Aux-In

I'm working on two album reviews at the moment and I hope to get them up soon, but here's something I want to drop, as it's one of my favorites.

Zedd - "Stars Come Out" [Terravita Remix]



Original production by Zedd, who I've already mentioned. If you haven't heard of him from his music, you may have heard his named dropped from having dated Selena Gomez, if one is so inclined to care about such juicy gossip. Heather Bright on vocals again, and Terravita does a good job in keeping up with a good melody while incorporating dubstep sounds. Huge tune.

This was released on the label Dim Mak Records, which is the label founded by Steve Aoki in 1996 when he was a 19-year-old college student. Dim Mak started out with indie rock, but they started incorporating EDM into their roster in about 2009. They have a lot of good artists that make unique and listenable songs; a handful of good, quality songs on my master list are from them. Say what you want about Aoki -- he's a big cheese ball, and I only have one song by him so far that I've enjoyed -- but I gained respect for him when he said in an interview that electronic music is the new punk, in essence. He also mentioned that he's always seeking fresh sounds. I tend to agree with his points.

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misspoptart

Dude. New favorite thread. All my life, I've been waiting for someone to do this thread. I saw you posted something from Proximity, are you a subscriber to his channel? How about SuicideSheep? You would like him too, I think.

I can't wait to read this thread in detail and listen to every track on Monday in the office. <3

Aux-In

Ibiza: Popular tourist destination the world over, and home to legendary nightlife. I have heard of the island's reputation as a party mecca from various outlets, in passing, although I've never been. Maybe so, but I see no reason to let that stop me from living vicariously through the following song/video, and later via the Ibiza '06 double-CD compilation album. A subsequent Wikipedia search reveals to me that producers and DJs come to Ibiza to perform at various clubs, particularly during the summer months, and that this Mediterranean paradise has become one of thee top places for these electronic wizards to present new tracks in the house, trance and techno genres. Read more: Ibiza.

Before I get to the album review, I'm going to start off with this single. I'm hesitant to add this because I don't want it to take away from the album review, but at this moment in time, I find this as good a place as any to include it in this write-up.


^^ As soon as the video starts, we see an Ibiza sign, which is a tip that we're probably going to have a good time while taking in some of the beautiful sights that this island has to offer, including some of its inhabitants. The video contains multiple scenic shots from around the town + various people gatherings. One element that I found pretty cool was the floating soccer field (or football if you want to be European about it), complete with AstroTurf. The blonde singer, Maruja Retana, looks and sounds like a Britney Spears rip-off. Initially, while that may sound like a bad thing, it isn't, because the instrumental is right where it should be -- i.e., it stays out of the Burmuda Traingle of Lame and Generic Music that a lot of mainstream EDM tends to get sucked into. Vocal-wise, this is the only song on my list that uses a traditional voice-correcting effect (Auto-Tune) in this manner; the same kind of voice correcting that you'd hear in a lot of radio-friendly pop songs. To reiterate, a lot of my selections have amped, edited, spliced, distorted effects and so on, but here the standard voice-correcting format is noticeable. It should hurt the song, but after a few listens you can forget all your troubles, 'cause all you gotta do is put this one on and bang it out, preferably at high volume.




This compilation was put together by Markus Schulz as a way of remembering his summer in Ibiza in 2006, hence the album's apt title. Schulz is the founder of the label Coldharbour Recordings and host of his own Global DJ Broadcast radio show. Over the years, he has made an effort to seek out new talent, and this album was a small part of that process. When it comes to my electronic music, I want to be hearing things that are on the bleeding edge of sound development; I want to find sounds that I've never heard before, regardless of genre. This leads me to the following quote from the album's foldout:

To that point, the more I read or see interviews of many of my favorite producers/DJs, the more I come to find out that a number of them feel the same way about music that I do, not only from what they create themselves, but also in helping other artists with similar philosophies get discovered.

