Artist: Various
Title: SpaceDivers
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: Dropout Productions (USA/Switzerland)
Cat. #: DPCD106
Distribution: Arabesque
Date: 27 October 2006
Track listing:
01. 08’02” Master Margeritha – Quiet Place
02. 07’57” ParaClaw – Chill In The Dark
03. 07’16” Atriohm – Sun Jump
04. 08’20” Grapes Of Wrath – D’em D’Aliens
05. 06’38” Dejan - Foulek
06. 06’24” Alien Mental – Mental Blues
07. 07’38” Ocelot – Psychedelic Family
08. 10’55” Nimba – Space Earth: 2High2Drum
09. 08’48” Khusuk vs. Bius - Exhilariam
Stream: http://tinyurl.com/y7fysw (all tracks!)
Review:
The come-down…
American-slash-Swiss label Dropout Productions is out with their 5th opus – which is also their first downtempo compilation… We’re used to gut-wrenching, hard-hitting hypertrance from these guys, but now they unveil their chilled side… And as you’ll find out, this is anything but regular ambient/chill… More about that later. Let’s find out what the space divers are up to first…
Let me take you thru the tracks…
#01: Master Margeritha – Quiet Place
Swiss chill-out maestro Moreno Antognini begins the spacedive… At the time of release, his debut album Mastura (Electrik Dream Records/2007) was just around the corner, and this track is pretty much a sampler of his talent… What we get here is mellow, soothing chill-out which borders on both dreamy ambient and percussion-rich downbeat… This is a spacy hybrid show-casing everything I like about Moreno’s style… The shaman samples add a more spiritual and evidently psychedelic touch to the mix. A smooth track that will appeal to most trancers. Lovely!
#02: ParaClaw – Chill In The Dark
ParaClaw is a collaboration between Alex Ladyzanskiy (Paranoize) from Israel and Charalambos Pieris (Claw) from Cyprus. They’ve collaborated before (though not as ParaClaw) and I was really impressed with their track on the 2005 Manic Dragon Records compilation Multiple Personalities. Obviously, this track is much less hardcore, but it’s still pretty damn frightening… This is evil, haunting downbeat trance… Rich in IDM-flavour and synth-exploration which ironically is also the biggest set-back of the track… It gets too damn hectic and dark for a while there… I think these guys should stick to producing dancefloor material.
#03: Atriohm – Sun Jump
Leonid & Aleksandar Golcev from Macedonia have released a bunch of really sweet upbeat tracks, and their first venture into downbeat on A Magical Journey 2 (Ajana Records/2006) was really excellent – and so is this! This is much more refined than the previous track, and this is a very lush piece of uplifting chill-out with a serrated edge.
#04: Grapes Of Wrath – D’em D’Aliens
“I believe that the machine opened up a wormhole, a tunnel through the fabric of space-time. Also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Now because of the laws of general relativity, what I experienced as approximately 18 hours passed instantaneously on Earth. Now isn’t it true that these wormholes you speak of are theoretical predictions. There is no evidence they actually exist, is there? There is no direct evidence, no. Tell me something doctor, why do think theses aliens would go to all this trouble, bring you tens of thousands of light years, and then just send you home without a single shred of proof. They said that’s how it’s been done for billions of years. That’s very deep, doctor. You have no proof, because they didn’t want you to have any. A phenomenon known in psychiatric circles I believe as a self-reinforcing delusion.” It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Danish duo G.O.W. (Jacob Skouborg & Morten Wurtz)… Everything I’ve heard from their hands has been immensely psychedelic – and this downbeat offering is no exception… Dubby, crackling, eerie, fuzzy psy-chill filled with bite… The morphing sounds are cool, the Contact samples are chopped up into oblivion and the old-school melodic pads add to the feel-good level here… Yummy!
#05: Dejan – Foulek
Dejan Mihailovic from France has released some real sweet and kinky acid-filled tunes in the past… And kinky is just what this oddball track is… Quirky sounds, unexpected twists, turns and tweaks and a very high concentration of trippy FX… Mix that with a pinch of dub, jazz and avant-garde sampling and you’ve got something close to a description of this lovely track… I dunno what the hell it is, but whatever it is, it works wonders… This is easily the most hypnotic track thus far – and even though it’s pushing the boundaries into plain weirdness, I love it…
#06: Alien Mental – Mental Blues
US-based producer Lalith K. Rao is notorious for his über-dark, horror-filled, terror trax… I’ve had a hard time coping with some of his bizarre antics earlier, and judging by this perverse track I’m still not on the same wave-length as him… This bears little resemblance to the rest of the stuff here, and in essence it’s basically a minimal clash of noize and IDM… It’s not bad at all I’m just not sure why we need this kind of music on this compilation. I’m passing on this one.
#07: Ocelot – Psychedelic Family
American producer Aaron Peacock is a personal fav’e of mine. His VectorSelector album (Dropout/2005) still ranks high on my cool list and I’ll even forgive his somewhat disappointing Dream Selector (Vertigo/2006) album weighed against Aaron’s mostly cool, trippy output… This track is a dubby excursion into psychedelic downbeat… Gnarly FX, rich percussion and lovely synths in a fine blend – though the track seem to loose its focus for the last couple of minutes. It’s still pretty nice though.
#08: Nimba – Space Earth: 2High2Drum
Nimba is American artist Ariane MacAvoy – Goa Gil’s partner in crime and an esteemed member of such legendary acts as Kode IV and The Nommos. What we get here is lush, plush world music with a high concentration of ethno-tribal chill-out…Journey music! Perfect for smoking, tripping and sit-down-trancing… Now this is more like it… Delicious stuff!
#09: Khusuk vs. Bius – Exhilariam
Apparently Khusuk and Bius are the same person: Cayung Siagian from Indonesia, a spiritual spokesperson against the destruction of earth through industrialization. Anyway, what we get here is basically a sound collage of digital bits and pieces. Analogue synths, ambient pads, irregular percussion and odd instrumentation… It has appeal, but for the most part its way too avant-garde and unstructured for my taste… But under the right circumstances (and quite possibly, under the right influence) I’m sure this track has potential.
It’s not every day you get to listen to an actual space dive. And I gotta hand it to Dropout Productions; this compilation is unlike anything I’ve heard before. It is a VERY mixed collection of all kinds of downbeat music. From downbeat terror to virtually beatless illbient, over soothing chill-out to beautiful ambient… Diversity is cool, but ironically that’s also this compilations biggest flaw. The many changes in style and direction kill every shed of flow potential, and as such it doesn’t really work when you play it from start to finish… And that’s a shame.
There are some really great tracks here, but unfortunately also a couple of tracks that seem oddly out of place. Even for a (self-declared) open-minded music freak as myself. With that being said, let me also stress that the great tracks truly are great. And a couple of less-good tracks can’t take that away. So, for home-listening this didn’t cut it for me, but chill-out DJs and single-track-download iPod fans will most definitely find something to their liking here… Enjoy!
Favourites: 1(!), 3(!), 4, 5(!), 8(!)
DeathPosture
External links:
Dropout Productions: http://www.dropout-productions.com
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/818958
Saiko Sounds: http://tinyurl.com/y6xl6z
Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/wrdyb
Discobole: http://tinyurl.com/ss32n
Wirikuta: http://tinyurl.com/yy55bt
Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/y2n7d6
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/vgknq
PsyBuy: http://tinyurl.com/yxusl4
Play: http://tinyurl.com/y743qb