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• Electronic Music
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• OLD SKOOL LOVERS '80 - '93

Last Atlant, The - Cloudburst Of Colours - 07-Sep-08 09:03 AM
After 18 years of listening to electronic music, I often think that it takes a lot for me to be surprised by anything new, as it seems most of what I hear nowadays has this “heard before” feeling coming out of it. Sometimes though, albeit too rarely, a nice surprise comes out of the blue, and “Cloudburst” is one of them. OK, this is unashamedly ambient/soft trance styled, and we’ve heard zillion of things in that vein. But this is done in a very sincere, personal way, never trying to please coffee-table crowds nor aiming at the corporate advertising market. Each track delivers loads of strings and choirs, giving the whole album a real soothing, shimmering feel, but at the same time basses have been worked and crafted with care, giving “Cloudburst” an edgy feel that is often missing on home-listening albums. After a couple of careful listens, “Cloudburst” seems to come alive of it own and get you hooked on melodies that fly around your head for days, providing the most exquisite feelings. Just lovely! I will be listening this album for a very long time.

DJ Spinback & Storm* - Oldskool Rewinds Vol. 1 - 07-Sep-08 09:00 AM
Despite a rather terrible artwork and title, this is a fantastic, fantastic compilation. Expertly mixed, and with a spot-on collection of real underground gems, this one is amongst the finest old skool compilations ever. The choice of cuts is astounding; with cuts from yesteryear we usually don’t see anywhere else. Best of all, though, is the mixing. Most old skool compilations and download mixes around tend to fit in as many tracks as possible, resulting in a mismatch of sounds and clashes of melodies, with the best part of some tracks faded-out after 2 minutes, in complete ignorance of what it takes to enhance a tune in a mix. Here we have the exact opposite: 15 tracks per record only, which means we get to hear the best part of each track, and the mixing is still incredibly tight, with loads of Bukem-style mad crossfadings, which, just like the great LTJ, take place during rhythm-only part of the tracks, thus never destroying the melody part of a track.
The makers of this one know their subject, and love the tunes; it shows here in the most impeccable way. I am glad to own this compilation, and my only regret is that although I’ve been checking regularly since it came out, it seems we will never be graced with a “Vol.2”. Shame, really!

Virgo - Free Yourself - 08-Nov-05 10:21 AM
Everybody's has his favourite, but "R U hot enough" is the one for me here. OK, the sound is not that good, the production level is low BUT : what you get here is a real corker of a tune which starts with looped pianos, fierce drums (remember, this is 1986), then mourning strings rise in the background, and finally synth stabs build some more tension, only for some more strings to soothe it all at the same time.
What is soul? This is, I'm not going to argue about it!
It must have sounded like it was beamed from Mars on dancefloors, back then.

Difficult to speak about music that must be heard to be believed.

Fabio - 08-Nov-05 10:05 AM
Well, having been a member at RAGE in London I was never going to escape dropping a comment on Fabio, RAGE's original resident alongside Grooverider, innit? He was one of the first in the UK to play Energy Flash, then Mentasm and week in week out he helped the music progress towards Hardcore, then Jungle Tekno, then Jungle and finally Drum & Bass. Actually, he did embark on breakbeats even before Grooverider, but it's Groove who got the "Godfather" nickname because he was playing harder and got away with that.
Fabio was also resident with Bukem at the legendary Speed club in 95, being the king of ambient jungle then.
Anyway, Fabio has been hugely influential on the UK scene for a mere 18 years now, so, as they say, Respect is due!

Various - Relics - A Transmat Compilation - 08-Nov-05 06:57 AM
Detroit at its finest. Many hard to find rarities sit alongside more common tracks, all of them linked trough small pieces courtesy of Derrick, give to this compilation a true album feel, that you want to listen to from start to finish in one go. Beautiful soundscape and darker grooves alternate perfectly. This music comes from (what was at the time, 87-92) one of the hardest city in the world, yet I put it on myself to escape unpleasant realities.
And I should give Habdul Haaq a very special mention for the artwork on the sleeve ; as usual with him, otherworldly graphics that, if you look carefully, will take you on another planet, for real!

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