Notes & Sidebars: (a) Several tracks sounded very similar, which was exacerbated by the fact that I listened to both discs back-to-back. Because of this, if a track was either flat/did nothing for me/didn't speak to me in any way, or was hard to describe, I am going to list N/A for that track. This means each of those tracks gets the same rating of N/A, which is neutral in its application. (b) Disc 2 will have a track from a then-younger Andy Moor, who, as I stated earlier in my journal, ended up founding his own label, AVA Recordings. So there's some history here, as both Schulz's and Moor's labels were, at one time, under the parent organization Armada Music. (c) There are at least two tracks that I know of, and I expect the rest of the CD to follow in the same vein -- ambient instrumental music. This means no bangers, which is cool and no biggie, because I already have enough of those on my master list to last a lifetime . Let’s see if I can find any surprises on this puppy...


1) Ohmna - "People Get Lost": Sounds like a rock song with a guitar riff. Wtf? Cool, wasn't expecting that. Vocals come in now with a “people get lost” lyric line which is stutter-stepped and repeated throughout the song. The vocals are also stretched out/extended with an echo effect put on them. Half way through and it goes into more verses: “So we go insane. Nothing comes easy, that’s for sure.” “Does this disease even have a cure?” Overall, a rather spooky way to start off what I anticipated as being some chill-ass ****, although, if I was lost in Ibiza with this tune readily available on my music player, this might be something I could drift away to.

2) Benya - "Mimas": This track has a short vocal splice that is being used as a sound instead of a voice. Sort of lullaby-like sounds fused with progressive-trance synths. Then at about three minutes in, the track takes off with a big synth and a driving beat as it carries the lullaby sounds with it the entire time.

3) Jose Amnesia (ft. Jennifer Rene) - "Louder": Woah. Big sound to this vocal track, which I wasn’t expecting on this album. Jennifer Rene on vocals. This is the type of vocal treatment/filtering that I like. The slower pace of the track is in contrast with the big-voice sound, but it is in sync so that it isn’t out of place. A little too slow for me on this, but the production is solid and it’s a chill tune. For example, Motorcycle – “As the Rush Comes” [Gabriel & Dresden Chill Out Mix] is a slower jam that I've already posted, and that is the type of sound that this has, albeit doesn’t grab me as much as the G&D mix.

4) Joost van der Vleuten - "New Horizon": N/A

5) Lens - "Dusk Till Dawn" [Alex Stealthy Remix]: Same as #4. It’s so stealthy that I wouldn’t notice it if it was walking next to me down the promenades of Ibiza. Sorry.

6) Progresia - "The Shelter": This has more going on in it than the last two, but it’s not something I haven’t heard before.

7) Francis Blaid - "Mystery" [Allende Remix]: N/A.

8) Niklas Harding & Funabashi - "Addictive": Decent but N/A

9) Alex Monakhov - "Feel Lonely":N/A

10) Benz & MD - "Turning the Curve": N/A

11) Nick Thompson - "Strategos": N/A

12) 4Mal & Matthew Adams (ft. Corey Andrew) - "Technology & Computer" [Matthew Adams Dub Mix]: This breaks out from the monotony of the last few tracks. While it's not too bad, I look for songs to sync up with my brain patterns. This isn't doing that, so it ends up being just another track, even if it's better than some of the rest.

13) DJ Remy - "Wink": N/A


1) Ormatie - "Glassgow" [Original Mix]: Moon countdown & NASA radio transmissions. “Ignition sequence has started.” Um, are we going from Mars to Ibiza or what? Not sure what if any connection is meant by this, and I find myself not connecting with the track. Wait a minute, come to think of it, this is a compilation album and not a concept album, nor is it an album specifically geared toward Ibiza's beachiness as so on, so it's all good. Well, I want to say the vibe is like corridor music, ala Star Trek or something like that. Then I want to say it’s ocean-like and space-like combined, while also making me want to walk a city street on a moderately-warm, temperate night. This would be music I would set to a scene in an under-ocean world where the water functions as air and everyone walks around -- not swims -- as if no one is the wiser to the fact that they're living in an alternate universe. I’m mentioning water, but I mean that figuratively, as it would be a mischaracterization to say that this track has any relation to water itself. A beeping noise signals a transition as track 1 smoothly leads into track 2.

