Page 68 - Zone Magazine Issue 006
P. 68
MUSIC REVIEWS
Danny Slade [UK] - Dance
House
Techno
Trance
Above & Beyond feat. Gemma Hayes - Counting Down The Days (Axis Remix) [Anjunabeats] Zone Top Tune - 10/10 To say that Above & Beyond have left an outstanding legacy of work is a bit of an understatement as for many years now, these DJ/Producers have been wowing crowds with their productions, in the same way as they have been doing so with their amazing live performances all over the World, since the early days of the Trance boom in the early 00’s. ‘Counting Down The Days’ is a track that has been taken from their Billboard Dance Chart topping album ‘We Are All You Need’ and as with earlier productions they have thrown down the gauntlet once again, with the assistance of Beatport and offered a chance for any undiscovered producers out there to submit a remix of the original album track. And gain they have struck gold, this time with competition winner ‘Axis,’ and as with previous competition winners he has managed to produce a stunning rendition which showcases Gemma Hayes’s vocals to a tee and backs them with a driving synth riff which is interspersed with piano riffs and breathy multi-tracked and stereo panned vocal effects, which give it an intense yet divinely anthemic quality. It is as equally listenable to at home or in your car, as it is to, out on a packed dance floor with an army of blissed out clubbers, and I am guessing that it is this rare quality which the guys from Above & Beyond picked up on, as well as the deft studio skills that ‘Axis’ has clearly displayed and which made this release a winner for both them and us, the listeners alike.
http://www.anjunabeats.com/music/ANJ346D
Animia - Never Never Land EP [GT Digital] - Zone Top Tune - 10/10
This release brings back good memories for me many reasons, some of which I admit are selfish and some of which are more related to the style of tune that it is, which is reminiscent of the styles of hard trance that I played regularly in the first half of the 00’s. It features a speech taken from the film Human Traffic which was about a group of people who liked to spend their weekends getting wrecked and going clubbing and to house parties which was very popular for that time period as it was the era of the Superclubs, and Ecstasy was the drug of choice for a generation. The actual scene in the film where they are in a club was filmed in Escape Cardiff, a venue that our company ran and I played at regularly, and played the style of music that this release so deftly emulates. There are two tracks and one with two mixes, which range from full on driving hard Trance through to the more minimal yet still full on teutonic sound which was pioneered by people like Scot Project and Uberdruck, back in the day. You can either think of the tracks as paying homage to these days or as stand alone pieces of music. The two mixes of the title track are my favourites which both utilise the spoken sample with the Original Mix just winning by a nose with a sidechained bassline, mammoth kick drum, great lead synth line and rises and drops a plenty. ‘The Evil Within’ is another Hard Trance masterclass and features screaming synth stabs, eerie futuristic sounds, a driving backbeat and a horror film riff in the breakdown. All three are really superb examples of the Hard Trance genre and for the quality of tracks and for the many great memories, I have no problem with giving it top marks!
www.soundcloud.com/gtdigital
Yogs - Chicago [Water Tower Records] - Zone Top Tune - 10/10
As the saying goes ‘You sometimes need to go backward in order to go forward,’ and that statement sums this package up to a tee! Released on his own label ‘Water Tower Records’ Chicago based producer ‘Yogs’ has created this three track release by drawing from his own town's roots and with the ethos of House Music being something that defies the many pigeon holes that sadly people have created in order to describe differing styles and sounds of House, and to quote a much used sample “House Music is a feeling” and like when “Jack had a groove”, all those years ago in the Warehouse Nightclub, Chicago, it wasn't about genres, it was all about a rhythmic emotional beat that the DJ mixed together seamlessly and created a vibe out on the dance floor that united people and made them want to dance...”and house music was born.” There are three tracks that all feature the spoken sample ‘it began in Chicago’ and first up is the ‘Original Mix’ is a soulful rendition with pianos, a funky bassline, an electro kick drum and snippets of baritone sang male vocals, all wrapped in a smooth and effortless production style. Secondly you have the ‘Deep Mix’ which is more suited for those laid back moments on a dance floor or indeed bars and day clubs. Finally you have the ‘Tech Mix’ which beefs up the rhythmic qualities with snappier drum sounds, ride cymbals, a penetrating single note synth line and the word house repeated over and over. For me the first and last mixes are the best but to pick a favourite would be sheer folly as both sound and feel so good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQgNPiFzlIk
Mr Sam & Andy Duguid vs. Pat Benatar - Invincible (Remixes) [Magik Muzik] Zone Rating - 8/10 This track first saw the light of day back in 2010 but thanks to some rather neat remixes, it is back out again five years on and still sounding as fresh as ever. Quite bizarrely Pat Benatar is actually a female rock star who rose to fame in mainly the US in the 1080’s where she had a whole bunch of platinum selling albums which in those was no mean feat as you had to sell millions of records. She also won four Grammys so it would be fair to say that her involvement in this dance record in interesting to say the least and proves that good producers can make a great dance record as long as they use the right sample. In its new guise there are three remixes and first up is the ‘WSTLNDR Remix’ which takes you on a dubby twisted house electronica adventure with the vocal sample used sparsely and to great effect. Secondly you have the more progressive ‘Jack Eye Jones Remix’ which has a funky bassline, a swung drum pattern and the vocal is used as more of an instrument and for me it works the best as it has a more processed yet organic sound. Finally you have a Dubstep version by ‘Sound Avtar’ which although I wouldn't play it out, it is very impressive and rounds of the whole package very neatly. Was it worth a re-release is one big question and for that my answer is a resounding “Hell yeah!’
https://soundcloud.com/blackholerecordings/mr-sam-andy-duguid-vs-pat-benatar-
invincible-jack-eye-jones-remix https://soundcloud.com/blackholerecordings/mr-sam-andy-duguid-vs-pat-benatar- invincible-wstlndr-remix
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