How the name The Swiss Connection was decided may lie in a blur somewhere. Domo Records resides in Israel and the artists are from Europe and Israel. Well, of course, DJ Shybe is from Switzerland but that aside there doesn't seem to be any Swiss connection. Anyhow, don't let that put you off. This is a good compilation of progressive trance tracks that just begs to be played while you're cruising in an open car by a sunny beach. The sound here will create the attention you want for sure.

The conncection starts slow but track 2 sexy angel picks up the beat midways through and then it's party time. Track 3 by Freq maintains the momentum, almost minimal progressive, there's a bass, lots of FX, samples coming and going, break & build up. Freq knows how to put a progressive track together and there's a red line from this track back to his Iboga album Strange Attractors.

Next up is Psyless Groove and their track Rattlesnake Hills.
Psy-less is a telling name. Not many psychedelic FX here, this sure is naked! And a little too naked for my taste, I guess. Insane Creation follow the line of thought laid out. Stripped naked progressive. And again a little too naked for my taste. I like one more layer or a more interesting bass line.

Shaman to the rescue? No, things are kept to the core. It's not until Sven Snug and the track Pink Donut (what?!) my taste is met. A laid back, insisting bass line keeping the momentum, FX, synth accord breaking the beat. Yeah, my kind of flick. This track is awesome and perfect early in the evening. Holds all the things you are waiting for, but doesn't give it all away. You can chit-chat while listening to this song, or you can break like crazy. This album is coming through still or what?

Well, yes and no. Sensifeel's track 8 starts by sending us back, not to the future, but the beginning. Minimal'ish, stripped progressive. Why build up the expectations when you don't wanna deliver?! But then 1/3 through Sensi start to deliver. Dark, minimal, still, but now with an insisting bass and FX. Yeah, this is wha I've been waiting for! Great track even if it needed to run itself warm before I fell for it.

And that's the album, except it's not finished. There's a bonus track, a BLT remix of Antix' Free as we are. Being a bonus track and a remix one might have expected something a little different from the album, but no surprises here. Minimal, dark, proggy. A nice track still.

To round up, I have my ups and downs with this album. Track 1 is okay, track 2-3 very nice, but then it's boring until track 7-9. Well, 2 out 3 ain't bad and the tracks that work, work well.

If you like progressive kept to the core, you wanna check out this album. As for myself, for some parts of this album, I would have liked one more layer than stripped bare naked.