Trance Forum | Stats | Register | Search | Parties | Advertise | Login

There are 0 trance users currently browsing this page
Trance Forum » » Forum  Music Reviews - Save The Robot - Battle Of The Mind (TipWorld)

1 2 Next Page →
First Page Last Page
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on StumbleUpon
Author

Save The Robot - Battle Of The Mind (TipWorld)

psyreviews
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :  71
Posts :  204
Posted : Oct 4, 2005 23:43
Save The Robot
Battle Of The Mind
TipWorld (UK)

I must admit to being bloody confused about this one. I’ve been playing it pretty much continuously the last few days – which is rare in itself, but not without purpose. You see, while this is more or less your standard fullon fodder (albeit impeccably done), there seems to me to be this very dynamic energy to the music. Which essentially, I’ve been telling myself, is what dance music is about: within its confines, you slap in all the energy you can in order to motivate the crowd as much as possible. Yes there are a lot of chord changes, yes there’s a lot of high end, and yes there’s a lot of formula going on here. But within these confines… holy crap, does it work. When Battle Of The Mind is at its best (Off The Assembley Line, X1 Filter) it has the same raw excitement as The Infinity Project’s Feeling Weird. And in general, it’s music that conspires to create possibly the tightest fullon dance experience around at the moment. It’s also fun: listening to this is not unlike listening to Rock Bitch Mafia and its ‘avin it, good-times-roll attitude. The acid frenzy drop on Off The Assembly Line is among the best bits of Goa I’ve ever heard, and the midrange run that holds Save The Future together leaves your brain with an indelible imprint of one word: “tasty”. Battle Of The Mind and iRobot offer perhaps the chunkiest smile-on-the-face, sun-streaming-down, dancing-with-a-blonde arsewigglin’ of the year. But it’s not all a bed of psychedelic roses. The ten tracks here all follow a formula. Which is fine, it’s to be understood. What it means is that the tunes themselves are often a little difficult to tell from one another; Electro Chemical, for example, is ballsy all the way through but stuck in with nine identical twins, once it’s over you can’t really remember what you liked about it (and, contrary to popular belief, I don’t normally review on drugs). The twists and tricks start to sound somewhat familiar by track four or five, and you start recognising the presets. Also there’s a lot of reliance on 2005’s fullon enemies: chord changes and high-end stabs. I respect that dance music styles all feed into and off each other all the time (it’s how they develop), and all we’re seeing is the indoor/club trance fusing with the psychedelic but… you know what I mean. At the end of the day though, it all makes for staggeringly effective music. And despite the shortcomings and formulaic music, this album has probably been played more around my house than any other of the same style this year. Whatever, it’s without doubt one of the more significant releases of the year, for which all credit goes to Tip – and to the producers (finding out that boresmiths Quadra and Alien Project are behind this act did little to spoil my enjoyment of it.) I guess what sums this up is that within the fullon subgenre, this is the current high watermark. Tight, bright and bang up to date. Whether you’ll still be digging it in six months is another matter entirely, but the energy and excitement of this alone should strike a chord with any lover of dancefloor-moving electronic music.



7

1. Off the assembly line
2. Robot on drugs
3. Save the future
4. Electro chemical
5. X1 filter
6. Battle of the mind
7. IRobot
8. High voltage
9. Dream on Halloween
10. Painted dove


          


http://www.psyreviews.com/clothing/
Trance2MoveU
IsraTrance Junior Member

Started Topics :  50
Posts :  129
Posted : Jan 8, 2006 05:28
I just got this in the mail so I thought I would give it a proper review. Seems as this is the project of Alien Project and Quadra. So let's see what they cooked up.

Off the Assembly Line
This track has the familiar bassline, hi-hat and stabs that AP is known for, but it moves very well. There is a nice buildup at 2:15 and the acid line at 3:15 blisters your skin, right into another build up. This one has lots of power and the sounds all fit together nicely 8/10

Robot On Drugs
I never met one, but that doesn't stop them from asking. This track is a scorcher! The pads are nice and full and the melody grabs you. This is a deep track complete with a flute and enough ups and downs to get you dizzy. A sweet, beautiful track. 9/10

Save The Future
There is a nice, gurgling sound lurking in the background, and then the bassline, hi-hat, kick and short stabs AP is known for take over. During a break at 3:20 some melodic sliced strings brings us to a rising lead that is quite agile and cat-quick. I like this track as well; the sounds meld into a beautiful tapestry. 8/10

Electro Chemical
A sweet acidline swirls around your lungs threatening to suffocate you while a scratchy lead dances nimbly amidst ever-present stabs. The brain truly is electro chemical! THis one will not disappoint the dancefloors, that is for sure. 8.5/10

X1 Filter
A commanding pad and a nice short vocal starts us off. THe bass comes in and we have another track that put us through our paces. Some sliced vocals and flangerized breaks, one buildup after another. THis one was good, but nothing spectacular. 7.5/10

Battle of the Mind
We have some nice pads with a "gated" reverb on the bass. The sounds are rich and it moves well with nice buildups and breakdowns. Very clean. 7/10

I Robot
This track has some nice leads and some soft melodies that peak at you from around the corner. The voice sample fits in well with what seems like a nod to an old-school goa riff. Nice stuff! 8/10

High Voltage
We are presented with electrical crackling to start(who didn't see that coming?) and then a nice melody. The hi-hats seem flangerized, but it sounds good. Then a nice breakdown after the 2:30 mark and some psy from all sides. A twisting evolving lead at 4:30 is accompanied by a squelchy "303" Good mover as well! 7/10

