Meller "Rockable"
Top level Music reviews Psytrance reviews

Author: Per Kristian Slagsvold

Publishing date: 13.11.2005 22:58

Review by PKS
Second album by Meller out on Tribal Vision Records...

Tribal Vision Records has become one of my favourite progressive trance labels in a short time, releasing pretty high quality all the way, including a fat booklet with informative text and nice cover arts. This time we get the second album by Meller (Marco Scherer & DJ Mel). It is almost a compilation, because the other half of the compilation are the same tracks remixed by other artists.


Meller "Rockable" Tribal Vision Records 2005 (TVRCD004)

1. Rockable
2. Fatboy
3. My Favourite Man
4. Phase Nacht
5. Aurora
6. Rockable (Nasa Rmx)
7. Fatboy (Rinkadink Rmx)
8. My favourite Man (Tegma Rmx)
9. Phase Nacht (Etnoscope Rmx)
10. Aurora (Vibrasphere Rmx)

The first half of the album are new tracks by Meller. Quite massive, drifting progressive trance tracks, with some tribal influences here and there. My favourite of these is track 2 (Fatboy). A pumping track with some interesting use of vocals. Track 5 (Aurora) is also pretty nice, with some floating melodic parts, perfect for the morning. Quite fluffy, but not too much. Nasa (Mikkel Rasmussen) has remixed the Rockable track. He gives us some atmospheric vibes and drifting progressive vibes. Rinkadink from South-Africa is known for a more full on style. Here he gives us a remix of the Fatboy track. A massive full on version, with quite rough sound. Not exactly my cup of tea, so I prefer the original here. Tegma (Omar Chelly & Jason Orfanidis) from Sweden gives us a remix of My Favourite Man. This one goes quite massive, somewhere between progressive and full on. A little bit harder than usual from Tegma. Another strong Swedish progressive trance group, Etnoscope, has remixed the Phase Nacht track. They give us their typical style of tribal progressive trance, with tribal drums etc. Stumping track with floating vibes above. Builds up slowly. Vibrasphere, also from Sweden, finishes this album with a remix of the Aurora track. One of my favourite tracks on this album. I like the way Vibrasphere deliver a beautiful, still trippy and groovy style in their tracks.

This album is quite interesting with those remixes by some top artists in the progressive scene. Not everything here fits my taste too well, but we sure get some strong progressive tracks here anyway.
PKS (shivapks@hotmail.com)


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Topic: Author:
Time:
Meller - Rockable
Death Posture 18.11.2005 14:32
Tribalism ^ Tribalism Remixed

Tribal Vision Records from the Czech Republic are out with the second album from German duo Meller… Marco Scherer & Dirk Herrmann (DJ Mel) released their debut album Solar Drums on AP Records in 2004… I haven’t heard that one, so I don’t really know what to expect here… But it’s Tribal Vision – a label that has yet to let me down, and the roster of remix artists are nothing short of impressive… So my hopes are up!

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Rockable [140 BPM]
“Welcome to the future!”… The title track breaks open with a cut, futuristic voice sample alongside some spacy percussion and tribal beats… The whole thing is seasoned with a cascade of electro-elements making this a very Schiller-like track… This is perhaps a little too housy but generally pretty harmless… Easily cross-over potent stuff!

#02: Fatboy [140 BPM]
The guys up the ante on the second track which is easily much more forceful than the first track… Darker and more pounding… With a naïve fluffy melody thrown in just to freak you out! Also the haunting, repetitive voice samples are among the best I’ve heard in a while… Very original! Yeah, there’s definitely some experimentation going on here… I really like it! Sweet, sweet track!

#03: My Favorite Man [140 BPM]
“Ladies and gentlemen… Ahhhh I know I'm drunk now, I forgot my favourite man sitting over 'dere, his name is...” This is definitely my fav’e track here… Banging, tribal progressive trance – drenched in bubbling electro sounds and dubby beats! Very, very original… Repetitive yes, but so very hypnotizing too – and funny! The vocal experimentation is so very well-executed… And the only flaw this track has is that it’s too damn short!

