Ed Rush & Optical / Trace* & Optical – Socom

The most different sounding is Kridian, a cute housey roller, tight and not trying to rock the boat too much.
The standout to me has to be the funk of the title track, but all these tracks have a sound of the final pieces made in opticals old studio. They sound great to my ears, a sound all to their own. I think they hold up to the test of time.

Sounds better 33rpm... then again my taste for dnb is very selective

You know you've made a versatile EP when everyone's still comparing their favourite tracks years later.

imo Kridian is the killer cut here, probably one of the most minimal and hypnotic tracks from the Virus catalogue. Borderline techno - essentially foreshadowing the stripped-down technoid material that would dominate the underground in a couple of years.

The other tracks are great as well: Socom is another worthy contender for the best track, delivering a straightforward stepper with a driving bassline - the notes that come in around 0:33 make the track for me. Mercury Switch is a nice Tramen roller with some oldskool key hits, definitely reflective of Trace's output during that period with some hints of the Virus sound. The only track I don't come back to that often is Crash; not a bad track by any means, but it gets overshadowed by cuts like Kridian and Socom for me. Not sure why they didn't swap it out for Syringe from the promos.

Overall a solid EP, can't go wrong with the trademark Virus sound!

...only the old ed&op are quality, but there is one track on this ep that awesome: it´s the track mercury switch with trace (killer).

kridian is the tune on this ep.