abasio

Sattel Battle Sounds Cool Gi'iwa Productions Jan 2007 Tracklist 1 Sounds Cool (5:41) 2 Dosomethingwithyourlife (4:48) 3 Rabel Rabel (4:59) 4 Sratim Metzuyarim (5:19) 5 Work In Space (5:08) 6 Hey Hop (5:22) 7 Ghat Whore (5:13) 8 Strangless (4:42) 9 Homegrown (5:09) 10 2 Step Chase (5:32) 11 Fuck It (6:16) 12 24 Shots (6:15) 13 Sky Divers (+ 4 minutes silence + bonus track) (15:15) I bought this early this year after hearing how refreshingly different it was & how it was not just your identikit trance that is so popular nowadays. My first impression was, yeah it was different but it didn't get much play time & I totally forgot about it. After buying Sienis - From A Nutter Perspective, I gave this another try as it was on the same record label & it was so much better than I remembered. Fresh, yes. Different, Yes. Weird, Yes. From the opening track Sounds Cool we are transported to a futuristic medieval fun land. The melody puts me in minds of a medieval jousting match performed & watched by robots. Dosomethingwithyourlife meanwhile gives us a nice squelchy bassline. Gi'iwa artists really seem to know how to make basslines interesting and this one hums nicely, prominent but not overtaking the track allowing the acid lines here to show just how good they are. The more melodius Rabel Rabel actually uses video game samples which could have been disastrous but combined with the excellent synths and the amazing subtle but moving bassline he's managed to make a great track. Fun but not annoying after repeated listens. Sratim Metzuyarim has an other worldly melody that reminds me of Principles of Flight - Nighttime Lullabies in it's fairy tale feel & could easily have been on that album. This is a little squelchier than PoF though & this track twists & turns more in a shorter space of time but just as wacky throughout. I'm not sure what to make of Work In Space, it's bouncy & fun with synths right out of old computer games, it sounds. The melody seems oddly familiar but my main gripe in this is the bassline is not up to the usual standards. Very pedestrian bassline saved by the fact that it doesn't intrude too much on the track. Still I expect more now from basslines thanks to Gi'iwa. Hey Hop is a welcome return to well played basslines. The melody is played as a bassline giving it a lot of danceable energy. The sounds are experimental weirdness all the way through without any of it making sense but it all coming together in a way that really works for me. Ghat Whore is reaching the top of the energy stakes. It's got a high BPM of 150 along with synths & snare rolls to add to my brain shaking. This is one of those tracks that it seems impossible not to move to in some way. I'm sitting now, writing this but my heads going & I have a big smile on my face. The slight intrusion of some country melody is quirky & brief enough to be enjoyably funny. Weird twisted stuff which I love. Keeping up the energy Strangless is quite a random track with a lot of sounds going on. I'm not sure what to make of the leading melody at the start or the little melody at the breakdowns that continue sporadically through the next few minutes, but the acid like synths at the start are wonderful as are the squelchy sounds in the latter part. Not the best track on the album but pretty enjoyable anyway. Homegrown has another infectious bassline that makes me move involuntarily and is surrounded by crazy ass sounds. Definitely in the out there section of music. Crazy melody in the final run sounds pretty cool too. We are getting into my favourite section of the album with 2 Step Chase which has a lot of weird randomness at the start & a bassline that twists around noises from hyperspace but it's the acid melody here that just stabs at my brain with an ice pick. When it comes in for the second time it's lower & ends being played by the bass. Fantastic track. Fuck It carries on very well where 2 Step Chase left off. Squelchy noises sound like the dripping of hyperspace & the bassline is another bouncy one moving like a melody. The melodious sounds themselves become more prominent through the middle section & form slowly into another ice pick of a melody stabbing seratonin into my brain with each pass. A very funky track, perfect for dancing. The squelchy, spacey final run is my favourite part of this album We slow down a little with 24 Shots which isn't that great when compared to the rest of the album. Quite Electro & the bassline is pedestrian again which is a bit boring but like before it doesn't take over the track. There are a lot of sounds here & it's a bit too much in the old headphones & a bit ignorable on the stereo and overall a bit too electro. Sky Divers starts off slowed right down & you think it's going to be an ambient number to end with but the beat kicks in it's a crunchy one at that. More lethargic than anything else, it plods along in amiable fashion. The final part is magnificent though with everything coming together in a climactic yet reserved way. Ethereal female vocals twisted into some sort of underworld cry end the track in a dark but beautiful fashion. Bonus Track Hahaha, what the fuck is this? Psychedelic polka? Crazy funny & worthy of being a hidden track. Fits with Sattel Battel's style but divorced from the rest of the album. Hilariously bouncing with weird ass noises. As music goes this would be too weird to put on the album without it getting annoying but it's a fun little bonus. This is out there-off the wall-brains pulled out through the eyeballs sort of stuff. All in all this is one energetic, weird (in an interesting not annoying way) & it sounds really cool. Cover & track titles aside this is quality through & through. This is really shaping up to be one of my favourite albums of this year. Each track is pretty short, all being around 5 or 6 minutes each but as they flow into each other like a journey album it doesn't matter as the music progresses throughout the album. The music gets faster & stranger as we go along & when the pace drops at the end the weirdness just gets even more head schratchingly out there. Get this. The only problem I have with Gi'iwa is that they are making everything else sound worse. This is definitely a label to look out for in the future. I'll be supporting them if they keep this sort of quality up & now I need to buy their 2 compilations. The problem I have with the cover is that I've seen it many times before. Not this exact picture of course but many like it. It looks like a lot of hip hop covers from some years ago of albums I was less than impressed with so I get a bad feeling from it. Still, it's the music that counts & this music is gooooooooooooooooo'oood!!! The Sienis cover by the way is great

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!! :clapping:

Zero Cult - Part of Rapture

Good luck mate

delivered already?

