| Author
|
Orbis Tertius - Timecode - wow!
|
brain inverter
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
8
Posted : Feb 11, 2003 23:42
|
This album is the second release by this group of Capetonian producers, following on to “ENCRYPTION”. And it follows the same sort of lines as well; full on, psychedelic-as-fuck, serious grin-inducing floor movers.
Kicking off, the cd is introduced by a very nice one of those…oh what do you call them again… oh yeah, intro’s. This one sets the tone right off, spacey and psy with one of those ear teasing vocal samples that provides a nice aural mindspace to lead the next track into.
This is Wizzy Noise, the Greek gods (well, if you close your eyes anyhow) of epic tech-trance. You just know that this track is going to go off; Light of Madness indeed! Huge, huge drops, monumental percussion shifts, and all tied together as tight as you like…
NRS (apparently two London-based producers called Lek and Max Broadbent: sounds like pseudoville to me, but who are they…?) are next up. Good set-starter this, nice atmospheric opening which immediately drops into a well-oiled groove, which it builds on throughout. Super-tight drops and some truly filtered psychedelics combine with a bender of a line and said bassline to a pleasing finale, which leaves you in no state for the next track…
Secret syntheses, by Phyx. This is one of those track people dropping everything and hotfooting it to the floor to pound a dent into the earths crust. Free double vodka Red Bull, anyone? You’ll need it too, when you hear this tune drop… this is the one they were too scared to tell you about – aural Armageddon! The line is HUGE, the energy is way up and the twist in the tail will be the end of someone. This melts all before it on a big rig, reducing it to a maelstrom of tech driven mayhem. Fave of the album, use with respect…
After which you need coins… 9 of them to be exact. Which, luckily for you, is the next track on the cd. After having knocked the goldfish from it’s perch with a particularly energetic version of the chop in the last track, this track will convince poor Goldie that the trauma was worth it. A lush soundscape is created that lulls you into a false sense of security, because this track has a seriously bouncy bassline once it’s going. Impeccable production seems to pluck the sounds from the speaker and throw them at you, it never loses the ambience but everything slowly dissolves into chaos around it… acid music!
Now it’s takeoff time, destination Shift-land. For all of you out there familiar with this dude, all the aural signatures are there: triple-kick drops, huge open hats, heavily filtered and FX’ed everything and all cantering along to a rather pleasant offbeat bass groove. A truly lung draining stop break (you know, silence, silence, silence, BANG!) and one of the eeriest pad lines of the season, this opens out toward the end until he’s thrown the kitchen sink at it, bass groove and percussion ranting away, grinders redlining in 7th gear, psychedelics chattering away like a troop of demented monkeys, and behind it all a tune that makes you feel like they’re coming to GET YOU! This… is Absolution.
And don’t be thinking you’ve gotten away when the track ends, because the next one (from German-based Lemuriens) starts with echoes… the Echoes of Madness. A huge synth line drops in right from the get go, and it’s another of those that sends half the people running for cover clutching their rosaries and the other half stomping 3ft holes into the dance floor… this one’s a belter, and the guitar lines and progressions all add more and more guts to it until it bursts at the seams and dumps it’s load all over everyone. No, hang on, that’s that porno I was reviewing the other night… oh, that’s right, this one goes off like a pressure steamer… no, hang on, that’s no good either. How’s about just it goes off?
Moving right along then. Rabdom L is another one of the local timecode loons, and his contribution of Kill switch is another tech-influenced groove. This is a lot more minimal, sounds a lot more daytime than any of the others, but without a huge pad line to really push it over into the vampire slayers domain. (Yes folks, that would be the sun, not a cheap dig at all those folks who only rock up for the day.) A nice solid builder of a tune, but a bit overshadowed by the two tracks preceding it.
Remember those 9 coins I was banging on about earlier? Well, here’s a little more of the same, this time the groove is a little slower, and the vocal sample is one of the wackiest I’ve heard in a while… “I am the arm! And I sound like this…”!
Lots of space here, once again production is tighter that britney spear’s clothing, all of a sudden you find yourself bouncing without realizing quite how you got there. Not hard by any stretch, just nice and solid and chunky and funky…pity nobody IS: EAny: IDea what the title means.
Which leaves us with File 2, by Xatrix. A dark, moody tech thumper, if you could imagine Iboga-style grooves lashed with a good dose of Wizzy Noise you won’t be far off, a bit more tech but you get the idea. Big, dark, and as unpredictable as that big Nigerian coke dealer on the corner…
I’d rate this cd as one of the finds of ‘02/’03, not all balls to the wall as you might expect, but then who want to listen to 10 tracks that are all the same? This is a great mix, something for everyone, and the mixed tracks and intelligent track order make this one of those cd’s you listen to start to finish, not track by track, which is also a pleasant change from the norm. Oh, and it even comes up with the track names when you stick it into your PC… nice one guys, pity spelling wasn’t your forte at school. It’s good folks, I’m not getting paid to do this so that should give you an idea of the impact this cd has made; I’m just another stoner who hates searching for good music, but loves listening to it. Allow me to save you some time.
Go and buy this cd…
|
|
|
shift
Shift
Started Topics :
38
Posts :
319
Posted : Feb 12, 2003 08:25
|
|
nice one mate!! i'm happy with that |
|
|
|
Hi-T
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
83
Posted : Feb 12, 2003 22:04
|
lol!! great review!
best xmas present i got. dark and nasty - just how i like it. faves are the shift and the rabdom l
|
|
|
|
shift
Shift
Started Topics :
38
Posts :
319
Posted : Feb 16, 2003 17:28
|
|
hey there,, is this cd selling in japan and australia yet?? |
|
|
|
pr0fane
Multiphase
Started Topics :
418
Posts :
3816
Posted : Feb 16, 2003 17:51
|
|
dj-panoramix
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
43
Posts :
343
Posted : Mar 31, 2003 18:25
|
|
Broken Toy
Broken Toy
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
35
Posted : Apr 2, 2003 11:07
|
Be sure to catch the new Timecode VA compilation - "Cipher" .
Should be available real soon if not already!
More great tracks Timecode/South African style! |
|
|
|
Dee-Lay
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
216
Posted : Apr 3, 2003 22:16
|
Great complictation....
I loved the Phyx track
 Keep it PSYchedelic!!! |
|
|
|
Broken Toy
Broken Toy
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
35
Posted : Apr 4, 2003 11:58
|
Yeah Lordsuril ,
The SA trance scene has been quiet for years and years, but thanks to people like Timecode and Nano records the music has been exploding onto the world market for just over a year now!
It looks like its only just picking up speed and momentum - I cant wait to see how far it takes us! |
|
|
|
|
