Timmy & Tommy are no strangers to infectious, club friendly techno grooves and this latest on Oxygen Recordings is even more epic than their previous work together. This young Irish duo have had releases land on Full Tilt Recordings (their own imprint I believe), Coldharbour Recordings, Armada and now Oxygen!
Repercussions is an epic monster of a track, doing much damage with very little. Much like their previous massive club hit Full Tiltin, this track meanders through dark and grimy sounds, and it’s slower than anticipated pace truly creates an atmosphere of anticipation and anxiety. Pair that up with some industrial claps and percs and you’ve got all the trappings of a massive club smasher that would destroy an underground club!
Making their debut EP release on Dangerbox Recordings, we welcome “Second Way” with their two track EP titled The Friend.
This release has the perfect balance between soft progressive grooves and rough edgy basslines, a balance that is becoming harder and harder to find for many of today’s young producers. Second Way brings us two melodic tracks with a twist of dirt and pride in them along with a remix from Teana & Tilda. Teana & Tilda provide a soft progressive version of Second Way’s monster “The Friend Always Remains The Friend.”
Adding to the release’s charm is the cover art, something that sets apart Dangerbox from other labels. This is truly a visual and audio pleasure. Read on past the break for some high quality samples and be sure to vote for your favorite!
Armada’s A&R man Ruben de Ronde returns to MusiCritics.com with a lush progressive trance number that’s already making waves. It’s seen airplay on Armin van Buuren’s A State of Trance radioshow (ASOT 448) and now it’s gracing our review pages! Clearly, this is the greatest award any release can receive, is it not?
But I digress. The last time Ruben was here he was chartering a deep and groovy sound, not unlike something Klinkenberg might peddle, and this time around he lightens things up slightly and amps up the energy levels with a faster paced tempo. This track is 1 part melodic trance, 2 parts minimal techno and 3 parts groovy ass-shaker. On remix duties we have a Neuroscience Recordings staple, Paul Rigel, who decides to expand on the original trance elements to create something that is packed full of atmosphere and unique production elements, while remaining firmly planted on the trance tip.
Read on past the break to hear the high quality samples of each version. Also, be sure to vote for your fave!
At the beginning of this year, the idea of opening up John Askew’s extensive back catalogue and making it available to some of the world’s best remixers was first discussed. As soon as it was announced there was a rush of producer interest as they all wanted to remix their favourite tracks. Fortunately Discover has managed to accommodate almost everyone and the album many are describing as “the trance release of the year” is almost upon us.
John Askew “Rediscovered” will get its full release at the end of May and includes anticipated remixes from Tyas, Patterson, Activa, O’Callaghan, Colontonio, Datt, Kearney and Downey to name just a few. In the meantime Discover White are releasing a series of four samplers to give you a selective taste of the delights that are to follow.
On the cover of this first of four samplers are remixes from Activa, Gary Maguire, ReOrder and Haris C. New and old meet in this four track banger, and each remix is truly unique with a few twists and turns you would not normally expect from Discover. Askew’s catalogue has always been exciting and innovative and it just got even better…….
Read on for high quality samples and for your chance to vote for your favorite!
Another release lands in our lap from little known Refuge, a dutch label run by DJ Milo.nl. This isn’t the first I’ve heard of the label, but if you’re reading this Milo, you might want to make it easier to find your label’s releases online….I can’t find a single shred of evidence that the label exists. But I digress…
This release is a moody affair, melting a reserved pace with emotional lyrics to create a track that gets under your skin and finds its way to your soul. If you’re looking for more than the original’s progressive vibe, then be sure to give Nick Larson’s version a listen as it gets a complete rework with massive stabs and chopped up vocals. It’s a huge atmosphere builder and rounding this out is Ron van Den Beuken’s remix. It elevates the original into a driving tech trancer.
Read on past the break for high quality samples and for your chance to vote for your fave!
“
Lexar is to Memory as Peanut Butter is to Mouth... ” - Andre
8/10
Fris! is one of my favorite progressive labels, and that’s due entirely to the presence of the venerable Ad Brown, and these two producers, Whelan & Di Scala. This time around Fris! drops an absolutely storm of a release with Whelan & Di Scala’s latest effort, Lexar.
