Reviews
HARD DANCE: FEBRUARY
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COMPILATION OF THE MONTH
Mixed by Energy Syndicate: AWsum Producer Series (AWSUM)
now flying solo, Glen Walker is swiftly becoming one of the faces of UK hard dance. Taking the reins of the electro/bassline/hard dance sound with aplomb, he has turned in numerous productions and remixes on not-insignificant labels such as AWsum and Tidy, among others. This producer series show-cases talented musicians, so don’t expect a mish-mash of ideas put together in a couple of afternoons: this is a coherent demonstration of Glen’s sound and abilities in the studio. If you aren’t into the stripped-back sound, electro drops or heavily notated riffs and big vocals then this might not be for you. Everyone else: dive in.
4/5
Highlights:
Costa Pantazis ‘Child Of The Guillotine Act 2’ (Energy Syndicate mix)
Energy Syndicate & Unit 13 ‘Perfekt Stranger’
TUNE OF THE MONTH
Rodi Style, DJ Audy & JY Jelly
Sonic (TECH FU)
Benjamin Leung is a several-trick pony, one trick being his affinity for techy beats, another being his love of riffs and trance melodies. Combining the two is a no-brainer which has come off well in the past, and I’m happy to report this excellent collaboration with the talented Audy and amusingly-titled JY Jelly is one of the best. A superb riff ripe for a full-on hard trance remix tussles happily with its softly gritty, side-chained, tech-dance core.
5/5
Download here
Ian Fitzpatrick
The Whole Shabang (NITROX)
Trade-influenced monster. This would have been a shoo-in for Ian M to be blasting out at the end of Trade 10 years ago – had it been made 10 years ago. Influenced by the harder music of the time, ‘The Whole Shabang’ is absolutely bruising. Ian has opted for simple yet effective riffs and vocal samples to complement the rolling bassline and demolition kick- drum, with a stripped-back breakdown which doesn’t give you much warning before it all goes crazy again.
4/5
Pulse Fiction & Dave Owens
Ignite Me (VICIOUS CIRCLE)
Properly on fire Nik Denton and Dave Owens have been studio partners for some time now, with Dave engineering Nik’s anthemic remixes and original tracks for Toolbox. This rare full collab is a bit of a beast, although not immediately the sort of track you’d necessarily link to the legendary VC. But when you consider Nik’s previous anthem on the label (‘Freak Right Out’) it sounds like the perfect progression. Chunky yet meaty, it’s all about the bassline.
3/5
Dutch Master
Circles (DMW)
He’s not called the master for nothing! Whether you are a fan of hardstyle or not, you have to give Dutch Master credit as he regularly turns in the best releases on his label, both the most credible and least contrived. ‘Circles’ combines an excellent vocal with a melody which isn’t far off, and a nice warmth to the drums and bass which is absent in a lot of the harder styles. Even the FX and intro synths are turned down a notch or two.
4/5
Download here
Mike Steventon
Acid (K405)
Percussive hooligan, I felt obliged to include this purely on the basis of it being rather nuts. To a hard house fan, 150 bpm isn’t all that unusual – but it is pretty odd to hear this kind of track bowling along at such a pace. ‘Acid’ does include some, but its main emphasis is on building and keeping energy through percussive use of synth sounds and a vocal stab rather than the obvious slap-a-big-riff-on-it route – much in the same way as ‘I Tech You’. I like this approach.
3/5
Download here
Aaron Olson
It’s About The Music (CONTACT)
It certainly is... Run by Matt Handy, Southern club brand Contact has followed the cutting edge of hard dance for some years now, putting on some pretty special events on one of the Solent’s 19th century forts. They’ve branched out into the label market with this fantastic double-header from Aaron Olson. ‘It’s About The Music’ is my pick of the two, a pulsing, triplet-beat tech- dance monster reminiscent of the glory days of Mauro Picotto and Joy Kitikonti.
4/5
Download here
Wizard
Twisted Dimension (EFFECTIVE)
Different, but does the job. This isn’t a million miles from ‘The Whole Shabang’, but with the brutal turned down a couple of notches. Taking some trancey elements and layering them over a Turtledog-style rolling bassline is a definite winner for me, resulting in something that sounds very different from a lot of other hard house: ethereal and almost relaxing, but still with an alarming amount of get-up-and-go. Wizard has been a standout producer of late.
4/5
Kurruption
Torn Within (BIONIC DIGITAL)
Nostalgic, beefy trancer. A decent package from the increasingly reliable and diverse label Bionic Digital. Backed with a respectably dirty and thumping Illegal Chemistry remix, ‘Torn Within’ is very much in the Shock:Force vein: huge, hands-in-the-air German trance brought up to date with a sharp smack on the backside and a tweak of the ear. The remix is about as filthy as it gets, ditching any melody and going for a Thera & Geck-o kind of hardstyle.
3/5
Download here
Nick The Kid
Enigma 2011 (Andrea Montorsi remix) (HINDSIGHT DIGITAL)
Buy yourself a sub. This probably isn’t a track you should be playing unless you have some kind of rig going on. It’s been built purely for clubs, with what sounds a bit like a thin kick and weedy bass – until you crank up those floorstanding Jamos you never use any more, when a few hurricanes spring up out of nowhere in Australia. There’s enough sub in this techy, Euro-flavoured monster to feed a US city for a year.
3/5
Download here
Diablik & Stana
I Tech You (ANALOGUE IS DEAD)
Heaving! ...not as in ‘I want to heave’, but more like, ‘Well well, that is totally heaving’. Superbly programmed, you wouldn’t have thought one riff pattern could sound this good from start to finish, as the track evolves, peaks and makes you jump about like a silly person.
4/5
April
Dreams Like This (PINK)
Backdoor bosh. Another impressive release from April, who seems to be hitting her stride more and more with her new label. Ultimately this is an uplifting track, but you do forget that for little while after the drop, when it kicks back in with some driving and energetic hard house. Think banging Mexican psy-trance with a rolling bassline and filtered synths, and you aren’t a million miles away. The solid melody returns later on for
a welcome respite.
4/5