2) Joonas Hahmo - "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix]: This was one of the catalysts that made me want to go out and buy the album. Excellent track. It has that perfect balance between driving and ambient sounds, with enough variation in technique to satisfy my brainwaves. The first 1:30 has a slower pace, and then there is a decent build-up in the middle as the song punches as she goes in the latter half. Catchy tune.


3) Perry O'Neil - "South-West Saga": Slightly desert-like, if you will, but it doesn't overdo it. Not to my liking. I’m not against trying to listen to stuff like this, but I just can’t get into it. And not to be disrespectful of artistic creation, but I’m bored by it. I just want the track to finish itself out.

4) Baltic Sound - "Glimmer" [Micah and Joel Armstrong's Ruhnsong Remix]: Cool. Almost feels like Super Metroid meets Ibiza. The song changes tone in the first middle half. There is a trance beat in the background, but there are other parts that sound like dubstep would sound if it decided to go on a diet. It's not dubstep, though. Here again, some interesting sounds, but I won’t be returning to this one as it lacks the necessary melody for me.

5) Andy Moor vs. Orkidea - "Yearzero": "Yearzero," all one word. This is the first vocal track on Disc 2, but the vocals aren't audible due to the fact that they're used as a vocal chop. Second-best song so far on either disc. This is classic Andy Moor with his progressive trance sounds. Moor is such a good trance producer. He's since gone on to produce better stuff than this, but it's interesting to hear some of his earlier work.

6) Kenneth Thomas - "Achems Razor": I take back what I said about #5, as this tune replaces it as the second-best track on the album. It’s slower than "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix]. Tracks like this, when I’m hearing them for the first time on Pandora and the like...they stand out but may not catch immediately. It’s when they come around the way again a couple of times that they position themselves as part of my musical soundscape/collection. Over four minutes in and the track remains consistent. Then at 4:20, it goes through a couple of pauses, then it breaks out in a catchy way as it gets louder and even more driving without breaking its ambiance. The song closes out with another transition that works well in setting up the next track.


7) Roland Klinkenberg - "What's the Point": Over a minute in now, and I have the same quandary as the song’s title. Some bloops and bleeps repeated ad nauseum. Perhaps it would work if I was at a beach bar in Ibiza ordering some shots for my entourage, if I'd ever happen to get one of those. Now at 2:40 it finally does something, but the remainder of the song is a jumble of itself. This sounds more like techno than trance.

8) Nick Thompson - "Once Upon A Time": Even though this track is by a different artist and is its own song, in its own right, it's as if "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix] and "Achems Razor" had a love child, given the fact the some of the techniques used are similar. Also hearing some Andy Moor influences, even if he had no involvement in the track's development.

9) Markus Schulz (ft. Anita Kelsey) - "First Time" [Funabashi Remix]: Some sort of effect that sounds like a muffled school bell. Not bad, I suppose, but I'm going to hang up an N/A on this one.

10) Algarve - "Greasepaint": The beginning sounded good, but as I finished the song, I have to say it didn’t go where I wanted it to go. This electronic instrumental **** is hard to describe other than via vibe/feeling, so apologies if I'm not writing much on the lesser tracks.

11) Ambrosial - "Sunshift" [Arthur Schmidt of Basic Perspective Remix]: As far as the remixer goes, now there’s a name if I’ve ever heard one. Love it. The song: the vibe does keep in line with the track’s title, so good work there. Sun 'n fun.

12) Kyau & Albert - "Kiksu": N/A

13) Sassot - "Where It All Begun": Decent song.

14) Breakfast - "The Air Between": Interesting sounds. This is setting up as the album’s closer. It has two or three different beats going at the same time. Not as catchy as my favorites on the album, but I can respect the artistry on it. Track ends with a sloooow fade to bring a sunset on the album as a whole.

SUMMATION

Ibiza '06 does bring some different sounds to the table, however, there weren't any big surprises, unfortunately. Not only that, Disc 1 was a much bigger miss than I anticipated. The two songs I previously knew about were "The Fusion" [Hawk Remix] and "Achems Razor." I have to say that this is a testament to how good Pandora's algorithm is, as generally speaking, each time I've gone out and bought an album in addition to the singles, I find that I would've done the same going either way with my purchases without feeling left out over things I might've missed. I'm not saying the other songs on the album necessarily = bad music, it's just that, other than the songs I did enjoy, the rest of them were on the boring side of things. Certainly, if I were to spend any time at all in Ibiza, I'm sure I'd have a much better go with this type of music than I get from sitting on my couch, typing away on Music Banter about music that has been compiled as a representation of vibes from an island I've never even visited. Yeah, that would make all the difference in the world. It may be a vicarious life, but someone's gotta live it.

