| Author
|
V/A HUNTERS (Red Cells Records!)
|
bluespectralmonkey
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
80
Posts :
1336
Posted : Jul 1, 2005 15:58
|
HUNTERS
Red Cells Records
last week The Package arrived in my mailbox, and a funny thing about where i live....the mail cars out here are private cars that are contracted out by the us mail to deliver... they dont have to maintain a mail truck and someone gets a job...so i guess it works out for the best for everyone...
all the cars in the USA have the drivers on the left, except for mail carriers... rural mail carriers also have the option of purchasing a US made car with the drivers seat on the right!
so every day i look out and see this crazy person coming down the road with some car from europe driving on the wrong side!!! sometimes they bring me seriously great music from europe! like this!
i was pleased to find that the cd packaging here was gorgeous; slick and professional. as a collector i like to see the packaging and all, i think it makes the presentation of the tunes more intense and cohesive if theres some visual art concept along with it...
and this cd shows us some fractalized vision of some internal architecture exploding and i think that sums up the tunes as well... here we go!
1 silicon sound - modulate
2 cromatone - automagic
3 artifakt - razor
4 phyx - ghost blade
5 triskell - tensegrity
6 phatmatix vs audiobrains - sonic machine
7 digital talk - mathematrix
8 phatmatix - back to earth
9 blue planet corporation - groove on the moon
1 a great tune from silicon sound... i fell away from thier sound and have been exploring darker realms lately, this gives good pictures of family parties where everyone is smiling and grooving, the sun filtering thru the trees and the time is unlike any other, the morning at a psy party... the music driving away as the temperature rises... nice production here, good space, great pads and building make this a good one to mix with i would imagine, lots of room to groove with this nearly progressive tune.
2 chromatone, new us man of the year, who not only masters more cds than you know about, he can also twist knobs round your head before you know youre stung, like a bee on mescaline with all the grids lined up. this track slams on with a streaky lead over a bouncy wiggling 16th, a nice space out break down, before bringing back the intro themes and strengthening the story, its gets more steppy and grooves as the machine we are riding in starts to work with us, communicate even. long sweeping fazers ride the lead and the thumping continues, chromatone is exploring the realms he has available to him after his rapid expansion during the production of mechanik castle and since then... this track shows so much space and allowing the edges to bleed over one another some, a connection between realms... the moment of connection between man and machine, auto magic.
3 mr artifakt keeping himself in the game bigtime here... i listen with eyes closed, and instantly can say, artifakt, made this... he has honed his style further, showing us the more straight ahead and building style he has been teasing us with for so long! his trademark catchy tune building tricks are in full effect here, the middle breakdown takes it down to the essence of the sound, and builds the kick back in like a clock comeing in and out of water, and then out of the atmostphere! a filtered 16th rides on top of the already established deep groove...then spacing back out again, for the final stretch... nice!
4 phyx shows up with a storming entry, showing hes comfortable in his style and able to crank out stormers at will. this one gets the darkish guitar addition which makes this track just that much more complete! as it drives onward and develops we are feeling a dark, almost epic energy, watching the sound expand and grow. quality evolution is occuring here, the middle of the track just fills up the soundspace and sends any mind eager to delve deeper down a twisty tunnel, acid spilling over... hands in the air towards the end, big powerful zooming energy! great.
5 triskell throws down a big bouncing funkster wiht this. tensegrity = the integrity of tension. we go deeper into twisting shimmering unfurling tubes of shiney fabric, its getting more acidy, streaks and big washes of strung together sticky warmth and a deepness so that you might need a snorkel! great percussions, layering, full force! not to mention i like th sample, "everything weve done is forgiven... everything..." well that feels good! ahhhhhh, the smiles will flow...
6 phatmatix vs audiobrains have found a way to work together... it pumps along and starts to work itself into shapes by adding twisty leads and great chanting after the scrapey bendy sounds have thier way with you. ill be playing this one for sure this weekend! i love the intro pads and how the song develops, a great collaboration! darker and more mechanical!
