Set:7 Declivity

The latest instalment in the series of prog compilations largely responsible for making the genre as big as it is today is also one of the best. Ex-Spiral Trax DJ Bakke is at the controls here, and his selection of new names plus old names pitted against a quality blend of house and outdoor progressive is intriguing.

Tomic’s Emotion sets things up perfectly, with scratchy tribal percussion sitting neatly on top of a fine, fluid backbone. Next up, Lish with one of their better tracks: Consciousness does everything you want it to, exactly when you want it done. The vocal sample is kind of inevitable, but it’s pretty well-executed and adds to the track’s flow.

Dean Fuel & Metcalfe’s Sexy Hippie is the best example of Tribal Disco I think I’ve come across. Electro mixes with acid house and sassy prog, with a touch of psychedelic, and combines into pretty much the ultimate afternoon-doof wobbletrack.

Ryan Halifax’s Love Song is typically massive, Foreplay do incredibly well with the its-what-progressive-should-be Suppose I’m Leading and Freq’s Generator shows that he can still do what he does, and do it well.

Gaudium often misses the mark for me, and 4 Outputs suffers from having a big, daft melody at the end. One of those great examples of a track that starts out well but loses its way. Paulina Cewe’s Exophilia is tight tribal that doesn’t beat around the bush, and finally Sleek’s Can’t Sleep is a nice and smooth bit of comedown prog to round things off nicely.

All in all this is nice stuff. Bakke’s injection of some welcome eclecticism into the mix makes a huge difference, and for the first time in a while we’ve got a progressive comp that’s varied, intricate, and fun. Good job.