Till next time.

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."

Aux-In

Hi there misspoptart. Yes, I do subscribe to Proximity. I used to subscribe to SuicideSheep as he's had good taste in the past. However, awhile back he went on a tangent where he was uploading a lot of indie music and other kinds of things that were out of left field, not all of which were electronic, so I unsubscribed. Don't know if he's still doing that.

Sounds like someone is going to have a good case of the Mondays.

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."

misspoptart

Hahah, you bet! I think Sheepy is still uploading the occasionally good trap/chillstep tracks, but I know what you mean about the tangent. Hit or miss, really, but his taste also seems to evolve over time, and I like that.

I've only made it to your 6th post today but ending with TheFatRat was so good. I love his work. I'm also really into anything remixed by Vanic right now. I also noticed you posted "Kiss the Devil," the Bel-Heir remix, somewhere in here. Adore, adore, ADORE that track.

I will keep reading tomorrow!

Aux-In

Yeah, definitely like what you like. I still haven't figured out why I like some slow music but not other types of slow music. The vast majority of what gets uploaded between all my subscriptions is slower electronic music, and a lot of that all tends to sound the same to me. Wow, I went back and checked and I'm subscribed to 95 YouTube channels between labels, artists, and unofficial, random electronic-music channels. That's hundreds of songs a week and thousands a year, if I were to check every single upload, every single week. And that's just YouTube. Is there such a thing as too much music? I obviously can't get to everything.

With that in mind, the thing about Sheepy was that he stated that his taste was going in that direction. Perfectly fine, but it wasn't for me. I didn't necessarily want to drop him, as he is also very good at matching the background art with the what the song is trying to convey (vibe, feeling, emotions), but my own taste was evolving around that same time, and it wasn't matching up with what he was doing.

Speaking of...

^^ From 2014. Vanic's material is well-produced, but this is the style that I like from him. Melodic vocal dubstep is the best .

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."

misspoptart

Yeah, same. I have had a hard time kind of pinning down why some tracks stick with me longer than others, but it usually comes down to whether or not I can really dance to them or not.

Isn't it, though? I hadn't heard that track, it's sooo good. I don't really like the song "skinny love" (I feel like I have heard 1,000 versions of it), but this version is totally good. Ah, Vanic. <3

Aux-In

Cool beans. I had never heard of either Birdy or Vanic before that song. In researching it I learned that Birdy's version was a cover of the original by Bon Iver, and indie rock band that I'd also never heard of. Twas all new to me at the time.

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."

Aux-In

I have been wanting to pick up this album for some time, and now I've finally done so. The caveat? Well, in order to save a measly $10, rather than import the hard copy, I went to Amazon and purchased the rest of the songs I didn't already have, replete in all their mp3 glory.


The album's title, Piercing The Quiet, is fitting in the sense that I take that to mean it's Tritonal saying through their music what they can't otherwise put into words. Music for introverts, perhaps -- not that it has to be so that, exclusively. There are a total of 15 tracks, which is more than I thought there would be. All tracks except #6 are original mixes, so I will leave off the [Original Mix] tagging for those. Track #6 is an album mix. Namely, there are two songs that I know I'm going to dig right off the bat: "Broken Down" and "Sometimes I Wish." More on them later in the review.

Let's get to it.

Note: All song timestamps are based on the album tracks, not YouTube videos.

1) Poem of Angels": "Poem Of Angels" is movie soundtrack material, set to an uplifting, exploring-the-sky/heavens-on-a-big-giant-winged creature type of feel, which I suppose is my way of saying the song is living up to its title. It starts off with a super slow, light, symphonic-like opening until we hit the 1:55 mark. It picks up from there, but not by a whole lot. At about the 2:55 mark, it gets more intense, but this adds to the sense of calm, rather than detracts from it. Also present are noises that simulate the screeching sounds that birds make as they're navigating through the air, as if Tritonal incorporated these samples to mimic the peacefulness of flying doves. This is an instrumental, although I think I'm hearing some inaudible vocal chopping that's being used as a sound. As standalone introductory tracks are concerned, it works for this album. A fade out transitions into track 2.