7 one of the best from DT in i dont know how long, ive listened over and over and i still dont know how to describe this one.. bouncy is the first word i wrote when making notes... digital bounce! really a brilliant tune from luc and julien, defys description really, as all the crucial elements are firmly in place...your ass will be firmly on the dancefloor, no question. would work equally well in the dark night or as the light begins to rise, we are spinning willy nilly in a crisp environment of squishy accuracy and sharp softness somehow all at once! the jam.
8 here we get a nice touch to add a sample from ORB beyond the ultraworld... makes this track that much more rockin, not that it needed any help... streakin leads, slamming percussions... reminds me of the style that was solidified with mechanik castle, raving decadence, deepness. great track development, never boring, always morphing and moving! nice one.
9 a nice slower groove from BPC, havent heard from them in a while...a nice spacer for the end... 132 bpm is a calm speed for reeling in your brain after so many zoomtrips into outerspace. or to the moon in this case... a trip back to the days of many quality releases from BPC, hopefully this is a rebirth and we will be seeing more from them! a fine way to finish the disc off, nice subtle acid funkyness and warmth enough to brighten your day.
overall i was very happy to find that this disc has not one bad track on it! thats like a dj's dream! imagine if all your cds were this good? above the bar, raising the bar, hopefully we will see more like this one from red cells records in the near future...good one. thanks ananda...
you can buy it here ... i would dig ou more links but my time is short
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=4961
  www.bluespectralmonkey.com
www.touchsamadhi.com
www.interchill.com
www.metacrew.com
www.nw-psy.com |
|
|
|
Dj Chris Planet
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
336
Posted : Jul 1, 2005 16:42
|
|
Nice review BSM, i couldn't agree with you more this is an excellent compilation and as a first is just amazing. Great work by Ananda at Red Cell i know we will be hearing a lot more from these guys.
Let us take you on a journey, that will take you from are small world stage and orbit you beyond our fragile planet...... |
|
|
|
mechanix
mechanix
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
501
Posted : Jul 1, 2005 19:29
|
i also agree with u guys this cd is verry nice one!!!
congratulations and good luck in the future simon bro! |
|
|
|
Dai
IsraTrance Junior Member
Dai aka Amatti
Started Topics :
12
Posts :
553
Posted : Jul 2, 2005 22:32
|
Nice reveiw from BSM! I, indeed, love this release, recent favorite album along with subculture @cidance, by the way, the tracks has been selected with care and the album tells one whole journey. My favorites: chromatone, triskell, and digital talk. Hats off to Red Cell crew, and best of luck to their future releases.
Tell me what you listen, and I'll tell you what you are.
http://www.brainbusters.info
http://www.psytribe.com |
|
|
|
P_Mac
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
61
Posts :
1484
Posted : Jul 2, 2005 22:36
|
Quote:
|
On 2005-07-01 16:42, Dj Chris Planet wrote:
Nice review BSM, i couldn't agree with you more this is an excellent compilation and as a first is just amazing. Great work by Ananda at Red Cell i know we will be hearing a lot more from these guys.
|
|
I concur!!!!
BSM you spoil us with your review 
Great job Simon and Crew 
www.boomfestival.org
www.ketuhrecords.com
DONT SEND MP3 SAMPLES PLS!!!!! |
|
|
|
Lauryn
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
51
Posts :
729
Posted : Jul 3, 2005 08:27
|
Stellar review BSM! This guy's got impeccable taste in music so you should all listen to him! 
Nice to see new stuff from Artifakt and Phyx! Long live the South African sound! Will be checking this one out for sure!
~gOa ist nicht nur musik sondern auch eine lebenseinstellung~
http://www.peakrec.com/
http://www.myspace.com/djlauryn |
|
|
|
kabooki_cat
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
76
Posted : Jul 3, 2005 10:56
|
hmm. this ok. digital talk make good track almost. artifakt i heard better from them b4. try agian.
|
|
|
|
*Karma Cola*
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
113
Posts :
2314
Posted : Jul 3, 2005 19:42
|
S.A Rocks 
Have to get my hands on this. The Phatmatix sounds pretty wycked.
