V/A - Bakkelit

[Guest Mescalinium]

V/A - Bakkelit

 

 

Artist: Various

Title: Bakkelit

Label: Spiral Trax

Date: 2002

 

Track listing:

 

01. Antoine : Straight

02. Logarhythmic : Rocket Ride

03. R : Watcher

04. Noma : Moonstomping

05. Matenda : Stormchaser

06. Chromosome : Calming Fender

07. Professor Kompressor : Eter

08. Birtik : Sunshine Science

09. Artax : Shang Hayad

 

Review:

 

I got the EP version of this comp with tracks 2, 5, 6, and 7, and it is very

mediocre, a disappointingly substandard release from Spiral Trax. The

Logarhymtmic track (Human Blue + Dj Morg) is a cacaphonous blend of cheesy

house beats, absurdly simplistic percussions, and poorly placed samples. This

is the worst track I've heard in some time, and being the first track on the

EP, bodes poorly for the rest... Up next is Matenda with one of his more

forgettable releases. Not quite as bad as the first number, but still it's

overly repetitious and irritating. Thankfully the b-side improves somewhat

from the first two tracks. Newcomer Professor Kompressor (I wish the song was

as good as their name!) dishes out a decent tune, nice floaty melodies in the

background, but it doesn't really go anywhere. Last and definately not least

is Chromosome who easily deliver the best track on offer here. At once fun

and silly, it starts out with a mildly distorted guitar harmonic and some

seriously pitched-up vocals yelling "it melts!" (whatever that means). The

sounds are a kind of laid-back Logic Bomb with some melodies that harken back

to Total Eclipse's classic "Space Clinic". Nice work; I'd watch out for these

guys. Absent from the EP but known to myself from other recent 12"'s are

tracks 3 and 4. R's "Watcher" is a darkly stylized number which rolls along

with a pleasant ferocity. The second half gives the listener some awesome

orchestral flourishes that really make the song. Noma's recent

"Moonstomping", from part I of a 2-part EP, may surprise fans of his former

work. The intro's straightforward enough, with that hard chugging bassline so

characteristic of his work. However, it soon gives way to soft pads and a

whirlwind of layered efx hitherto unheard in Noma's minimalist style. It's

usually (though not always) nice to see an established artist fusing new

elements into his songcraft, and here it definately works. A very solid

outing from Mr. Andersson. A note to labels: while I respect giving new

talent a chance to promote their material (being an aspiring artist myself),

if the quality isn't there, what's the point in releasing it? All in all, a

very mixed bag, and a release that, unfortunately, serves to undermine Spiral

Trax's long string of quality releases.

[Guest Satguru]

Well, in my ears the EP with tracks 2,5,6 & 7 sounds quite exciting, except

track 6, which starts very delightful, but then has too much a childish melody

reminding me of old-school Isra-Trance such as Astral Projection (can't hear

that any more).

The other 3 tunes are a little bit housy, indeed, but they make my legs move,

every time I listen to them.

So if you like progressive-danceable style, take a look.

5,6,7 on 140 bpm, except 2 - 135 bpm.

9/10 for the EP from me.

[Guest Satguru]

ok, after I listened once more to the EP, more detailed info:

Logarythmic presents a really groovy, uplifting tune, with rolling hihat (!)

and sometimes doubled beats which do kick in pretty forward.

In the middle there's a break with male voice samples (can't classify that

foreign language) which ends in a nice echo melting with the percussion-like

beat.

Matenda's track reminds me somehow of Paste, quite stomping, repetive and

hypnotic, with a dark growling in the first half.

The break in the middle brings up sth. that sounds like wind. Track goes on

till the end without melody (which is good for mixing with a melody-track

Eter by Prof. Kompressor reminds me of very much of Tegma - the well-done

percussion layers and cutting hihats with non-disturbing synths playing more

single notes than a melody - yes it fits perfectly on Tegmas encoded/decoded.

Sure, it's not full-on, but has a very good flow, nice sounds and progresses.

Chromosome starts with great joy into a rhythmic and melodic track which is

really moving and happy - until the break. Then the melody is repeated and

transposed sounding very amateurish (and also has been done about 10,000 time

too often by Isra-Trancies).