Infinity – Liquid & Solid

If I was to say to you the words, “intelligent and mature fullon”, you would probably think I was joking. You would pour your drink over my head, stamp on my foot, and flick a cigarette in my face: and rightly so. However, once you hear this CD you’ll see what I mean. Infinity has, single-handedly, reaffirmed my faith in fullon. I listen to this CD. A lot. I have had a mix with this CD. A lot. I bang on to my mates about how good this CD is. A lot. There’s something uniquely special about this, and coming right at the end of what has been, let’s face it, a pretty dire year for its genre, it’s like a shot of quality injected right into your jaded, pimply backside. After Magnetik’s Overture To Infinity opens the album in a thundering, Julee-Cruise-y cinematic stylee, Serbian act Pion does incredibly well with Beta, a spacious and baggy groove with a sort of wide-range in the production that makes it sound deliciously four-dimensional. It’s a perfect opening track, with just the right amount of energy in just the right places, and the drop is a lesson to us all in low-slung tranceology. And then we have utterly outstanding track number one on this compilation: Dickster & Annarchy’s On The Hunt, at which point you suddenly realise that the money you spent on this album is uncharacteristically justified for a fullon album. The quality here is simply mind-boggling. There’s echoes of Dickster’s last essential track Dizzy Drops, in both the feel and some of the sounds used. And just like that tune, On The Hunt is a deep and fluid record, full of little tricks and twists and with a fat, thoroughly psychedelic feel. The best thing Dick has put his name to since Rock Bitch: fact. Wizzy Noise’s Mind Scanner is more restrained than their most recent fullon work, but still retains their delicious energy and that fantastic sound of theirs. It’s quality all the way: the drop has enough techno to it that it sounds fresh enough to stand up well by itself, and there’s also more than enough to sit snugly in the mix. Manibus’ Liquid Eyes is an astonishing track. I can’t remember the last tune I heard like this, that fuses solid riffs and textured drops so eloquently. It cooks, basically: the sound is a little like Wizzy, but with less reliance on thunks and chunks to take it over the edge. Orion’s Late Night Exposure was completed after his last album and, for my money, is better than anything on that. Here Borelli’s fluidity and space seem to be brought out by the dazzling mastering – in short, it’s everything you could possibly want from an Orion track, with a breakdown and drop that are among the smoothest he’s ever done. And then, folks, all bets are off with utterly outstanding track number two: Altom vs Wizzy Noise’s Fifty-Fifty. The first time these two heavyweights have worked together, and it’s every bit as good as you might expect – if not better. Wizzy’s bottomend crunches along underneath Altom’s shiny tops… big chord changes drive it along like a beast... it goes very acidy and gnarly, then more fluid, then it builds and it peaks and… then… then it drops into the most amazing, gnarly, chewy, Wizzy-tastique final run you could ever possibly imagine. Simply divine. Polaris isn’t one of my favourite producers in the world, but Circles Rmx is possibly the best of his style I’ve heard. It’s clean, smooth, plenty of up-and-down motion… and while its pattern is essentially predictable, the final run will have even the most hardened cynic tapping his foot. Judging from Vector’s Daily Flame, Serbia is producing some crazy-good stuff at the moment and deserves more recognition. The vibe here is airy and uplifting, but without falling into any of the cliché traps you would expect to be connotated with those descriptions. It’s chummy, loveable, dramatic and quirky. Finally, Manifest’s A Day After finishes up in a warming, chase-the-sun sort of way. Deeply moving morning trance, with a suggestion of the progressive moving along, it has the vibe of wishing that the night wasn’t coming to an end, and that it could all keep going on like this forever. And with the strength of the music here, maybe it will. After you listen to this album, you’re left with a rare feeling where you feel like thanking your CD player for giving you the sounds it’s just converted from binary. Damn fine.