~*** You can tell By the way i use my walk, Im a woman's man, No time to Talk***~ |
|
|
|
Dj Chris Planet
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
336
Posted : Jul 4, 2005 14:24
|
Just found this on psynews.org and i'll put it on in 2 halfs as it wont allow the full review in one reply.
Label: Red Cells Records
Media Format: CD
Catalogue No: REDCR001
Release Date: June 2005
Hunters is the debut compilation by Red Cells Records, a brand new France based label, with quite a refined taste in music. For this first bomb, Red Cells reserved an amazing selection of tracks by some of the hottest artists currently in the psytrance scene, paying particular attention to the French scene. Names like Silicon Sound, Chromatone, Artifakt, Phyx, Triskell and Digital Talk, among others, are the names responsible for making this album an absolutely smasher!
Ok so from the outside the album is quite appealing. It's not exactly a ground-breaking state of the art cover, but it does look nice. Once again, goes my personal rant regarding album booklets. Seems like no psytrance album these days has anything to admire besides the music, which is sad. This is a culture highly associated with other forms of art besides music, and asking visual artists to give their contribution, wheter in the form of paintings, digital art, video (no one seems to care for multimedia tracks, heh?), or any other form of art that complements the music and actually gives people a reason to buy the real thing. Well, with not much to say about the artwork (simple trendy 3D), let's go on to the music...
01. Silicon Sound - Modulate
Long before even pushing the CD into the stereo, I knew this first track was going to be a slow-paced, proggy track. The 138 BPMs were a huge clue and, come on, it's Silicon Sound opening a compilation, what would one expect? Well, I'm not much of a fan of progressive trance, I find it hard to digest and so it's hard for me to do an impartial review of this track. Nonetheless, this is the kind of proggy I can take, in small doses. The first three minutes are quite boring, in my humble opinion, but things eventually turn out ok as these morning uplifting melodies and pads come in. Johannes never gets off track here so don't expect any huge pulsating synths and rolling basslines. It's just a regular progressive track, which I find quite hard to describe and distinguish from all the other progressive tunes around. Well actually, the best way I have to describe this track is this: it's the kind of track you'd easily listen to at home, but would hate to listen to sober on a dancefloor. Kinda' something like that...
02. Chromatone - Automagic
A few second spent on the intro, not too much time to loose (is 12 seconds ok?). Once the kick paves is way through the ambience of the intro, you get the feeling the transition between these two tracks could be a bit smoother. It's a huge change of style, but you easily forget about it once you're into the rythm. Well, I've never been the greatest fan of Chromatone, probably because I know very little of his work. However, I'm quite into this track. Its pumping bassline, the well defined drums and the scratchy synth lines remind me of the more melodic side of Artifakt - you know how he manages to create an amazing atmosphere only from one-hit effects? You get some of that here too. The bassline work here is great. The bass starts in a monotonous rolling style and slowly evolves into a great melodic piece of bass madness. At around 2:30 it's when it really scores some points. I love this style and Chromatone does it quite well. The pads on the background also help out marking the pace and the entire track just gets quite groovy and dance-friendly. Synthlines pop-in from time to time, always respecting the natural order of all the elements on this track. When Chromatone tries to blend the best of two worlds, the result is a melodic night-time track, in a style that many have tried before but few have succeded. Most times the soul of the track gets lost in the way and you don't really know which way to turn. Chromatone found a way to go around the problem and everything is well-defined and hits you in the body and in the head, but also in the hearth. And when you manage to do that, much respect is in order. For me, it's a monster track that will surely make me keep an eye out for more of Chromatone's stuff.