Dream on Halloween
I hear Halloween and I'm thinking scary. Not here. Now, where have I heard that stab before...oh I know...on every other track. There is an aggressive acidline with some dreamy leads that make for a good combo. Nothing scary, rather formulaic actually, but once again some nice sounds and a good mover. 7.5/10

Painted Dove
This track starts me off with a fuzzy feeling and a warm mood. Another mover that all of a sudden erupts into their take on Soft Cell's Painted Love. My cheese meter is on high alert, but luckily there was no need to go to Defcon 4. I personally do not like singing in my Psy but luckily it was brief and all ended peacefully without any casualties. 6/10

Conclusion
Fir this CD no melody predominates but they are everywhere. They make short appearances and tease you along. And I like that, it makes the journey more interesting. I've heard these basslines many times and you can hear the AP sound in all of these tracks. But that is not a bad thing. These are good danceable,movers. If that is what you are looking for then look no furhter, because you could pop the CD in the deck and play it straight through as the tracks are hard to differentiate from each other. The production and sounds are very good and I think it is a great effort. Nothing groundbreaking, but very good full-on, I like it. Check it out.

Mdk
Nygma
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics :  63
Posts :  948
Posted : Jan 8, 2006 14:05
finally some good trance from alien project!! the collaboration with quadra did him well. his previous releases was recycled stuff, but this album is the pure bomb.

very refreshing sounds, a bit influenced by gms, but nevertheless groovy till the end           www.frakasoundrecords.com
fraka is a state of mind
exotic
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics :  200
Posts :  5057
Posted : Jan 9, 2006 12:21
oh i didnt know that it was alien projecy and quadra behind this ? yeah very dancable music but it really loses its appeal overtime because of the multitude of such music being released ! doesnt quite stand out .. some nice fillers in there           missing plug-in
full_on
IsraTrance Team

Started Topics :  279
Posts :  5475
Posted : Jan 10, 2006 07:57
I agree with =((exotic>>>===.

Nice fillers, well dressed full on, but not enough psychedelia to stand out as a good album.
Respect!           .
...Be gentle with the earth...
...Dance like nobody's watching...
.
...I don't mind not going to Heaven, as long as they've got Coffee in Hell...
leandromorales
Demonizz/Duophonix

Started Topics :  16
Posts :  445
Posted : Jan 10, 2006 13:53
some trax really impressed me ..nice work
my favs : 2, 3, 4 and 7

by
rajatrao2
Inactive User
Started Topics :  11
Posts :  527
Posted : Jan 11, 2006 15:00
Perfectly said Exotic bro..... But nonetheless quality morning release with new sounds... Something more dramatic/epic needed in their music, i dunno how to put it across.. But great stuff for short term hearing
Good luck Tip
Rajat
Pypedream
IsraTrance Junior Member

Started Topics :  45
Posts :  245
Posted : Jan 13, 2006 07:02
This is on the musical side of full-on yet with some new ideas, careful production, and a very cool theme. Yes, nothing completely new but nothing is overdone either. I particularly like the non-musical elements at work: artwork, track titles, theme. True, none of that amounts to squat on the dancefloor but it all adds to the appeal of the release.

I think this one takes a few risks (flutes setting up a break, heaviest track first) and it pays off. I had a smile the whole way through my first listen, and a 6 weeks later this is still perhaps my overall favorite release in the past 6 months.
          ELECTRON EYES / MARK-EVAN (NOR. CAL)
WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/MARK-EVAN
Psy_mystic
IsraTrance Junior Member

Started Topics :  15
Posts :  448
Posted : Jan 16, 2006 19:52
This album put a smile on my face -->
It is a nice and welcome surpise i must say!!
Groovy dancable and psychedelic!!!
I love it!
          "Detox is for queers"
Antbreath

Started Topics :  8
Posts :  72
Posted : Jan 17, 2006 15:49

Really cool Album , i found it to be one of the best in 2005 , nice work guys
Meta-Morphosis
IsraTrance Senior Member

Started Topics :  216
Posts :  4980
Posted : Jan 17, 2006 15:50
Alien Project and Quadra

A very nice project though

All the track are melodicaly touched.

Good to have it in your logic            “What we need is the development of the Inner Spiritual man, the unique individual, whose treasure is hidden in the symbols of our mythological tradition and in man’s unconscious psych.” - CJ Jung
stras


Started Topics :  0
Posts :  75
Posted : Jan 19, 2006 19:10
Great stuff some warm melodies and grooves hope Alien Project plays some of the tracks in London on the 28th
TechnoFear
IsraTrance Full Member

Started Topics :  64
Posts :  254
Posted : Feb 23, 2006 21:51
very nice album...           Plastik #2 @ Barzilay - 27.11 - With Peter Didjital (Sweden), Ido Ophir, Huda G and TechnoFear... more info: drgarry@gmail.com
traveller
IsraTrance Senior Member

Started Topics :  234
Posts :  3803
Posted : Feb 24, 2006 00:14
very bad album...           "The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program."
- Larry Niven
keyop
IsraTrance Junior Member

Started Topics :  32
Posts :  286
Posted : Feb 24, 2006 12:39
Not for the discerning listener imo

Nice production though.
Trance Forum » » Forum  Music Reviews - Save The Robot - Battle Of The Mind (TipWorld)

1 2 Next Page →
First Page Last Page
Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on StumbleUpon


Copyright © 1997-2024 IsraTrance