Anotherwise

Over the last two years Sweden’s Baluns Records have made quite a name for themselves, creating a fresh and funky blend of minimal psychedelia, techno and progressive trance. This collection looks back at some of the 12”-only releases on the label’s roster, packaging them into one cosy, easily-digested CD collection.

KAB vs Son Kite’s Yetto Come! is a deep and smooth tune, with perfect percussion raising the temperature while tasty techno tones slide in and out to add to the progressive feel. Audibelle’s Manoeuvres builds into a huge swirling celebration of melody and light, while Gegga’s Deep Down In… has a shifting, awkward feel with huge warping noises bubbling under the surface.

Aircrash’s Time Traveller is a remarkable fusion between automated techno and pure organic trance, the two styles synthesising perfectly and never going too over the top. Pope Of Gegga contributes with Eff and First Go!, both showcasing his schitzoid and busy techno sounds, it’s a style that’s never really worked for me but seems to do the business inside a lot of other brains out there.

H. Larsson’s awesome Barcode still sounds excellent, a multi-layered bassline weaving in and out of a muted, laid-back groove and Trimatic’s Kyoto is a firm victory for the fusion posse, melting sounds and textures from just about everything into one delectable pulsating trancefest. Lovely. Finally the lush pads and club-friendly groove of New Age Hippies’ @The Speed Of Life are a delightful way to close the album.

This is sound stuff, perfect as an introduction to one of the best and most innovative labels around, or to collect the best of their output on one handy shiny plastic thing.