Various Inca:Nations TipWorld (UK)

And it kicks off in style – with Astrix & Atomic Pulse’s Scientific Reality. This has got to be my personal tune of the year – wherever I’ve been, this has come with me. Full power but with a very mature, restrained feel over the top, it sounds wonderful on this with some impressive mastering making it sound more robust than it does on the other albums it’s raised its wonderful head on this year. (And, of course, a widely-available release on vinyl can only be a good thing.) Logic Bomb follow up in style, with Vector. Pure digital LB, with seasick hinges and one kick ass unforgettable groove. Yummy. Safi Connection continue on their winning streak with Beyond Your World, a deep and growly tune that’s well pitched to the just-before-menacing time on the dancefloor, making good use of a proggy, airy break. GMS’ remix of Talamasca’s Speaking Robot again fits well on a sweaty dancefloor, with knees well and truly raised to chin level as the awesome melodic runs lift you up and down. Up next is Oforia’s remix of Spacecat’s Power Up. Of all the mixes of this tune, it’s this one that’s really stood out – it’s as though the tune is gated and released slowly by Oforia, and when it comes out with that huge vocal hook it’s a full scale trance celebration of the sort that doesn’t come along very often these days. Indian Jackpot from Sub 6 is a little incongruous – a shpongle sample (according to the press release) warped around, filtered, massaged for over eight minutes with little else to write home about. Luckily Beat Bizarre drop a killer with Swallow, forthcoming 12” and an absolute belter. It’s metallic and sci-fi just as you’d expect from Beat Bizarre, but with much more depth and danceability than on their previous stuff. Hair-raising. Then, excitingly, it’s GMS’s remix of Eat Static’s Implant. Perhaps I should say that again: Implant. By Eat Static. Old one. Good one. Remixed by GMS. Yes? It uses that trademark Eat Static hook, cryogenically frozen and thawed out in the 25th century. Analogue acidlines propel it along, while some machinery throws a benny in the background. All goes well until GMS drop a very clean keyboard stab, borrowed perhaps from Ferry Corsten, that either makes for a good balance between low end tecchy and high end smoothness, or doesn’t work at all. Jury’s out on that one – but all in all it works and does the original proud. Finally Infected Mushroom & Yahel team up for Electro Panic. Multilayered lines and bustling percussion carry it along with analogue belches and a sort of depeche mode vocal midsection. All in all this, if you perhaps skip Sub 6’s tune, is a corker. You’re looking at eight worthy tunes, five of which are utterly awesome and three of which are damn essential. A clear, concise and blistering snapshot of trance in 2002.