Abasio's Review of 2007

[abasio]

The year is up, the music has been released & I've tried to listen to as much of it as I possibly could. 2007 has been a great year for music & my favourite track list was far too long and had to be cut down to make a mix under 3 hours & 30 minutes. I took my favourite tracks & put them into a mix, the mix to everyone else might come off as being very random but because I love every single track I love it. Despite the shitty mixing in the first hour the tracks are all superb & that more than makes up for it. The mixing improves in the more chilled middle & the ambient end.

 

Here's the link to download Abasioの2007

 

Tracklist

 

1. Fizzy - Hymn in Honor of Symphonics

2. Scorb - Tower of Klorox

3. Sienis - What Duh Hekk?!

4. Solar Fields - Cruise

5. Tea Chairs - Chillingham Cheese

6. Weird Alchemy - Tzump In (Tea Chairs Remix)

7. Prosect - Dr. Ivan And The Mad Peyote

8. Eat Static - Brassneck

9. Tea Chairs - Turikaner

10. Solar Fields - Brainbow

11. Sienis - Form Another Perspective

12. Tea Chairs - Cruise Wide Open

13. Solar Fields - Kick Back

14. Younger Brother - Happy Pills

15. Shulman - Invention

16. Solar Fields - Air Song (Androcell Remix)

17. The Orb - A Beautiful Day

18. Younger Brother - Psychic Gibbon

19. Asura - La Chanson De Carla

20. Subgardens - Asleep Clockmaker

21. (Val)Liam - Perfectly Rational

22. Zero Cult - Part of Rapture

23. Asura - Golgotha

24. Amos - Flacktsystem

25. Sync24 - White Pixels

26. Spielerei & Mantacoup - After the Shockwave

27. Cymphonic - Unfoldment

28. Mathias Grassow & Thomas Weiss - Language of Silence

29. Cymphonic - River Styx

 

Reviews of each track

 

1. Fizzy - Hymn in Honor of Symphonics

I'll forgive the lazy spelling of Honour in the title & say that this is much more like it! Yes there is a baseline again but this time it fits in much better with the rest of the track, I don't feel like I've heard it a million times before & it makes me want to move & most of all it's not the main focal point of the entire fucking track.

It's great to see someone nowadays who is able to make a 12+ minute trance track & have the skills to keep it interesting throughout.

A slight breakdown followed by a sample "Hisashiburi dane" It's been a long time. Then it kicks in proper with such an angelic melody, random though it is a first it gains cohesiveness as it goes along and manages to melt my brain each time I hear it! After the melody comes driving synth lines that just poke red hot acid into my already melted brain!

When an artist you've never heard of with such a silly name makes a piece of music good enough to put a smile on your face and give you optimism for the future of the scene it has to be a good thing. I just hope he becomes more well known within our small scene!

 

2. Scorb - Tower of Klorox

No review yet, just wait a while please

 

3. Sienis - Watt Duh Hekk?!

The bom bom bom seems to have a resonance echo & the sounds shift from left to right in an off putting random way that makes you think your headphones are broken until the sounds fly around so much that they fill both sides. An incredibly infectious bassline which has made me look stupid at the train station trying to hold my desire to dance while waiting for the train. It's a small world after world is butchered by some weirdo freak in the breakdown before kicking back in with a completely different track. What the Hell happened? The Bizarreness is compounded by the return of the oscillating sounds from the right to the left randomly. Oh well 16% of the time it works everytime

 

4. Solar Fields - Cruise

A sublime ambient drone with a touch of melody in the background makes me feel everytime like this is going to be an ambient outro but as the beats trip in, that feeling drips away & is finally broken when the heavy bass stabs in & the beat, which now seems to have the foot eased off the pedal kicks in. The sound is back to the best heard on the album with the old school trance influences again. The synth build ups & the rave like break down putting me in the mood for some huge outdoor party 12 years ago but the melody rooting me right into 2007. Imagine a melodious rave track minus the cheesy cartoon sample plus modern production & you have this cruise. Bloody brilliant it is, the build ups are actually tense while being relaxing. Like waiting for something you really want while experiencing the next best thing. Sitting on a bean back waiting for someone to pass you the joint type stuff. This manages to sneak in the energy. You wait for a drop & suddenly it has just gone nuts without you realising it.

