Archive for the 'SOTW' Category

SOTW: ITP – Do You Know ITP?

Published at January 18, 2008 in SOTW. 1 Comment

Song of the week: ITP – Do You Know ITP?

Howabout some Spanish Psytrance to round off the week?

The ITPs - Erez Yaffe & Sami Sabin
myspace.com/iiitttppp

Well this duo isn’t Spanish exactly. Like some of the top psytrancers out there (Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection) Erez Yaffe & Sami Sabin hail from Israel.

ITP (Individual Thought Patterns) combine Psytrance & Electronica with oriental instruments, vocals & guitars in a dazzling fusion of genres which creates a vibrant intensity to their music.

The beginning of their musical way was around the ages of 10 & 12 where they started playing the guitar & played in different rock & metal groups. As the two contiued evolving, we got to composition & synthesis studies and in 2003 theyformed ITP & started producing psytrance together.

ITP (standing for ‘Individual Thought Patterns’) is all about being good music:
Combining acoustic sources such as oriental instruments, vocals & guitars with electronic manipulation & high quality production, their unique & highly musical style is particularly noticeable over todays psytrance scene background & could be compared with acts like Hallucinogen, Infected Mushroom, Juno Reactor & Shpongle.

“Lose Your Illusion”, ITP’s debut album was out on 02/2007 on Sundance Records. You’re welcome to check it out on the red player!

In mid 2007 ITP were spotted by the Israeli mega-label Phonokol records as a huge potential in a world saturated with trance artists – The uniqueness, freshness & the special timbre of ITP’s music make them one of the intriguing acts of 2008! Nowdays Erez & Sami are working on their second album, which will be released this year!

Check ‘em out at myspace.com/iiitttppp, particularly their tracks ‘Do You Know ITP‘ and ‘ITP vs. UReckenNorthern Lights‘. It’ll blow your mind.

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SOTW: Aeden – Search for Time

Published at October 15, 2007 in SOTW. 2 Comments

Aeden

‘Aeden’ or ‘Open Mind’ is a trance / hard trance artist I had the pleasure of encountering on the DJ Pi forums. As a big fan of both genres I knew I was in for a treat listening to the tracks from this French DJ.

There are so many good tracks to choose from, available by downloading via DJ Pi.net, Aeden’s website or his EP ‘Connecting People‘ which you can buy from all the major legal download sites.

‘Search for Time‘ is perhaps one of Aeden’s more progressive trance tracks, with a great buildup featuring interesting percussion and a pulsing bassline.

The chorus has poetic Japanese lyrics and a majestic guitar which morphs into a synth arpeggio. It’s soaring well crafted music and all his tracks are crisp, powerful and melodically driven. Aeden’s proficiency is something I aspire to achieve in my own music.

Check him out on Myspace at myspace.com/aedenakaopenmind or go to his website: www.aeden.new.fr

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SOTW: 77 Percent by The Herd

Published at July 31, 2007 in SOTW. 0 Comments

In light of the Government’s wholly hateful & incompetent handling of Mohammed Haneef and his prosecution I can only hope this government is not going to get away with it. I haven’t seen the poll numbers on the specific issue of Haneef’s treatment but the figures continue to point to electoral disaster for Howard and his cronies.

This is my fantasy, that this populist government comes down on the wrong side of a xenophobic, anti-humanitarian issue.

With that in mind let’s cast out minds back to the days of the Tampa and crystallize our outrage and shame with The Herd’s classic, “77 Percent”.

www.myspace.com/runningwiththeherd

The Herd

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SOTW: Spartan – The Way That You Wanted

Published at July 17, 2007 in SOTW. 1 Comment

www.therealspartan.com

Whilst The Sickness is probably my favourite Spartan song from the album of the same name, it is hard to discern a winner from the quality on offer.

The Way That You Wanted is full of melancholy, nostalgia and longing and is another example of pallet of sounds Spartan manages to squeeze out of his acoustic guitar. He is a “one man band” so if you like what you hear visit his website and let him know. In place of lavish record deals artists often subsist on kind words from fans to keep them going.

On ‘The Way That You Wanted’:

The sax you hear is a sample from Rabih Abou-Khalil’s Blue Camel, and is performed by Charlie Mariano. The female voice you hear is Miriam Williams, an old friend with one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. For the most part though, yes, a “one man band”.

From The Real Spartan

Spartan is only one man.

I am 27, originally from the small town of Poland, Ontario. I learned to play guitar at a fairly young age from a number of informal teachers, Jerry The Jew, Six Finger Neal, and Joel Williams to name a few.