If you’re a photog junkie like myself (here’s my flickr page) you’ll instantly recognize the name Lexar, and I’m guessing these blokes must know the name too, as it’s really the only reference to the name I can find. Regardless, this track is a storming beast that kicks things off with a very understated tech groove (as do most their productions), but by the midsection we’re floating in symphonic trance bliss.
Once you hear the melody in the breakdown, you’ll instantly fall in love with the track. On remix duties is Beat Service, a young Estonian producer who caught my attention last year with his remix of Nothing Less on Real Music Recordings. His version is a little more techy, a little more 4 to the floor and not quite as powerful as the original, but banging nonetheless.
Read on past the break for high quality samples of each version!
The dynamic dance duo from Deutschland are back at it again! With massive recent hits in 2009, these two have been busy touring the world and appearing in just about everyone’s live (and radio) sets. 2009 saw them release to much fanfare, a stellar artist album that included massive tracks like Flatline, Not Enough Time, Sign of the Times and Under Your Spell. I’m sure you’ll agree with me when I say that IT was the stand out trance album of the year.
This new single entitled Barra once again confirms their professionalism and continuous drive to deliver outstanding quality. Barra is one of those fantastic big room tracks that will certainly warrant many ch00n signs. The track kicks off with a growling bassline that’s slowly morphed into a euphoric soundscape that you simply cannot escape. Try as you might, you’re getting sucked into this one for the full 7 minutes. Attached to the original is an edit that clocks in at under 4 minutes, and makes me wonder if this is really a radio edit disguised as a plain edit…
Read on past the break for a high quality sample of the Original Mix, you don’t need to waste time on the edit.
“
Wildflowers, eh? More like Wild Hours! ” - Andre
9/10
Is this shade of red becoming more and more familiar yet?
Suncatcher joins Enhanced after impressing during 2009 with several standout releases. With several remixes and originals in the pipeline for 2010 on Enhanced he kicks off his account with two superb uplifting trancers.
Heading the package is Wildflowers. Packed with soaring pads and blissful piano lines, backed up by a beastly bottom end this is a real crowd pleaser. With a huge breakdown, giving one of those classic hands in the air moments, this will no doubt be a stand out track for the young producer. The flip see’s Ocean City up the pace and intensity with its no holds barred approach and quite blistering main lead.
An incredibly strong double header from this young talent; and this is just the start of things to come; 2010 will be a great year for him. Read on past the break for some high quality samples!
“
Outside the box, eh? Soul soothing, yay! ” - Andre
8/10
After last year’s Dopamine Theory, label owner Eelke Kleijn is back again on Outside the Box Music with a brand new 3-track EP. The title track ‘The Way That You Are‘ is reminiscent of Eelke’s earlier sound in tracks like 8 Bit Era and Where Are My Goggles. The soaring guitar lead however, takes this track up a notch, and where earlier tracks were a bit funkier this one is definitely big room material.
DAVI, who featured on the label before with his Minor EP in 2009, has remixed The Way That You Are and we are extremely pleased with the result! If the original is a bit too much for you, you might very well like this more dubbed out (but peak time non the less) version.
Last but not least, Eelke’s track ‘Ring The Bells’ is included as well. This is a more unofficial follow up to Dopamine Theory, and has that typical techno ish groove but with a dose of melody on top. Very hypnotic, soothing, energizing and definite club material.
Read on past the break for some high quality samples of the 3 tracks!
Previewed just this week by Ferry Corsten and Armin van Buuren on their respective radio shows, this smashing track is the latest in Sander’s arsenal of club destroying tunes. With a title like Daisy, I’ll have to assume this is in relation to his appearance at the Electric Daisy Carnival in California this past summer (a festival where our very own Aaron attended!).
This track is once again a progressive melting pot of tech house, trance and electro fused together to create a rather surprisingly well balanced and homogeneous audio experience. If you’d like to get a sneak peek at the track, he’s posted a solid 3 minute sample of this beast to his SoundCloud account. The track sees a Beatport release on Feb 16, 2010!
Head on over to hear it before the rest of the world does!
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Timmy & Tommy are no strangers to infectious, club friendly techno grooves and this latest on Oxygen Recordings is even more epic than their previous work together. This young Irish duo have had releases land on Full Tilt Recordings (their own imprint I believe), Coldharbour Recordings, Armada and now Oxygen!
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