 

5. Tea Chairs - Chillingham Cheese

This has a great melody that just oozes the seratonin out of my glands & into my head. The spacey sci fi B-movie sounds add a tripped out weirdness of it. The melody in the final run is so mind blowing, sound like something played on an old Atari but the tune is really beautiful. Very nostalgic and the the weirdness level is kept up with the twisted moans calling through the edge of reality trying to drag you deep down into their dimension. Trippy!

 

6. Weird Alchemy - Tzump-In (Chairs Rmx)

I have never heard the original so I can not compare the two. This one though is a dark fucked up track. Well structured & driving with an edge of Necromantic psychedelia. A very strong track all round with the melody trying to counter the darker more twisted sounds & the hints of strings at some parts.

 

7. Prosect - Dr. Ivan & The Mad Peyote

With a track title so unbelievably shit you know that the music is either going to be undeniably shit or so fucked up & crazy that you just can't get enough.....so....which way is it?

Well, the answer is thankfully the latter. This is some crazy psychedelic, technological madness. Trippy, acidic, strange, fun,

weird, better make sure that nobody's watching you dance to this crazy stuff are all worthy adjectives. I've not heard this on the dancefloor but I'm sure it would be a challenge. It stops & starts without any constant rhythm but it keeps going. I

don't see any psy lovers leaving the dancefloor when this comes on but I don see a lot of confused bodies at least from those not entirely wasted!

Crazy craziness with a degree in crazology from the university of south madsley in craze london!

 

8. Eat Static - Brassneck

The sample seems to describe Eat Static well, if you listen to the static then it fucks you up. Truer words have never been sampled. Another high octane track full of trippy alien weirdness with melodies that really take my brain to other dimensions. Dimensions of pure light, dimensions of energy & sound & back again.

 

9. Tea Chairs - Turrikaner

This has a melody from an old computer game I had on the Amiga. Turrican I think the game was & I remember many a day playing that & hearing that melody. A gutsy move indeed as anything so old in a 2007 track has the danger of just sounding shit but it works here. Very cool, makes me want to play video games.

Especially this one

 

10. Solar Fields - Brainbow

The intro has little short stabs of acid bombarding the now crippled defenses of my cynicism. I have to admit that now I am in love with this music & want to have it's babies. As the beat kicks in I feel a small drop in my appreciation but when that melody comes in I just want to fall to the floor in joy. It's difficult to describe just how this melody sounds but it feels like it is covering me. All around me is a beautiful fog of music representing this music. It hums & chimes & rings & echoes through the smoke rings of my inner being & far out into the ether of the universe. When it leaves I feel the darkness with the light acid sounds lighting up the black sky. The melody creeps back in however with the re:emergence of the beat I had not noticed for the last few minutes. The times with the melody are almost orgasmic & those times when it's not there leave you waiting for it, wanting it, desiring it to enter your mind again & bring you the light & the colour that has been missing from your life.

Am I getting across just how good this melody is? It is a pretty simple melody but damn it's infectious & if it was a woman I think I would already have proposed. The bassline in the final part of the track is a nice driving one & fits round the melody while the spacey goodness of all the other sounds just blow my mind deep into the wondrous hyperspace of music created by Solar Fields. Mind Blowing!!

 

11. Sienis - Form Another Perspective

Best track on the whole album. It all comes together. The grim fairy tale feel, the nuttiness, the ambience in the background & yes yes yes the bassline is so amazingly fantastic that when it comes in I can do anything else, I can't talk I can't walk straight I can't see. All I can do is smile & dance. Every part of me wants to move. Even when I'm sat down I can feel myself dancing! I think this is probably my favourite track of 2007. It's so infectious. I just want to listen to it again & again & again. I could probably have this on repeat at a party & be happy for hours

I only wish it was longer.

 

12. Tea Chairs - Cruise Wide Open. Light sounds & an old school rave melody. This really sounds like it belongs in the early 1990's but with the ever present Tea Chairs weirdness giving it that extra something to distinguish itself from the that time, oh & the modern production.

