Various Retro 2 Phonokol (Israel)

The second in the series celebrating “10 years of Israeli trance” again only goes back as far as about eight years, and the one-step-down-from-a-box-set packaging also indicates that this is a premature sequel to a premature concept for an album. Two CD’s, two mixes, a “Sunrise” from Avi Nissim of Astral Projection, and a “Party”  one from Krembo/USTA’s Zoo-B. Avi’s mix is nice and actually stands out alright by itself. Kicking off with the innocent stillness of Domestic & Astrix’s Pure Energy, and through to last year’s Space Cat / Talamasca collaboration Armageddon. On to Astrix & Atomic Pulse’s awesome Scientific Reality... love this one but sounds a little pitched-down so loses some of its poke. Things then actually start to get retro with Chakra’s Liquid Troll, Witchcraft’s Eastern Rain (1994, and one of the oldest on the album, so what this ten years of trance is about is anyone’s guess) and Aban Don’s State Of Mind, all of which hold their own and are testament to a good bit of thought from Avi. Haar-El’s Wonderland and Power Source’s rarity The Calling haven’t aged so well at all, luckily Astral Projection’s Kabalah sneaks up and saves the day. Ever heard this one? On the jukebox in your local is it? Your Nokia’s ringtone as well? You’ve shagged to it, came up to it, lost it to it, vomited to it, it’s always welcome here. The Party CD however is seriously lacking in both form and content, the full on stuff from the likes of Tandu, Pigs In Space and MFG half-works, Infected Mushroom’s Symphonatic is maybe not the most obvious choice but underlines their significance in the scene’s development, and killer tunes like Phreaky’s Tornado and Oforia’s Timelessness hold their own but are a bit forced into the mix. Hard to recommend something like this – Avi’s mix is nice and it’s a pity it’s not available as a single CD… in the dual-package format you’re going to end up with a lot of tunes you’ve got already, a couple of non-classics you haven’t got, and a bit of a duff second CD. It’s your choice.