2) "Can't Keep It In" ; (ft. Jeza): Now we get some beats. Whereas the first song is only an introductory track, this is a fitting album opener. It's also the Tritonal I've come to know and appreciate.


Vocals come in now from Jeza:

And this is the moment
Where it begins
You pull me closer
Under my skin

While the lyrics are typical club/sex-based, it's the exaggerated/amped vocal filtering that keeps things melodic, flowing and hot. At 2:55 the song breaks in melody a bit and goes choppy, which is something I'd prefer it didn't do. There is the "can't keep" vocal that is getting spliced and repeated during this down stretch. Then @ 3:55 the song breaks back into a proper melody and I hear some piano work being added to the song. It finishes the last half with an emphasis on the vocals; the vocal work is just right.

Mat Zo would later remix this, which you can check out here.

3) "Ziziki": Vocal edits that are used as sounds. I really need to come up with a singular word for that rather than typing a sentence each time to describe one effect. I'm getting some ever-so-slight aquatic vibes from this. Then at 1:35 it goes into booming synths. A vocal "ah-uh, ahh-aaah" is placed throughout the song. It's uplifting and relaxing in its feel, but it's not helped by that fact that it is all over the place.

4) "Broken Down" ; (ft. Meredith Call): Very good tune with fantastic vocals from Meredith Call. The "dah dah, dah dah" is catchy in addition to the choruses. The song follows a normal structure until we get to 4:05. At that point, "Broken Down" takes everything it had been building toward to culminate in a cohesive burst of energy.


Something to listen to when you might be feeling down and you want a pick-me-up of the soul. I know there's a deeper, gem of a conclusion that I could draw form the lyrics, but I'm allowed some writer's block when it suits me. All you need to know is that I could get lost in this song and not give a **** about the outside world, if only for the five minutes and 49 seconds that the song lasts.

5) "Retake": I'm hearing two different beats, a trance one and then a more abrasive-sounding backing track. The tempo sounds like 138 BPM uplifting style. Then it slows again and has a chime-sounding synth. Looks like this is shaping up to be an instrumental. At 2:15 the entire track syncs together as it gets back to a faster beat. Normal song, nothing special.

6) "Piercing Quiet" [Album Mix] ; (ft. Cristina Soto): I haven't heard this one yet. It starts out with an instrumental/intro that is sightly abrasive. Past the first minute the vocals come in. Soto works very well with Tritonal, but I'm not liking her here. This might have something to do with Tritonal mixing this track with vocals that go "And I eee I eee I," which is annoying. Also, the lyrics are too kumbaya"ish" for me, with lines such as:

The world is in constant motion
And so are all of us
You love the glow of sunrise
My stars come out at night

This isn't as strong as the other top quality vocal tracks on the album.

7) "Sometimes I Wish" ; (ft. Bethany): Another great one. I have already written about the extended mix version of this track in a previous post in this journal, so I will steal my own quotes, verbatim:

I will add this: the featured singer is Bethany. Which Bethany out of the several billion females on the planet is it? Who knows? You either want to be a singing star and get your name out there, or you don't.

8) "Something New" ; (ft. Jenry R): Male vocals here, and he sounds like his voice would work well in a pop-punk band. The song is midtempo. "I just can't walk away" is getting repeated too much and I'm not feeling that the singer is connecting with the material. Hey now, at 4:10 the song goes into epic mode, which does give it some redeeming qualities. However, there are too many "I just can't walk away" lines, and I'm afraid that's what I'll have to do with "Something New."

9) "Everafter" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): In general, this song carries a slow, chill, bleak and depressing feel throughout it. It's the opposite of uplifting. There is good piano and vocal work along with some symphonic elements as well.

10) "I Can't Breathe" ; (ft. Jeza): Thump, thump, thump goes the uplifting beat. Well-produced, but on the generic side of things. It's not speaking to me. I like some uplifting trance, but progressive trance is more my style.

