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High-End (Brazil)

A collection of different sounds coming out of Brazil, home as we all know to a large if infant trance scene, and looking at what’s on offer here the general “brazullon” sound spouted by Wrecked Machines et al is just the tip of the iceberg. Influx kicks off with Aurora Rmx, a deliciously-spaced tune with a floaty vibe to it, topped off with a sort of sinister edge coming in over the top, a little like the DJ is bringing a Sensient track over the top of Atmos. Setherian’s Strange Sounds erm.. well, it sounds strange. I cant quite put my finger on it, maybe it just has too much going on, building up into a crescendo of more sounds than you can count… definitely one for more psychedelic dancefloors. SMS’ Swimming Pool has a tasty sound to it, sort of tecchy fullon with gorgeous melodic rushes and peaks that never get lost against the deep-set bumbling bassline. Oracle’s Mrs Pealy starts out innocently and without much fanfare, and it picks up into a riff-led knees-up… formulaic and without much spark, but some of the sounds are interesting, if sounding a little compressed. Burn In Noise’s Freak isn’t his best, but it does escalate into a delightfully busy array of sounds, and it does so in such an effortless way… the kaleidoscopic pattern is almost reminiscent of  Mr Peculiar or Legohead at their best, and is further reason to keep watching Burn In Noise as one of the more exciting artists of 2005. The less said about Vibra’s dull Now the better (plodding bassline unchanged, clunky energy), and Skulptor’s War Heads is a travesty – a big ravey hoover sound that sound like something lifted off a Cosmic Gate record, big mecanno-trance breakdowns and peaks, strict adherence to 32s… genuinely painful. Setherian vs 2HI’s Audio 23 again suffers from having a few too many sounds in there – easing off the accelerator pedal would give it so much more energy, and as-is you’re left sort of in the middle of a whirlwind (but then this might be the idea). Skulptor vs Chemical State’s Learn To Fly is the most intriguing of the tracks here, which is ironic in that it’s a fairly standard piece of morningy fullon owing a fair tip of the hat to Protoculture. However, what it does it does very well, with an organic and measured build-up-then-release of energy, up to a breakdown featuring acoustic guitar (I think its slightly out of tune though, the third string) which then drops into a very nice, smooth final run. Finally Oxyd’s Dimensions brings things to a close in a dreamy progressive style, with a little smattering of fullon energy still in there, making it an excellent transition tune… proper yummy morning stuff. There’s some good moments here, but altogether it’s a little too clunky to really have much individual direction and cohesive doofability going on here. Good marks for trying something different, but the brilliance is a little too sparse to make this truly essential.