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Com.Pact Records in Israel is among the most busy psytrance labels these days. Now they are out with a new compilation called Spaceboard, compiled the label manager DJ Bog. He is also known for his Visual Paradox project. All the artists on this compilation are from Israel. I will not comment the cover art much, but don’t you think it’s a bit cold with bikini in the snow...?
Spaceboard (Com.Pact Records) 2005 (CPCD021)
1. Apocalypse – Space Katett
2. Blackout – Hipped Up
3. Sesto Sento – Water Pipe
4. Ultravoice Vs. Aquatica – Diamond Sky
5. Visual Paradox – First Sun From The Rock
6. Bizzare Contact Vs. Phanatic – Seven Days
7. The Misted Muppet – Spiritual Visions
8. System Nipel – Pro Logic
9. Ultravoice – Air Waves
First out is Apocalypse (Itai Yona) who has released tracks on several labels, such as Phonokol. Balloonia, Spliff Music and Shiva Space Japan. This time we get a very clubby track. Way over on the cheesy side. Quite simpel melodies and easy digestible. Not my cup of tea, but it seems like this is what the Israeli crowd wants these days... Track 2 is better. This is by a quite fresh duo called Blackout (Elad Ohana & Oren Azulay). This one is more drifting, the melodies are not as fluffy and we get some nice floating morning vibes. Track 3 is by Sesto Sento (Aviram Saharai, Itai Spector & Matan Kadosh) who has become pretty known after two albums (The Inner Light in 2002 and The Bright Side in 2003) on Com.Pact. Here they give us a full on track as usual, which actually sounds better than a lot of other tracks I have heard by this group lately. It is a nice melody in there, and it doesn’t get too clubby. Track 4 is a collaboration between Ultravoice (Avi Levi) and Aquatica (Elad Asy). Ultravoice has released two albums on Com.Pact (Magic Sound Factory in 2003 and Art Of Voice in 2004), while Aquatica has released tracks on several labels such as Trancelucent, Maia, Sphere and Alchemy Records. Here they give us a very clubby track. Not among the best I have heard from these guys. It actually sounds too much like tracks I have heard a million times before, so not very refreshing. Track 5 is made by DJ Bog himself and his Visual Paradox project, which he does together with Uriel Ginsburg in some of the tracks. They give us a pumping, stumpy track. Quite groovy, with some samples of laughter, echoing effects etc. Sounds like they have got some inspiration from Sub6 on this one... At the end we get a simple melody, which is over the top for my taste.
Track 6 is by Bizzare Contact (Didi Ezra & Kfir Lankry). Here it seems like Kfir has started his own solo project too, called Phanatic. Bizzare Contact released their debut album (Plastic Fantastic) on Com.Pact last year. The track we get here is quite groovy. Pure melodic morning trance, which I can imagine will be well appreciated in desert parties down there. After a few minutes we get a very fluffy melody, which is quite catchy, but also very mainstream sounding. Track 7 is by The Misted Muppet (Dagan Israeli & Tal Hassioi) who surprised very many with their strong debut album (From The Legend) released on Trancelucent Productions last year. They had their own style, with a dark, scary horror movie theme through their entire album. Here they go another direction, but still they do it different from all the other artists on this compilation. It starts with some guitar, flute and ethnic vocals, before a massive rolling bassline jumps in. Melodic, crazy full on, but not as fluffy as the other tracks on this compilation. Track 9 is by System Nipel (Aubi Yakubov & Anton Lunev), which is another quite fresh duo from the Israeli full on scene. But, they have already released tracks on Spliff Music, Maia, Trancelucent and Magma Records. Here we get a melodic full on track. Very clubby melody, just like most other full on coming out of Israel these days. This is the most fluffy track on this compilation, and it reminds me a lot of euro trance, but in a little bit more full on way. The last track DJ Bog serves us on this compilation is another track by Ultravoice who seems very busy these days... Here he goes more clubby than I’m used to hear from this guy. Luckily, there are less cheesy melodies in this one.
It seems like DJ Bog sure likes it fluffy these days. Older Com.Pact compilations were definately much deeper than this, and there is no doubt that this label has gone a more clubby direction lately. Let’s hope this cheese thing is just a hype that will not last too long, and that we van get back to deeper stuff soon.
PKS (shivapks@hotmail.com)