11) "Lifted" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): Boop, boop, boop goes the beat. Vocals again from Cristina Soto, and they simply...just...work. At a minute in, Tritonal goes with another beat that is abrasive and non-melodic. However, at the same time, there's another back beat that is, in fact, melodious. Oh yeah!, then at 2:08 it grabs you by the ears. So listen up, and get lifted.

I like the vocal part where she sings:

Love can't stay on a higher ground
The fall from grace may not make a sound.

I especially like the parts where she says "lifted" in short bursts of strength, as if she's overcoming her weaknesses to reach a different plain of motivation.

Overall, the beat's not bad, but it's the vocals that make this song shine.

12) "Murakami": Moderately-hard, ambient trance. Chopped vocals that aren't audible. Sounds like some leftover beats from one of their previous tracks that they mixed with different techniques.

13) "Slave" ; (ft. Fisher): YES!! Love the instrumental on this. I didn't know this was on here, as I've come across the club mix before. Where the vocals were the standouts on the previous tracks, this is, in fact, the best instrumental on the entire album. It's very original and catchy too. An absolute banger instrumental. The one downside is that the vocals are distracting, so pick up the Tritonal & Ben Gold Club Dub Mix instead, found here. It's even more powerful and has better mixing.

14) "Shapes Revolve": This one isn't revealing itself right away, so I will have to see what shape it takes. I'm hearing vocals from a male in the background, and then at 1:30...what's this? oh no, oh no, say it isn't so...Tritonal has gone with a vocal-reverb effect (don't know what it's called) where the vocals sound like that of a robot. Not cool to have that on what is otherwise an album with music that takes itself seriously. This is the worst song on the album.

15) "Still With Me" ; (ft. Cristina Soto): Another good vocal tune, albeit slower than I'd prefer it to be. This comes around again to using similar sounds as the introductory track. I must have heard a different version than this, as this is structured as more of an outro song than whatever version it was that I remember hearing. "Still With Me" is a calming, angelic closer.


BEST TRACK: Maaaaaan, it's hard to choose definitively, so I'm going to say it's a tie between "Broken Down" and "Sometimes I Wish."
WORST TRACK: "Shapes Revolve"

After listening to the whole thing, I get a sense that it's one of those albums that gets better every time you give it a spin. So much so, that I'd be willing to bet that the parts that I didn't like at first would grow on me over time. Ultimately, if you're a fan of modern trance, this album is an essential output for your album rack, shelf or digital library.

THE FINAL WORD

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."

Aux-In

BASTO

Basto, whose real name is Jef Martens, is a Belgian producer and DJ who started making electronic music in 2005 at the age of 30. Before that?: he was studying law. Although it was Basto's "Again and Again" (2011) that put him on the map internationally, "Electric Stars" (2014) would be the first of two tracks that made me familiar with his work. This is the second one:


There are some similarities between "Again and Again" and this track, but I like this one more. "Keep On Rocking" is an instrumental with a few non-music vocal samples thrown in the mix. Catchy, good beat, and it's upbeat. Those unfamiliar with electro house may not like the drop, but that's what electro house is supposed to be like, contextually, and with this it works just fine. The video reminds me of an '80s throwback, especially due to the clothing styles worn by its participants, in addition to some other nostalgic odes that are present. Think high-tops and payphone booths. The twist here is that the video quality is in HD, and this allows for the digitized animation of two of the protagonists' heads, both of which are turned into animal faces, one a duck and the other a fox. Being as this is an EDM video, there is also the obligatory, scantly-clad female of interest who is not only intertwined as eye candy, but also serves as a motivation force, of sorts, behind our duck boy's moves.

I also would like to add this quote from Basto's Facebook page, because, yet again, it touches on the themes I find myself running into when I'm looking into these artists for my write-ups: (a) challenging oneself musically and (b) being on the cutting edge of sound. Them being the musicians, and me being the humble listener.


Artist information compiled from Wikipedia and Basto's Facebook page. Read more:

1) Wikipedia - Basto (musician)
2) Basto - Facebook

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"All over a bowl of bitter beans."