My first album “You Will Require The Following”, (Title: Mike Michie), is extremely rare, and worth millions. Album #2 “The Sickness” is now playable, downloadable, and buyable.
Also coming soon; Un Fuoco Tremulo

Listen & Comment @ Make Tunes

www.myspace.com/therealspartan

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SOTW: KLF – What Time is Love (Pure Trance)

Published at July 8, 2007 in SOTW. 3 Comments

KLF – What Time is Love (Pure Trance)

This is one of the tunes that helped spawn the electronic sub-genre known as ‘Trance’. It may not sound like much but think back to 1988/89 and you’ll see this track was ahead of its time. The rap vocal version is certainly redolent of the eighties but that acid synth bassline is etched into the recesses of my mind.

I’m pretty sure it was the background music for a music video TV show that aired on Saturday mornings in my youth. I’ve wondered why it took me so long to move my tastes from the mainstream dance/pop of the nineties to the melodic trance of today, now I realize the genre wasn’t invented yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYbpGqF1Kaw


From Wikipedia:

Trance Music

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of What Time Is Love? and 3 a.m. Eternal (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound – as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave) and the 1988 track Kylie Said Trance.

Their use of the term ‘pure trance’ to describe these recordings reinforces this case strongly. These early recordings were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and ‘underground’ in sound. While the KLF’s works are clear examples of Proto-trance, two songs, both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first “true” trance records.

The first, Age of Love’s self-titled debut single was released in early 1990 and is seen as creating the basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany. The second track was Dance 2 Trance’s “We Came in Peace”, which was actually the b-side of their own self-titled debut single. While “Age of Love” is seen as the track which cemented the early trance sound, it was Dance 2 Trance (as a result of the duo’s name) that probably gave the sound its name.

The Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon mix)


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SOTW: Meck Ft. Dino – Feels Like Home

Published at July 2, 2007 in SOTW. 0 Comments

The first installment of what I’m sure will be a semi-regular affair, “Song of The Week”

This week the song that has tickled me in some particular way or just got stuck in my head is:

Meck - Feels Like Home

Meck Ft. Dino – Feels Like Home

You may not know the name but you surely heard his tune, ‘Thunder in my Heart’ at some point last year. ‘Feels Like Home’ has got a great pace with sweeping vocals by Dino Lenny but mostly it’s the nostalgia I love. The lyrics are nostalgic and if you grew up like me listening to any dance music you could get your hands on you remember the “unmistakable riff” of Felix – ‘Don’t You Want Me’.

Is this another example of modern music cannibalizing the past in this strange era of 80’s and 90’s retro hip? Sure. But Felix’s track is hardly a sacred cow and they did it respectfully. Furthermore it speaks to my generation so I’ll give more latitude!

Also check out Meck’s remix of The Ghosts‘ ‘The World is Outside‘.

You can check them out on his myspace page.

The video is pretty cool too.

The name MECK has been everywhere of late thanks to the UK number 1 smash hit single Thunder In My Heart Again. The record gained the support of among others Radio 1s Pete Tong, who went on to play it for 10 consecutive weeks and made it his Essential New Tune.

2007: How do you follow up the only dance record to be the UK ..1 for 2 weeks in 2006? Well, for Meck it wasn’t about resting on his laurels and going down the same musical path again. ‘Feels Like Home’ utilises the classic, unmistakable riff from Felix’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’ but is light years away from what you maybe expecting. With vocals written & sung by the much-underrated Dino (known to most of you as the talented Dino Lenny) and road tested by Meck on his extensive dj travels around the world, this is a true club monster.

Dino – the Italian based producer, known by more aliases than a criminal overlord – Lenny’s more verbally twisted alter-ego and contained the Pete Tong championed ‘Call Me’ which become one of free2air’s most downloaded tracks ever in the UK, spawned a Top Ten hit in Italy and further recognition of his talent worldwide.

The duo have actually known each other for over 12 years, dating back to when Dino gate crashed one of Craig’s studio sessions, where he was finishing a remix. “He literally came in and said ‘I heard what you were doing through the door and think you can do it better if you listen to me’. I was like who’s this cocky bastard!” remembers Craig.

From that point on a strong bond was forged, with Craig running Dino’s ‘Age One’ label before being snapped up to work for Ministry of Sound imprint Incentive and then leaving to set up free2air in 2003.

So Meck and Dino come full circle, providing a refreshing, sophisticated collaboration – which results in the catchy, hypnotic, euphoric anthem ‘Feels Like Home’. With remixes from TV ROCK vs Dirty South/Redanka/Marco V and described as ‘Faithless Meets Kasabian’ this is already planting an early marker as one of biggest club records of 2007.

http://www.meckonline.com/

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