03. Artifakt - Razor
You can't go wrong with Artifakt. Little doubt remains in my head as to who's the best South African artist. In a place where four out of five dudes are amazing ground-breaking producers, it's hard to pick the best one. However, if Rinkadink is the dude with the best production skills and Shift is the dude who knows more about shaking a dancefloor, Matthew is the guy who manages to combine both things best, and does it with a touch of class. His music is, indeed, original, innovative, ground-breaking and FUCK(!) it gets your legs moving! Well, there's a reason why Red Cells decided to request Artifakt's brain-smashing services, and they got one hell of a deal. I'd say the intro to this track is quite odd, if we weren't talking about Artifakt. There's this symphony-in-reverse kind of thing at the beggining, to serve as a taste of what's coming (the same distorted symphony comes in again later on). The track takes a whole to evolve but at around 2 minutes there's already much noise to dance to. Synthlines are always scratchy and acid, obviously, and there's not too much use of drums (who needs 'em right?). The first real break brings back the noisy introduction and a cool little melodic synth has a say in this. Ok, here's where Artrifakt scores a lot of points. I don't remember hearing an original build since, hum... Well, it was a long time, you can take my word for it. This track, however, has a greatly original build, that's always mutating. You know how some producers try to make breaks and builds in a way that the listener is not expecting what's coming, yet somehow you always know from the start how the track's going to evolve? Well, with this track you seriously don't know what's coming next, you can expect anything, really. Well, after a while you get once more break and this time there's the sweetest melody of the track (5:35, for reference). Not unlike other tracks by Artifakt, the bass is always very deep and fat, in a warming way, but with a melodic side to it for good measure. Well, I wasn't expecting anything less than a huge dancefloor smasher, and that's what we all get indeed.
04. Phyx - Ghost Blade
I seriously don't know what software Phyx (the other South African act here) uses to produce, but Fruity Loops aficionados will certainly recognise the phony guitar sound of FL Slayer here. Although it sounds nothing like a guitar, a lot of producers decide to go with it. Probably not the best choice for Phyx, but the rest track is well worth it. You can't go wrong with SA acts, the bass and kick are quite peculiar here. I like the work Phyx did with the FX, all quite scratchy, just the way I like it. A lot of ripping sounds and noisy lines on this one, which kind of remind me of that track Retch, by Artifakt (huh, all good tracks - yes, all three that get released every month - remind me of Artifakt these days). Closer to four minutes, a real synthline finally pops in and gives the track some direction. Although until this point the track sounded a bit off the hook, without a real line to take control of everything, it never sounds boring - quite the opposite. And at four minutes things get right back on track, anyway. Yes, quite a good track and I'm relieved to see Phyx did not make too much use of the Slayer VST thing - it pops in every now and then, but it's not like it screws the entire thing up. I'd say it's a huge dancefloor bomb, that lacks some orientation at first, but it slowly finds its way and gets your feet off the floor. Near the end, it's the noise chaos (sweet, sweet noise). The last couple of minutes make up for any flaw the track may have and make it all worthwhile. This one's gonna make a massive hole in dancefloors all around the world.
05. Triskell - Tensegrity
Next is the french act Triskell. First time I've ever heard anything by Triskell was not too long ago - Aya (Exciter Mix) then Here Knows When, both on Timecode Records, the first from compilation New Blood and the second from cult album The Turning. Not being a fan of either one of those tracks, anything more than mediocre here would be enough to surprise me. The intro is really in-your-face, with the bass rising alone, breaking in through a few minimalistic FX until the kick breaks in along with it. Doesn't take too long to find the South African influences here and the drums bring to mind anything by Shift. Takes a while for the track to evolve but when it does it manages to surprise me. It's not exactly heaven down to earth, but it's a nice track, full of rythm (the tribal drums now and then help out a lot). Here comes a nice litle sample: "The Experience is..." is in order. Triskell tries to finish the sentence with the music, but he could have done it a lot better. The synthline that pops in around this time is quite psychedelic, but it shows lack of harmony. That's cool though, 'cause the line that takes its place is a lot better and can seriously make your shoulders move. There's a break a bit later and this is when the track starts. It starts off very simple and it quietly grows into a blend of really fine psychedelic. All and all a nice a track, quite surprising for those who, like me, are not big fans of Triskell.
