Resurrection

I have to admit, I never thought we’d be reviewing another release on Transient on these hallowed pages: but here we are. Brought back from the Other Side by Greg Coyle and Kristian, it’s like an old friend with a cold nose. Even the artwork harps you back to better, brighter days even if the music doesn’t always do the same.

Frequaliser kicks off with Centre Of Mind, and it’s tight stuff that picks up a lot of energy around the midsection, putting it all together for a smooth final run. Plastic Vibe’s Gone has a glassy feel, as most of these tracks do post Triptych’s mastering. It starts out fine, but picks up layer upon layer of cheese that culminates in an uber-amyl final peak that really wasn’t needed. Plastic Vibe’s production is decent, the ideas are solid enough, so why was this peak even necessary?

Star X’s Religion is a bit heavy on the samples, is full of generic sounds, and has layering about as technical as Lego. It’s effective enough, and will get a dancefloor moving but ultimately it’s barely evolved from Star X’s debut years ago, and is a far cry from vintage Transient. 2HI’s Bad Boy is dreadful, pedestrian stuff with the ‘added bonus’ of samples from porn films: ‘fuck me in the ass,’ and so forth. It tries to win on the slutty electro tip, but fails quite miserably. Skip forward, and luckily InterActive’s Electro Times saves the day. The vibe here is energetic and determined, and the riffs and little movements are intriguing – sucking you in to see what happens next. A bouncy 303 lead is a tasty sonic reminder of this label’s best moments, and more than anything else the sense of fun in this track makes it one of the best I’ve heard this year.

Mklome v Kristian’s Weird Vibe is some decidedly nice stuff. It has a sort of Azax-y lead, samples that sounds like they might have been manipulated by Cosmosis, all tied into a neat little package with echoes of tribal progressive. Good work. Fortu’s Juice is eerie stuff, and possibly the most intriguing track on the album. The mesh of predictable and uneasy is extremely hypnotic: you lose yourself, then find yourself again afterwards. We like.

The wet duo Bullet Proof’s remix of Kruger and Coyle’s The Witness isn’t quite as offensive as their takes on Tainted Love and Blue Monday, but it’s still pretty tricky to love. It’s exquisitely boring, devoid of energy, and just makes you want to listen to the original instead. Finally Triptych’s Rock In The Valley is more or less what you’d expect from Triptych; easing up on the melody maybe but still firmly in that sheeny, glassy hue.

I’m aware that it’s tough to relaunch the label after a hiatus; doubly so in the current release-drenched climate. So while it’s not up there with classic Transient releases, by today’s standards it’s a superlative fullon compilation. Decent stuff.