Avalanche Of Sound Vol 4 – Avalanche Records
Various Artists
Compiled by one Seb Krüger, this selection of clean, crystalline trance tickles a wider variety of progressive tastebuds than a Freq-flavoured lollipop. Transmotion’s Ultraviolet works well as a tune, but it’s marred for me by the strings which seem to make it sound a little robert-miles-circa-Children-y. Metrobasement’s New Economy makes up for this: a deep tribal number with percussive runs that drag you out of your seat and make you gravitate to the dancefloor. The breakdown has loads of cheeky is-it-or-isn’t-it going on, before it drops deep down into yet more tech. Beckers’ Switch has been a massive hit around and about this year (I have a feeling someone did really well playing this at glade). It’s got a vocal running through it, and I personally would do tricks to hear a cut without that… but look, you’ve got a killer riff that’s all about taking it down, down down: imagine the dirtiest, sleaziest dancing you could possibly do, and you’ve got the idea. It’s pure Psybooty, in other words. Hardy Heller vs Inkfish’s Swallowed By The Light has been jammed on rotation here this week. Weighing in at ten plus minutes, it’s the sort of dreamy, effortlessly fluid progressive trance that’s been gaining so much ground lately. Think Antix with a bit more soul… think Son Kite on good skunk. I can’t get enough of it. SBK’s Miles & More is a lesson in how to construct bloody good trance with minimal ingredients. The groove is laid-back and desert-island, it drops beautifully, and in the background is a looped signature very very similar to Underworld’s Dark and Long (except at 130bpm). Dub Disaster’s Sausage Dip has that kinda half 4-4, half-breaks pattern that’s been bubbling about lately, chucking in very sinister squabbles and little echoes of what could be The KLF’s What Time Is Love. Antix’s Little Honey was one of the strongest cuts form their recent album, and sounds pretty tasty here as well: up against the context of more varied progressive, here you seem to notice the organic feel that they’ve got in their music. And you’re left still concluding that they’re bloody good bastards, the bastards. Josel & Pedro’s Lonely Future sweet, plenty of ticklish high-end going on, with a very Vangelis-y kind of emotion about it. It flows serenely well, but despite repeated listens I couldn’t quite fall into groove with it, it seemed to lack a bit of soul perhaps? Which can by no means be said for Marco Candey’s Deep Blue, a wonderful breaky-chilled piece of music that’s sort of like a dancefloor café del mar. All in then, this is a varied and plush collection of tunes, definite trans-spectrum progressive. But whether it’s really going to appeal to the psy-crossover as well as its intended club market is another matter.
