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Holographic Memory 2

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Psytrance reviews

Author: Per Kristian Slagsvold

Publishing date: 31.12.2003 17:44

Solstice Music keeps releasing good quality trance by some of the biggest names in the psychedelic trance scene. Holographic Memory is a series where they also try out some other acts than the usual suspects on this label. The first chapter in this series was released earlier this year. Now is the second chapter out on Solstice in Japan and on Solstice International in Europe...

Holographic Memory 2 (Solstice Music) 2003 (SOLWCD-008)

1. Wrecked Machines - Cyber Space
2. Polaris - Circles
3. GMS Vs. The Antidote - Mad Eclipse
4. Wrecked Machines - Ex Air Size
5. Tristan Vs. Aphid Moon - Hammer Time
6. Quadra - Fairy Tales
7. Dynamic - Genetic Engeneering (Alien Project Rmx)
8. Orion - Organic
9. Tranan - Sensor
10. Dandandado - Northern Lights

I really like the cover art on this one. First out is Wrecked Machines (Gabriel Serrasqueiro) from Brazil who released his debut album (Blink) on Etnicanet Records and Solstice Music this year. He is also to be found on tons of compilations released lately. He has a really massive sound picture and good sound quality. Typical new style full on NEO trance, with pumping, heavy grooves. Pretty drifting, but not so melodic. Track 2 is by Polaris (Arnauld Stengel) from France who has released quite a lot the last couple of years. He has found the heavy grooves too. His music doesn’t vary a lot, but he has some killer bass lines. The track we get here is also a bit more varied and melodic than usual from this guy. Pretty good track. Floating vibes, groovy stumpers and full on sounds. Track 3 is by a collaboration between the GMS (Riktam and Bansi) and The Antidote (Serge Souque). This one sounds a bit more clubby, but has a pretty funny little melody. Here you get the combination of the Antidote drift and full on sounds from GMS. Track 4 is another track by Wrecked Machines. This one starts more stumpy, with those totally heavy bass lines. A melody sneaks in after a while and makes it pretty drifting and uplifting. Track 5 is a collaboration between Tristan Cooke and Aphid Moon (Jules Hamer). I’m not a big fan of any of those two artists. The track we get here goes their usual direction, with sort of minimal full on style. Stumpy rhythms, but here you get a bit more variation than usual from these guys. Some noisy full on sounds, but pretty boring in my ears.

Track 6 by Quadra (Ido Liran) based in Los Angeles is better. This is a more varied full on track with some tripped out sounds and melodies. Then we get a track originally made by Dynamic (Ben Avital and Shay Almakayes), but here we get a remix by Alien Project (Ari Linker). This track was originally released on the debut Dynamic album Dynamix on Phonokol earlier this year. I prefer the original version, but this is not bad either. Those melodies are totally tripped out, and if you are still not tired of the Alien Project style, you will like this one. Track 8 is by one of my absolute favourite artists these days, Orion! He released his third album this year, on Solstice Music. A fantastic, deep, psychedelic album. The track we get here goes the same direction as the album. Very psychedelic sounds and melodies, with a deep groove. Nice one. Then we get a track by one half of Logic Bomb, Tranan (Jonas Petterson) from Sweden. This one sounds a bit more simple than the Logic Bomb project in my eras, but the Logic Bomb vibe is definitely there. Drifting as always, with some fluffier sounds than usual. The last track on this compilation is an interesting collaboration between Dado (aka Deedrah, Synthetic etc.) and a guy named Daniel Toby. Together they call themselves Dandandado, and they have released music under this name some years ago too. This is actually my favourite track on this compilation. It sounds a bit like the latest Deedrah album Dado released on Solstice Music and Spun records this year, with some beautiful melodies, and deep Synthetic rhythms. Good variation and a nice finish on the album.

Holographic Memory 2 has several strong tracks, especially the last one. In my opinion, this compilation was actually better than the first chapter in this series. When you buy a Solstice release, you can mostly be sure that you receive some good quality stuff, just like this one if you like full on modern psytrance.
PK (shivapks@hotmail.com)

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