Let us take you on a journey, that will take you from are small world stage and orbit you beyond our fragile planet...... |
|
|
|
Dj Chris Planet
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
336
Posted : Jul 4, 2005 14:25
|
06. Phatmatix vs Audiobrains - Sonic Machine
Here we go, get ready to enter Phatmatix and Audio Brains' Sonic Machine. This is clearly one of the heaviest tracks on the album. It doesn't get off the path, in relation to the previous tracks. Rolling bassline, this time a bit heavier, with some dark scratchy synthlines and FX. A few minutes into the track and I'm already liking this one A LOT! The synths never come in off key and they always pop in at the right time. It doesn't get much more psychedelic than this, believe me. At the third minute you're given some time off to rest for a bit and get your act together and the journey starts again 45 seconds later. This really acid FX comes in and the melody will easily get into your head, it's seriously appealing. At this point I can honestly say this is the best track on the album so far, and from two producers I don't even know that well: I never heard anything by Audiobrains before, and I only knew a couple of tracks by Phatmatix. At 5:43 the track surprises me quite a lot with some sampled voices of some ethnic chant. It's not the kind of thing you expect to hear in a track as heavy as this one and, truth be told, the voices don't really fit. Especially because the voices last like a minute and you don't get anything even closer to it through the rest of the track. Which led me to think these dudes found some voices they liked and wanted to put them onto a track, regardless the fact that they could not fit. If nothing else, serves as a distraction and possibly some dancefloor-meditation (the concept's been around forever, but I just came up with the name right now). Deffinitely a monster tune, the best up to this point (and when you manage to beat Artifakt at what he does best, it's a serious deal!).
07. Digital Talk - Mathematrix
What can I say, this is my kind of album. I've always admired Digital Talk (hell, Droidsect - DT's older project - is one of my favorite acts ever; Poltergeist always makes me smile). It's not like Digital Talk is what it once was (at least under the name of Droidsect), but I still think it kicks some serious ass. Well, don't expect anything new here, unless you've never heard New Age Surf. If that's the case, I'll try to explain Digital's music in a few words. It's a fast-paced, full of rythm, digital sound, that tweaks a lot of knobs. With a warm rolling bassline, very dance-friendly and no real line, you're left with effects after effects, which is also a good thing. The effects keep on changing and the background "lines" mutate their way through the track. However, after 6 minutes of the same bassline melody, it starts to get on your nerves a bit. The feeling I get from listening to this track is that Digital Talk are running out of ideas, 'cause their work is sounding all like the same lately and, although it's one of the biggest names on this album, it's deffinitely not among the best tracks of the compilation. It's a huge bomb, just like most tracks by Digital but, also like most of Luc and Julien's tracks, it sounds exactly the same as everything they've ever done. In the end, it's the shadow of all it could have been.
08. Phatmatix - Back to Earth
I seriously cannot understand the name of this track because listening to it I deffinitely do not get the feeling of returning to earth. I get the feeling of leaving it, instead. It's a really heavy track, you can tell that just by its heavy, heavy bassline. I now understand the reason why Ananda (Red Cells label manager) chose to include two tracks by Phatmatix on the album. This one is another smasher, full of (truly) psychedelic effects and a lot of interesting looped melodies for good measure, just like in his previous track with Audiobrains. Production is really good, the style is just perfect for night time dancing and Phatmatix managed to keep the melodic side of trance alive at some points, without sounding a bit cheesy at all. There are some breaks that, although sounding off place, are certain to make you smile in the dancefloor. There's this high background effect at around four minutes that I just loved. It sounds like a pinch, it's hard to explain, and it could easily go unnoticed. It really got to me though, and I think it makes all the difference here. Later on things get even heavier with a dark, low-key synthline that later on collides with a really high-pitched line. Calling is Psychedelic Madness does not make it justice. Right when you're ready for the track to start dying, a new synthline (one of the best on the entire track) comes in. The entire track is brilliant and, even though it's far from being the absolute best of the album, it's deffinitely the most psychedelic, hypnotizing even.
