The Advent – Shaded Elementz

Driving Thumping Techno Madness... Gives me the bumps, love it.

I have a copy that has Record 2 x2. If anyone out there has Record 1 x2, hit me up!

Clinical techno madness from Surgeon! The way he does it is just amazing! If you ever drop this one loud on a Berghain sound system in 2020, the crowd will still roar to its adrenaline groove!!!

It's all about the Surgeon mix, when that sub kick-drum bass comes in about 1/3 of the way in, you know what I'm talking about
:-)
You're all like, doo-da-doo, than, ruh roh, and I'm lost.

My favorite "It One Jah (Surgeon Remix)" ridiculous remix. !

'Bad Boy' (Planetary Assault System rmx) F**k me what a slab of mutant funk. Killed it in big rooms back in the day & still sounds loopy as a pram full of bats. Essential techno history. Carl Cox- love ya- but the cuts not quite up to the rest.

Pity they never got the Mills remix for this.

I'm also happy to own this 15 years old record! My fav is the hypnotic groove of "It One Jah (Surgeon Remix)"! Amazin!

In my opinion one of the five best remix projects of all time. A superb quadruple vinyl release, with a truly spectacular, robotic and futuristic cover, suiting the music perfectly. A total of eight magnificent tracks, each carefully committed to a full side of a slab. This alone almost makes this potent pack a precious asset in anyone's techno case, and we haven't even gotten started on the music...
Just check the names. The who's who of 1995/1996 era all on the same release. Planetary Assault Systems and Steve Bicknell bring linear, repetitive and hypnotically minimal tracks to the table, with a special mention to It One Jah (Re:Edit), which is seriously one of the brightest genre defining, self describing minimal techno compositions ever. Incredibly dope classic. Slater's Bad Boy is more on the minimal, sparse tip than many of his full blown club friendly classics he released under the P.A.S. moniker at the time, but doesn't fall one inch behind the Bicknell rework.
Joey Beltram brings his "Places" Tresor sound in all its full glory and effect. Hard, juicy beats with wicked, rectilinear synth work. As the aforementioned album, this is executed to sheer perfection, as detailed and obsessive as he ever got.
Damon Wild drops a proper Synewave mid nineties acid builder, which just revolves around a single efferent acid lead, patiently growing and growing for over three minutes before it finally drops into a massive assault of steady beats and overwhelming acid fury. Excellent stuff, especially if you're into this sound, or the stuff Steve Stoll recorded as Storm for Djax-Up-Beats, Two On Acid, the early Voyager 8 vinyls or the beautiful Voltage 9 "Candema" release.
Moving on, Mark Bell and Cari Lekebusch bring two upbeat, percussion heavy tunes, which is to no surprise since they both remix the same track, but its the latter's take on Overseeya which shines through with the demented, experimental synth work one can find on some of Cari's earlier, more challenging vinyls, such as the highly praised EPs he recorded for Drumcide in 1997, among others. Mark Bell does a fine job increasing tension as the music progresses, creating a sensation of the track's pace increasing, while it's only the main sequence getting loaded with more detail, pressure. Anyway, both contributions are prime examples of that techno mayhem which tore clubs apart some fifteen years ago.
Anthony Child drops his early Downwards studio trickery, and delivers an incredibly deep minimal work as well, which reminds me so much of the Portion Reform project. Slowly morphing, this claustrophobic monster takes about four minutes to introduce drums in it, and then it drives itself back in the same hole it emerged from. Great pugnacious rhythm, an overall cloudy feel, with reverberating industrial overtones in the background. If you've heard Surgeon productions circa '95-'96, then keep in mind that this is not much like his earlier style, more along the way of early Dynamic Tension material, and It One Jah (Rmx) predates that label's output. Needless to say, this track is a pearl.
The last tune, courtesy of Carl Cox, might just be the weakest one here, but one has to keep in mind that after seven tracks of such quality and magnitude, it takes a near miracle to keep up with the expectations. His version of Mad Dog is mad, sure, with CJ Bolland circa "The 4th Sign" pummeling drums, and an array of acidic layers breaking against each others back atop. Not quite as cerebral and tight as anything we've been exposed to here, but bottom line is that this is one hell of a driving party track, with a large crescendo halfway through, complemented by a deviant, distorted piercing whistle sound as well. It may lean towards the acid trance spectrum more than any other tune on here, but if ripping clubs is the name of the game, then rest assured this one has more than what it takes.

In brief: if you like older, more upbeat and ballsy techno, you need this. In fact, I am desperate for a replacement copy. Not that I seriously need one, I just want it. As I previously mentioned, this whole package is so tight, and done with real passion and professionalism, it's crazy. Everything about "Shaded elementz" screams out the word 'classic': from the cover, to the music, to the mastering and the overall presentation. I give it a 5 out of a 5, and not a cent less!