 

13. Solar Fields - Kick Back

Straight in with the beat & straight in with little melodic runs which sound, I have to say, magical. Some of the best melody I've heard in ages & the fact that each time it comes in it's so short & then goes, it feels like I'm being teased. I sit here waiting for it to come in next. I'm so busy waiting that I miss, the synths starting but when I finally hear them & the bassline I am once again in awe. This is really how psy at this pace should sound. Beautifully spacey with a lot of space for the sounds to breath. The steady 4-4 is not oppressive which is such a relief as I was worried that a too heavy kick would be the downfall of this album but Magnus in my eyes is a genius when it comes to music & he's produced a bloody brilliant track here. When the melody morphs into a what reminds me of an old school trance (not psy) classic but yet not, I feel a sense of nostalgia while being so happy with the state of modern music. The atmosphere created in the final run sees this track move so incredibly deep I almost weep with joy. This, without a doubt must be one of the best tracks released this year, in any genre.

 

14. Younger Brother - Happy Pills

A nice chilled out melodic piece dripping with lovely psychedelic nuances. The beats are big but relaxed. Lots of space to move. The more intricate sub beats are nicer & an Indian melody gives way to a really nice 60's lounge melody. The whole track has the feel of a 60's smokers lounge just not crap.

 

15. Shulman - Invention

This is Shulman's greatest achievement to date. The interwoven melodies that come at you from every direction are as beautiful as they are warm. Each one makes my heart leap up & fills me with a warm fuzzy feeling. Quite an achievement for a piece of music I'll think you'll agree. Quite a long track at over 11 minutes in length but this could easily have been 2 or 3 times as long and not been boring. Pure brilliance. Beautiful, emotive music.

 

16. Solar Fields - Air Song (Androcell Remix)

I wanted to see what Androcell could do with one of the greatest pieces of music ever made. It is basically everything a remix should be. It sounds very different from the original while still keeping some of the core aspects (in this case the slight melody) to make it recognisable. The beats are bigger, there is more energy & there is a vocal in it. A good remix, incomparable to the original because they are so different. Well done Androcell!

 

17. The Orb - A Beautiful Day

Review pending

 

18. Younger Brother - Psychic Gibbon

After the greatness of the first track on The Last Days of Gravity then the disappointment that followed I wasn't expecting this.

This is exactly what I would have liked the whole album to be. Interesting & psychedelic without relying on crap samples from past movies. Instead it relies on melodies & structure. It builds it's way up to the vocal which (is not a sample) fits in naturally to the track. Very good stuff, the sort of track I replay after it's finished.

 

19. Asura - La Chanson De Carla

Love this track! A Beautiful melody & gorgeous vocal. It seems lovely & lonely. It reminds me of nostalgia for an old girlfriends I mistakenly left behind on my journey in life & is now lost to me forever. At the same time it keeps up the celestial atmosphere of the rest of the album Life² & is a great and to a great album.

 

20. Subgardens - Asleep Clockmaker

Well, I had some really high hopes for this track after the brilliance of listen to the flowers grow & Subgardens manages to keep their hundred percent record with this track. Weird slick beats & rushes in the background make room for a lovely cold melody that falls all around me. It feels like standing in the middle of my field with snow all over the ground and a gentle snowfall coming down. I like the beats that Subgardens keep coming out with. Something different from you usual beats. More glitchy with echo, reverb or something damn good done to them. Would love to hear more from these guys.

 

21. (Val)Liam - Perfectly Rational

I'm really looking forward to hearing more from this guy judging from the strength of his 2 tracks on Intermittent Memories. This one has a nice relaxed natural feel. The use of piano seems to Earth this track giving it a much more terrestrial feel. Like awaking from a dream about alien worlds to a warm Earth autumn morning.

 

22. Zero Cult - Part Of Rapture

The intro to this track contains a sample done just the way I like it. Distorted enough so I can't make out more than the initial work. For me this always makes it trippier, deeper with more mystery. A little acidic melody just precedes a clear slow beat. The background ambience really makes the melody stand out in a futuristic spacey way. I imagine impossibly tall buildings side my side for miles & miles when I listen to this. The melody that comes in at the end is what escalates this track from good to excellent. With the same atmosphere it creates a more melancholic feel. Really beautiful.

 

23. Asura - Golgotha

A soft dreamy opening with a lush drone & a drawn out ethnic melody leads into a heavy tribal beat. The melody continues & evolves then around the 3 and a half minute mark a long synth gives this track a vast feel. I feel like this track belongs in the sound track to some epic. I feel as if I'm stood on a hill watching an army charge towards me but safe in the knowledge that I can't be hurt. The melody changes from flute to voice almost noticeably.

