Prisoners Of The Sun "Creating Social Success"
Top level Music reviews Psytrance reviews

Author: Per Kristian Slagsvold

Publishing date: 24.11.2005 19:21

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

Tribal Vision Records based in the Czech Republic continues their high productivity of releasing progressive trance. Here they are with the second album by Prisoners Of The Sun, also called POTS (Thomas Wilhelmy & Achim Lüthje). Their first album (Are You Scientific Enough?) was released on Sunset Recordings in 2001, which relesulted in a lot of gigs for this duo worldwide. Tribal Vision gives us a pretty cool cover art as usual, including all the information you need in a nice booklet.


Prisoners Of The Sun “Creating Social Success” Tribal Vision Records 2005 (TVRCD005)

1. Crystal Cream
2. Hello Kitty
3. Trance Popper
4. Bravo
5. Botox Party
6. Groove Garden
7. Eifelgold
8. Dandy Division
9. Tussy De Luxe

With this album we get smooth progressive vibes from beginning to end. We get a nice variation of bpm here, ranging from 128-140. Some of these tracks also come close to progressive house, so this should be an album that could fit well at a progressive house floor as well as a trippy trance floor. My favourite track here is track 5 (Botox Party), which is a quite housy track, but with a really trippy, interesting vibe. For sure a track I could play in the early evening at a party. Groovy drift, catchy sounds and a nice melody. Never too fluffy, and actually quite dark. Most of the tracks goes pretty minimal, but in a good way. Groovy beats and some crispy, echoing sounds. Some melodies are also put in here and there, but never falls over to the cheesy side.

The second album by Prisoners Of The Sun will for sure not dissappoint the progressive crowd out there. Here we get pretty good variation, and tracks that should fit the taste of a bigger audience than the usual trance heads. Most of the tracks builds up in a nice way, and we get some nice breaks in there too. So, if you are into progressive trance or house, check it out!
PKS (shivapks@hotmail.com)


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Prisoners Of The Sun "Creating Social Success"
Death Posture 15.12.2005 23:16
Music for dancing, trancing and romancing!

Prisoners Of The Sun are German producers Thomas Wilhelmy & Joachim Lüthje – and they’ve been in the game since 2000… 2001 saw the release of their debut album Are You Scientific Enough?… An album I purchased back then, but to be honest I got rid of it again as it kinda drowned in the minimal release craze… But now my taste buds have matured, and I’m ready to digest their second album released on visionary Czech label Tribal Vision… Take no prisoners!

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: Crystal Cream [130 BPM]
Two sugars and plenty of cream! Oh yeah, this is indeed a nice cup of java… It starts out kinda minimal and reminiscent of their old loopy sound, but soon the track is embraced by some sweet-sweet-sweet melodic pads which are tied up in some extremely pleasant grooves… This is one sexy opening track… Smooth as a motherfucker! Music for dancing, trancing and romancing! A brilliant opener!

#02: Hello Kitty [132 BPM]
Hello crossover Kitty! The second track sees the Prisoners showcase their diverse production talents…On this track we get everything from dirty house music, over uplifting morning trance to rich progressive trance… And everything in between! Whereas the first couple of minutes might suffer a little from stand-still syndrome, the latter half easily compensates for that with its rich, bubbling playfulness… A text book example on how to create an evolving track… Maybe it’s a little too stretched out though – but as such, it’s perfect for opening a progressive DJ set… Nice, but not among the best tracks here…

#03: Trance Popper [128 BPM]
Despite the lower BPM count here, this track seems more in-ya-face and dirty – and the title is a dead give away… This track takes you by the hand, shakes you up and leaves you in a tranced-up state… Especially the last half of the track is something else – a deep, crawling, lazy groove makes up 90% of the sound spectre and just leaves you panting… Trancy indeed – and very hypnotizing! A very nice, unique track!

#04: Bravo [132 BPM]
The pace has quickened and we’re somewhere outdoors now… Nature sounds are mixed perfectly with the smooth percussion creating a very unique sounding rhythm section here… The uplifting, well-placed melodies alongside the phat reverb-groove are soooooo nicely done, and really make this track reach higher levels… I’m impressed – this is fine music! Progressive trance at it’s best!

#05: Botox Party [128 BPM]
Botox sees the return of the big, shiny synth leads from older POTS tunes – and despite its deeper, murkier nature this track has evident epic, even clubby, passages… I like the drive here – it’s like the Imperial March in a progressive trance version… A nice track for sure, but it lacks some of the jaw-drop qualities of some of the previous tracks…

#06: Groove Garden [134 BPM]
Whereas the previous track had epic qualities, this track goes down the tech-trance path… The bassline is meaner than ever and the electro-stabs are dominant. This is uplifting tech-trance mind you - we’re getting some solid melodic synth-action here too… A hybrid really, which crosses back and forth between melodic and techy trance… Hard-hitting at times and uplifting at others = a match made in prog-heaven! Sweet!

#07: Eifelgold [140 BPM]
The track with the weird title is also the fastest here… And I’m sorry to say so, but most parts of this are too fast… I mean, for progressive trance we’re in borderline territory now… Put pitched down a little, I’m sure this track will work wonders… My CD-player won’t let me adjust the pitch though… This is the ‘worst’ track on the CD – and that’s saying a lot, since this is still a pretty decent tune… It just seems oddly out of place here… What a shame!

#08: Dandy Division [138 BPM]
Do not despise – DD is here to save the day! Well, almost… This is still a little too fast for my progressive taste, but still better balanced than the previous track… The old trance-meter has been cranked up on this one, and we’re getting some serious synth excursions here… Luckily they are mixed well into a fast-paced, tightly-knit rhythm-section – creating a pumping dancefloor track… Nothing groundbreaking, but a nice ‘transition track’ nevertheless…

#09: Tussy De Luxe [134 BPM]
The closing track takes us back to a more familiar pace... Epic in structure, this is indeed uplifting progressive trance which reminds me of the work of some of the Swedish masters… Instantly groovy and lush as hell! I cannot think of a better, sexier way to end this magnificent album!

Lush, plush and sexy… Smooth, groovy and funky… Epic, uplifting and immensely danceable! Need I go on? Thought not… This is indeed a very fine and diverse album… A big old melting pot ranging from fast-paced progressive dancefloor stompers – to laid-back beach groovers… The faster tracks were maybe a little too… Ehrm… Fast! But I still admire the diversity here – something that I often find lacking in progressive albums (Antix anyone? Gaudium?). I’m happy say, that that is NOT the case here… On the contrary! This is a rich, mature album – and the production quality is among the best I’ve heard this year!

As always with Tribal Vision we get a very informative, high-quality booklet with DJ case insert… The cover-art could use some spark, but who the hell cares when the music speaks for itself like this does!? A sweet album and a no-brainer purchase for any fan of diverse progressive trance. Enjoy!

Favourites: 1(!), 3, 4(!!), 6, 9
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