Various Fata Morgana : The First Step Compact Records (Israel)

New Israeli label Compact’s first collection promises to be a blend of various shades of trance from progressive to what they call “light full on”. DJ Auspexx’s Ei Enaa Nena kicks things off, with some very cute synths running around over warm pads. The sounds layer and layer and layer, so that by the end of the tune you get an escalating, peaking feel akin to Human Blue or BPC. Visual Paradox vs DJ Alhad’s Fresh is certainly just that – it kind of throws an 80’s synthpop vibe at the old prog-psy crossover. The feel is a strange mix of retro and forward-looking, and I’m not that comfortable with it… so on to Fluffy Clowns from Perplex. More psychedelic, and possibly the only tune I’ve heard that’s used that sample from the Orb, a 16th bassline storms around with tight percussion and offset melodies at the sides. All’s going well until this cascading pad comes in. Perplex tries to get that dark, escalating sound you’d get on Ed Rush tracks, but this is a feeble and unlistenable attempt. The pads are fine but  it’s the way he brings them in – at one point two notes are playing together that are disjointed, and the sound is absolutely dreadful, almost as though someone fell asleep on the keyboard. Swiftly on then to Ultrasved from Nasa, and we’re greeted by some ‘human voice’ samples which heightens my suspicion that this album is just as much Art of Noise and Human League as it is global trance party massive. The groove on this one isn’t bad, nice clattery percussion and a manmademan-esque wiggle groove. But the voices come back… Brain Bubbles’ Aamupala has a tight linear groove with a brilliantly twisted leadline that’s worth it for the peak time  buildup moments, while Hipersonic Whomen’s Des Pudles Kern is a nice, effective and well-layered morning tune. Exanimo’s HAL9000 samples everyone’s favourite self-aware computer, and has some nice acid runs and good spacey production. Positive’s It’s Alive is just awkward, and not likely to set many pulses racing, and by the time we get to Molecular’s scatty and uneventful Undersea Paradise, the silence when you press the stop button is actually preferable to the CD itself. Not without good ideas, and a couple of good tracks, but it’s very hard to recommend this. The cover art’s nice, does that help?