Yes I am Was paid for the few days I worked in November & now I can't stop spending money. I know I should not jump the gun & I should wait until I start really getting paid but I just want a happy christmas Where did you hear about Hol Baumann?

It's out but I never got my "Your piece of art is on it's way message" Seeing as I ordered 4 other CDs with it I am eagerly anticipating this package even more than I thought possible

& again how is it? I'm learning to trust your judgment over others

Where is faze? Not sure whether to look forward to this or not. OTT but recent twisted releases have left me disappointed

I never really noticed. I notice now that it's a bit shit but the cover is not that offensive

again & again

Yep, in my TOP 5 fo shaw! Not sure what Suomi is to be honest

believe me this is not a preconception. I put a lot more time into something I'm going to publicly criticize that praise as I know people will confront me on my opinion All I can say is that I do not like the big kick drum even on the dancefloor & as this album has the same (IMO) boring kick drum in every track it's quite obvious that I will find this boring. There are plenty of albums I don't like but I was more disappointed with this one because the music underneath is so good but ruined by something I really don't like. I have given this a lot of time and attention & I can now file it away in the knowledge that I am not missing anything that I would like/ There are things people like & things people don't & when things you don't like are in music often the music is ruined. Think too prominent basslines, lyrics, cheesy samples etc. I don't like big kick drums. In Asura's album that was in some tracks which I thought detracted from it a little bit. In this album that element I don't like is in every single track & therefore I got frustrated listening to something I found very boring. different strokes for different folks. I wont feel like I'm missing out on something as I have given this a thorough inspection as I really wanted to like it. There is quality in this guys work I just hope his next release is a chilled one without the kick (I'm selfish )

all tracks have a heavy kicking Boom Boom Boom, the only difference is the BPM ranges from 140-145 Could you describe what differences you hear in the main beats? (not sub beats because I can hear these but they are stifled by the boom boom boom)

Yeah, people NEED different tastes For me a journey must be perfect with nothing to distract me so if there is something out of place then I can't travel. Usually with Simon P's work that thing is his samples. They grate on my nerves & so I find it impossible to get lost in his tracks. Only the sample in LSD do I like but I could do without even that one

Yeah, it sounds like he just Traced the pattern from one track to the next. Just to clarify my stance on this. Being a fan of minimal psy I am quite happy with repetitive & monotonous music. What bugs me about this I think, is that there is some really good music here but it is stifled by the beats. It could have been the best of the year but that one element for me has ruined the whole album and it wont even make my top 20 albums. I don't like this! I probably should have phrased it something more opinionated instead of this is a pretty boring album but to me it is boring & frustrating. I'm surprised that the same people who complain about fullon always having the same bassline aren't annoyed by the same thing with this album, only this time it's the beats. I also don't find this danceable, not many times did I feel my self moving when listening to this. No foot tapping, no head nodding. I think in a club this is a go & stand at the bar & chat someone up set. Sorry to all Prometheus fans if you can't accept that I don't like it but I've clearly given my reasons & if we all like the same things, this world would be very boring, wouldn't it? I obviously just can't get passed the beat

I'm happy someone else out there is loving the music still

Here's what I got yesterday in Shinjuku, I found a Psy Shop I'd been looking for for ages The Zero Cult album is shaping up to be one of my favourites of the year already. When it stops I just have to play it all over again

The Music

That is wholly my point! The music otherwise is pretty sweet but, for me, it is ruined by using the same predictable beat in every track. In the Asura album the kick was not in every single track so in my ears it did not grate as much as in this album. As I said in my review, the 1st track is really good with this beat but after hearing it again & again & again throughout the whole album I got bored culminating in my frustration by the last track. I wish Prometheus would take this album, remove the beats, go back to the studio, work on more varied & intricate beats and the re-release this when it's ready.

I do like this type of music and even on this album I thought 7 tracks, that's more than half were very good. i didn't like 5 tracks and place 11 I hated. i think this comes across in my review. if the whole album had been like those 7 I would like this more. i need to copy this without the tracks I don't like to make it more enjoyable to listen to. i like random and weird believe me but I find some of this just unpleasant.

Well, I thought that enough of the tracks were psychedelic enough to deserve a place here. there are many non-psy trance reviews on this site. did you miss the discussion about variation and stagnation in the psy scene. sorry if I'm a little shit with genres. if the mods think it's a problem then they can remove it but I believe this has as much place here as many other albums reviewed. if you (re)read my review you'll notice I didn't call this album industrial. I merely mentioned some industrial noises in 2 tracks and sorry if you disagree but some of the tracks I think are real crap.

Yeah, I got the whole places thing but the places could have gone in a nice formation rather than just heaven hell heaven hell heaven hell like these did. Some sublime tracks yes but those that are bad I think are really bad! and yeah, place 11 WTF??!?!?