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Music reviews
Neurobiotic Records based in Italy hits us hard this summer with several strong, full on releases. With releases such as Altöm and Tikal, this label keeps getting better and better. Latest out is the debut album by Polaris (Arnauld Stengel) who has released quite a lot of tracks on various compilations lately.
Polaris "Polaris" Neurobiotic Records 2004 (NBRCD010)
1. Regeneration
2. Aurora
3. Time Travel Remix
4. Moon Shot
5. Bluebell
6. Zion
7. Runner
8. 20.000 Feet
9. Leo
He gives us a floating, beautiful start on the journey, before the bass line works its way slowly into the track. We get a few voice samples and a pretty drifting vibe. Some bubbling, melodic sounds drifts in together with a playful melody. Melodic, atmospheric full on and a pleasant start on the album. Track 2 starts in an atmospheric soundscape too, with a beautiful female voice and a floating melody. A fat, rolling bass line hits in again and we get some kind of funky, playful melody. Far away from any dark night time trance, just pure melodic morning vibes. The melody could have sounded a bit more interesting, but I’m sure it will work well on the dance floor. Track 3 is a remix of a track called Time Travel. This one goes a bit darker. Same style with a fat rolling bass line, but with darker and more dramatic sounds floating around. This is definitely one of my favourite tracks on this album. The melody that jumps in after a few minutes is really nice, and reminds me a bit of some of the creative melodies we got in early goa trance. Track 4 starts with some samples and sounds that could be from space or the moon. This track is called Moon Shot… Then the usual bass line hits in again. This guy sure doesn’t vary his rhythm drift very much. This is one of the things that he in my opinion could have tried out, or else the tracks sound a bit too much the same. This is another strong, melodic full on track, with a totally floating vibe. Sort of happy morning trance, but not on the cheesy side. He has made it together with a guy called Polypheme (Christophe Donna).
Track 5 gets better. More variation and crunchy sounds. The melody sort of builds up a little, and we get thrown into a pretty fluffy world of pleasant sounds. This track has a bit more clubby style than usual from this guy. Track 6 has the usual rolling bass line, which is strong and power full, but doesn’t sound that interesting anymore if we only get that. The melodies and sounds in this one sounds more interesting. Twisted, totally melodic sounds swirling in and out of the endless bass line. Track 7 is a bit more intense, with almost nagging sounds. I wish there could have been a bit more variation in this one, because it sorts of make me wait for something interesting to happen, but it doesn’t. Track 8 sounds like it is inspired by Israeli full on trance. Here we get a much more clubby sound, with a voice sample getting repeated several times etc. The rhythm drift and sounds are very intense. I don’t like this track at all. Nagging sounds and not very creative in my ears. The last track we get on this album goes a better direction. Darker than most other tracks on this album, with less nagging sounds, more variation and better melodies. One of the best tracks on this album. Strong, full on finish.
This album doesn’t reach the high quality we have got in some of the other releases on Neurobiotic Records lately. This guy sure knows how to make strong, full on psytrance, but should definitely have put in more variation in some of the tracks. Not very interesting for home listening, but a good dj tool for the morning full on djs out there.
PK (shivapks@hotmail.com)
