Wireless – Plusquam

The only thing wrong with Plusquam releases is there isn’t enough of them. V-Tunes’ G-Con opens up and it’s all about gorgeous sounds, smoothly layered and in no hurry to get anywhere. The groove builds up seamlessly, shakes about in a perfect and laid-back way, then sets you back down in a gorgeous, summery way. Buzzmonx’s All You Can Eat has a tecchier, jumpier vibe with this outstanding midrange pattern that just hooks you into it. Very hypnotic, very trippy – just as you’d expect from these boys. Fusi & Johnson’s Trouble Galaxy has a very unique sound to it, fusing deep and dubby-style progressive with the tech-house vibe: the loops here are all over the place, the breakdown is huge and it drops into a wonderfully understated low-set groove, like a Scandinavian Sensient. Liquid Soul’s Open Mind is a real standout, just a damn good piece of music. A clattery and confident bottom end supports a dubby-vacuum of space across the top, all escalating in a way that suggests urgency but that doesn’t boil over. A great fusion between housey progressive and dark progressive. Paste make a comeback (or at least the first of their tunes I’ve heard in a while) and it doesn’t fail to deliver – very out-there, as you’d expect, with noises form space coming in and floating over an almost retro-acidhouse backing. The way the textures here get meatier and meatier is a dazzlingly accomplished bit of sound engineering, now come on how about a new album? Nyquist’s Flatline is a nice slice of deep tribal house, moody and cinematic… a definite crossover tune this one, I can see it doing the absolute business in Germany. As soon as Ryan Halifax’s The Beauty And The Beat opens out, you know it’s going to be a good’un… and it doesn’t disappoint. Simple, effective, and mesmerising it brings in new sounds and new flavours, thunders in with an uber-spacegroove, sticks in some topend that’s to die for, adds some almost-anti-melodies, and carries it off into one of the finest bits of progressive production of the year. Wow. Finally Varoman’s Kickin’ & Drummin’ does more or less exactly what it says on the tin, a clattering stomp-like groove that picks up gorgeous energy and coasts off beautifully into the sunrise. Phew. Quite a journey this, and a timely reminder that the German progressive scene is more probably than not the best in the world.