#04: Phase Nacht [140 BPM]
This is bleak, progressive night trance… More minimal than the previous tracks, but not minimalistic in the 2001 kinda way… Digital-tribal drums and metallic percussion make out the rhythm section and generally this is a very hypnotic track… The soundtrack to a massive stomp-session! A Blechtrommel style stomp fest! A solid track!

#05: Aurora [135 BPM]
“I feel something wonderful!” We take it down a notch for the last original Meller track… This is deep, groovy progressive trance… Rich in texture and with a wonderful old-school synth-melody… Very familiar in all its floating glory… Would mix well with Antix or 12 Moons I’m sure… Nice track, but a little too generic for my taste… I mean – that final run is too Balearic innit?

#06: Rockable (Nasa Remix) [140 BPM]
And here’s the remix by Danish producer NASA .Mikkel Rasmussen (one half of Gnome Effect) has extended the track notably and completely revamped it… Gone are the most commercial pitfalls, and this is leaning more towards progressive morning trance… A hybrid of fluffy melodies and grittier full-on elements… Without the cheese factor! A very mature and constantly evolving track… I dig it!

#07: Fatboy (Rinkadink Remix) [140 BPM]
Open up and loose yourself! The fatboy is remixed by UK-based South African producer Rinkadink (Werner Van Jaarsveld)… I really liked both his albums, and his unique full-on touch seldom lets me down… And sure enough, this is a tranced-up remix which bears very little resemblance to the original… The sampled has been tweaked even more along with the melodies… Funky, edgy full-on – impressive indeed! I like the original slightly more though…

#08: My Favorite Man (Tegma Remix) [140 BPM]
And now for the Tegma remix… Swedish producers Omar Chelly & Jason Orfanidis released their second album 002: Avant.Garde on Candyflip earlier this year and for me that’s still one of the freshest hybrid-trance albums of 2005… And I’m happy to say that this remix is very similar to the style of that album – the balanced blend of teKknoid progressive trance and melodic, edgy full-on… Add the sweet, sweet flavour from the original Meller track, and you’ve got something close to a winner! Yeah – this remix compliments the original track nicely – and they are equally good!

#09: Phase Nacht (Etnoscope Remix) [140 BPM]
And who better to remix the stomp fest tune than Swedish tribal-trancers Etnoscope? Yeah, the drum-trio consisting of Martin Colin, Rasmus Alanne & Ludwig Engelbert has taken the most obvious rhythm section from the original track and added loads more percussion… This is totally funky and instantly dancefloor friendly… Ancient rituals carried out live in front of a dancing crowd! Another sweet, sweet remix to a sweet original…

#10: Aurora (Vibrasphere Remix) [132 BPM]
And to finish things off we’re treated to a remix by legendary Swedish producer duo Vibrasphere (Rickard Berglöf & Robert Elster)… They’ve taken the somewhat commercial original and fluffed it up even more… But! … They’ve done it with style I reckon, and I simply can’t stay grumpy when listening to this… The beats are a little less well-polished, and the groove-factor has been upped a great deal and I tend to wiggle my toes more to this remix than to the original… A great way to end this remarkable album!

Yes – remarkable is about the best damn label I can give this CD… I really, really like it. The original Meller tracks have some really cool vocal experiments going on… Usually I’d quickly grow tired of repeated samples, but for the most part they work really well in this context… The remix concept is pretty damn cool and for the most part, all tracks are good here… There are no bad tracks at all – and it’s not like the remixes outshine the originals… Not at all – they are equally good! I also like the subtle mix of styles here… This ranges from fluffy commercial beach-trance to banging, electro-ridden psytrance… With everything in between!

The woody artwork is neat, and again Tribal Vision Records treat us to a fat, informative booklet with info on all participating artist – and the usual handy, easy-rip DJ slip is still there… Quality all the way! I strongly recommend this album to fans of progressive trance with rich tribal-, full-on and groove-crossover potential! It’s pretty fucking solid! Enjoy!

Favourites: 2(!), 3(!), 4, 6, 7, 8(!), 9(!)
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