 

24. Amos - Fläktsystem

This track is stunningly beautiful. The melody is one of melancholic ecstasy & the beat vibrates as it rolls through the track. If you are a fan of melancholic chill then you will more than like likely fall in love with this track. Makes me feel like I'm in the part of a movie where everything in my life has fallen apart & all I can do is wander slowly around the city & see all the people going about there business totally unaware of my inner pain. Beautiful stuff.

 

25. Sync24 - White Pixels

Whatever choice we made this track makes us feel like it was the right decision. It takes us & wraps us in it's warm embrace. The most melodious so far & is quite beautiful in a melancholic kind of way. A female voice gives us the message The shadow of Earth can't block the radiation. White pixels shimmering as dying stars. Like thin Smoke trailing through the memory of someone still alive. Even now, white does not equal death. before a steady beat comes & takes us on another stage of the journey. Leaving behind the stark countryside into something more vibrant & alive.

 

26. Spielerei & Mantacoup - After The Shockwave

Something is trying to grow in the wasteland. Something from nothing but still the nuclear wind tries to destroy everything that might be. Can anything prevail after the nuclear winter has descended? Still, something wants to grow but it's not organic. Industrial growth is all that prevails & it needs no organic help. The nuclear winds have stripped the earth of it's weak organisms & left it with only machines that have a strong desire to survive. They picked up on our final wishes, our desire to continue our life no matter the cost. But with no human life left it's up to our technology to survive, rebuild, evolve & fight each other. A cold dead world alive with nothing but the shadow of mankind. This is all that is left after mankind's need to protect itself.

 

27. Cymphonic - Unfoldment

From nothingness unfolds beauty. The track starts with minimal ambient drones. Adds extra sounds & static from nowhere as it evolves & eventually produces a melody that is worthy of a spring flower. Simple & soft but beautiful. Easily missed but worth catching. A track I wish was longer so I could enjoy the beauty more.

 

28. Mathias Grassow & Thomas Weiss - Language of Silence

Sounds buzz & twinkle in this track, under the drone seems to be life in the outer reaches of nothingness. In the vastness of space between planets there is not much but in this track there seems to be at least single cell life. Something that the light bounces off of. A very nice floaty track, feels like I'm orbiting a huge star at a distance of over 100Au. So just in the distance can I see one light just brighter than the rest, but not obvious. Very cool Spacey ambient.

 

29. Cymphonic - River Styx

This really does manage to sound like a river on fire separating me from the lost souls damned to all eternity. The water seems to drip upwards like flames & from beyond these flames the cold wishes from the long deceased cry out in joyous anguish. As we float along though they fade more into the background and the longer this goes the closer to the bank we get until I feel like I'm just sitting on the shores of hell, listening to the sea of souls lap against my ankles.

[exotic]

looks like a nice mix you got there abasio. gonna give it a listen soon one of these days

[faze]

Downloaded and placed on my iRiver for later listening tonight. Thanks, Joe!

 

:clapping:

[rino]

Mr. abasio, you made my cold winter day with this one

 

What have you been taking lately? I want some of it too!!! You wrote more great reviews during the past few weeks than the rest of forum users have written throughout this whole year, and now this... Great stuff, man. The mix is just great.

 

It's actually my first encounter with the newer Solar Fields material, as I must be the only loser not to have heard the album yet

[abasio]

Well I must admit I'm being very selfish here.

I thought that I want my favourite artists would make more music in the style I liked best if they got more recognition & sales for that style so if I got other people to hear just how good they were they might buy some CDs so said artists could keep producing music so my future is that much happier.

Very selfish in the end

[Go-Goa Trancer]

It's actually my first encounter with the newer Solar Fields material, as I must be the only loser not to have heard the album yet

Oh no, trust me . The only thing I heard from this mix is Prosect's track...

 

Thanks abasio, I hope to hear it soon. Will give me hints on what to buy next.

[DaZeD]

Yay! :clapping:

The first track is very good!

Never heard of this one.

And a lot of Tea Chairz and Weird Alchemy, I love them.

[alleycat]

damn good collection here! Plays like a radio station... A really awesome radio station.

 

Thanks a lot! B)