House, A pure 132 BPM dancefloor ruckus, I smell loads of cheese in here but none of the cheap cheddar type only imported avant garde Blue.

Andy from Israel with his project Sonify needs to get special attention, I have personaly been following his works with great intrest and trust me things have just got better by the quintal, no wonder we have jokes saying he is the next Simon Posford!!, "Groove Seductive" is full of electronic twirls and swirls, phat electro house at its creative best. Digging further Progressive House manufactures Greed and Sonic Cube give us a straight up Electro-House tune that would go down well on the dancefloors but I fail to see anything different here as compared to their earlier works, moreover the vocals get too cheesy for my taste. "Brisker & Magitman" who are the Israeli psytrance duo Elec3 show us their latest progressive avatar that has generated loads of buzz among the progressive circles, although i think the track suffers the Dnox and Beckers hangover which iam getting pretty bored of. Travelling South towards the end of our journey we are greeted by "Solead" a genetically modified progressive offspring to its psytrance parents "Triptych and Motion", "Lay Down" has a heavy progressive-electro atmosphere that turns extremely psychedelic after around 4 minutes with its long break clocking nearly a minute. Good things always come to an end, The last track from progessive trance biggies Vibrasphere treats ones senses to a beautiful and epic piece of melodic proggy trance with a hypnotic bassline that just sucks me into the Vibrasphere black hole, remove the male vocals and we have pure Gold.

The compilation's one sweet monster, thumbs up to Slater for this unique fusion of progressive sounds. Iam sure a lot of effort and planning has been put into releasing Lime Light 2. LL2 is surely gonna pull different EDM crowds into the moshfloor with its crystal clear production standards, uplifting grooves and quality packaging. Dont skip this one!

Favourites - 1,3,4,5,8

When the first Limelight came out on Tribal Vision nearly 1,5 years ago it immediately got me hooked on their style of trance/house music.
Now they just released Limelight 2 & here's a track-by-track review:

1: Just like Tribal Vison itself Rai operates from Prague in the Czech Republic. This is one of his best productions to date & that’s mainly due to the very nice percussion-arrangement.
Groovy, clubby house with a touch of class.

2: Ever since my first encounter with Fitalic (“Bustanovice” on “Prooved vol2”) I’ve been very keen on his out-put. And once again he delivers the goods: multi layered UK-progressive with exact balance between growling bass lines & sexy moaning. Highly addictive stuff!! This Dutch Master will release his full album on Tribal Vision in the very near future, don’t miss it!

3: As with most of Ryan Hallifax' productions you either love or leave it. And I just love this to bits: a shifting vocal-loop, cutting up “What you give is what you get” into a hypnotic mantra over a roaring mechanism. If you really want a reference, try “Star69” by Fatboy Slim, but then way better music wise. People who dislike vocal-samples in trance (like Neelix) better steer clear of this one, but to me it’s one of the most obvious standout-tracks.

4: Sh*tg*d*mn, what a track: my definition of Electro House with electronic bliiips & bops everywhere and something that most tracks in this style seem to lack: an energetic climax. Add some rough, hovering bass-lines & the catchiest hook since Ticon’s “You make me wanna drink more” This one has got it all & proves once more that Tegma are far from one-trick-pony’s. No fast trancy stuff like on AvantGarde or no ethnic instruments like on their last (brilliant) album, these guys just keep innovating their sound.

5 Sonify starts/stops/starts out very promising & succeeds in keeping this up throughout the whole track. A cool concept, with sounds that keep on dropping in & out of the track. But, somehow it’s not entirely convincing me (yet). Could be just because the competition on this compilation is very though?

6 I really do love the trademark Sonic Cube-sound with the shifting keys, happy vibes & disco-sounds. It’s pretty original, especially the climaxes are just delicious & I’m still enjoying their full album from some months ago.
Unfortunately, sometimes they tend ruin it for me with their vocoder-vocals from the Swiss cheese-factory and sadly this is not exception. Nothing against vocals but at least drop that tiresome vocoder maybe?

7: Another highlight by Brisker & Magitman, a progressive duo from ISR surprise-surprise, previously releasing on SOG . This one really grabbed my attention & what it lacks in melody, it makes up for in very Phat & addictive rhythmic variations that get you head-nodding instantly. Indeed, it’s has one of those other electro elements, which is only used very rarely: a wonderful B.R.E.A.K. 100% indoor & outdoor-proof! More of this please…

8 Solead is up next. One of the very few tracks I'm not entirely happy with the production. The hi-hats, hisses & waves of white noise seemed a bit to harsh & sharp for me. A shame because the actual music isn't bad at all: very deep, atmospheric house with clubby, female vocals.

9 Very nice & floating progressive trance as usual from Vibrasphere, with dreamy soundscapes & warm waves. It’s still very good but I can’t shake the idea they should explore some new territory in the near future.

Conclusion: This is Electro House (Progressive Trance) in all it's glory. God, I hate that name, but I love that sound. Kick out the glow-in-the-dark Ganesha's & incense and bring on the disco-balls, sunglasses & smoke-machines. If you 're a dj, get your hands on this & you too can be D-Nox OR Beckers, 2 guys who would have felt right at home here.
This combines the dreamy “rock-to-the-beat”-progressive journeys with the juicy, classy & sexy styles of the clubs. Perfect for home listening as well & people with a background in electronic music will certainly recognize some of the sounds & samples used here.
My only point of criticism is the vocoder-trend, but I won’t get into that any more. Personally I’d be more interested in some experiments with breakbeats. Buts as long as people like Tegma, Fitalic and Brisker & Magitman are involved there won’t be any lack of creativity.
With more than half of the tracks being straight winners what more can you say than: a great compilation from Tribal Vision, again!