09. Blue Planet Corporation - Groove on the Moon
Much respect to Red Cells for taking the risk of including a chill-out track on the album. This is something which is not done nearly often enough and Red Cells risked it right on its debut. A big thank you to them just for that! Blue Planet Corp is the extremely well-known French act. Gabriel has been around since I can remember, has released loads of tracks on many compilations, has seen his work remixed by names like Wizzy Noize, and released an album through Flying Rhino called Blue Planet, back in 1999. He's really well-known for making some of the most ground-breaking Goa Trance, but has recently turned his attention over to dub and chill. This track starts off suddenly, very in-your-face intro. It's deffinitely an ambient track and it's more of a dubby slow-paced (132 BPMs) breakbeat than exactly chill-out. It's really spiritual and the ambience it creates around the listener is an amazing experience. Just the perfect way to close an album like this - in fact, it's the perfect way to close any other album too. The drums provide a really good rythm, which results in a big amount of positive vibes all around. Although I'm more of an ambient and no-beat-chill-out fan, BPC haven't failed to impress me here. Highly reccomended!
Ok so the album's a proove that the French psytrance scene is alive and well, kicking with some of the hottest dancefloor tunes I've heard in a while. If you're a fan of Timecode Records and Nexus Media's work, this won't certainly disappoint you. It's an album that easily grows on you and that, aside from the huge gap there is between the first and second track, is a really enlightening psychedelic experience as a whole. Plus, it presents a big, big surprise: Phatmatix, who I'll be keeping an eye out for in the future. This guys is the next big thing from France. I'd say Red Cells deffinitely has a bright future ahead of them, although I'd reccomend they start searching for other acts outside France as well. Globalization is one of the most powerful features of the trance culture and getting an album out almost entirely made of French producers will only contribute towards the destruction of that globalization. We certainly don't want to see this faction of the music industry break apart like all other styles, where it's really hard to get your music out in smaller, less-evolved countries. That being said, I'd like to wish the best of luck to everyone at Red Cells on behalf of Psylosophy and keep up the good work. For potential buyers, I hope all your doubts are undone and you go buy this album, if you're into the style. A debut in style into the scene!
Ed Nunes ( Delusional ) Review
--------------------
Rui Leitovsky (Yantra)
Psylosophy.com
When i grow up, there will be the day, when everybody has to do what I SAY!!!
Let us take you on a journey, that will take you from are small world stage and orbit you beyond our fragile planet...... |
|
|
|
Ananda
Audiobrains
Started Topics :
62
Posts :
847
Posted : Jul 4, 2005 16:10
|
Hello everyone ..
You all make my day
First of all .. congratulations for those very nice reviews .. from BSM and Ed Nunes ..
It gives us more strenth to keep the work up ..
Our next release will be in October 2005 ..
You all will get infos on time ..
It will feature 9 previously unreleased tracks from the red cells team alongside confirmed artists and newcomers such as Broken toy , RAM , Brethen , POF etc .....
Until there have fun 
http://www.myspace.com/audiobrains |
|
|
|
Madpup
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
174
Posted : Jul 4, 2005 22:22
|
Listened to it yesterday, didnt really like it. The exception is the magic morning track from Silicon Sound and I quite liked the Artifact track, but the rest.....well...sounded generic and totally devoid of any inspiration.
10/10 for Silicon Sound track
7/10 for Artifact
the rest would be a 3/10 |
|
|
|
Salamandrill
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
49
Posted : Jul 4, 2005 23:48
|
"
Listened to it yesterday, didnt really like it. The exception is the magic morning track from Silicon Sound and I quite liked the Artifact track, but the rest.....well...sounded generic and totally devoid of any inspiration.
10/10 for Silicon Sound track
7/10 for Artifact
"
That pretty much sums it up for me too... i liked 1,5,7 and maybe 8. dissapointed in the SA artists here, they could have done better. it is very CPU and i dont really like cpu.
i would give it 5/10...
|
|
|
|
petitekaya
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
8
Posted : Jul 7, 2005 15:50
|
just few words to say long life to Redcells records.
this compilation is a very nice one... And I'm very glad to have it...
all tracks are good ones, with a huge production...
To madpup=> you should be objective... and tell everybody for which reasons you do not like this 7 on 9 tracks... please listen to them with a cleaned ear and advise... |
|
|
|
Madpup
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
21
Posts :
174
Posted : Jul 7, 2005 20:14
|
One can not be objective when it comes to music taste.
I always listen to music with a 'cleaned' ear, i didnt like the album and I gave my opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
