Urban Legends

Oh. My. Fucking. God. I have a feeling this could be the best progressive release of the year. Not just this, but it could be one of the best CD’s I’ve heard in 2004. Debut release from new Czech label Tribal Vision, and compiled by DJ Slater, this album is a sheer dream. And by my reckoning, all but one of the tracks on here are belters. Rai opens up with Groove, effortlessly emotive and really comes alive at about two minutes. Utterly delicious. Emok’s Old Speckled Hen has an easy, spacious groove that builds wonderfully. The sounds on here are perfectly-rounded and move in an awesome way. BLT & Elysium’s Subway has a lazier groove, more tecchy and percussive. It brings in a riff, which unfolds like a dream, and escalates into this fantastic melodic section – we’re not talking cheesy melodic, we’re talking gorgeous, glorious, fuck-I’m-glad-to-be-alive melodic. Vibrasphere’s Infusion is a sheer delight – floats like a butterfly, stings like a… okay, like a butterfly, and Parrket’s Skeletonised has a more staccato groove going on that gives is a nice Germanic tinge. POTS’s Polish Lips (polish as in furniture, or polish as in from Poland? Who knows) is utterly star class, just about the best tune I’ve heard from them, utterly hypnotic and the reason we love this kind of music. Meller’s Valhalla is awesome: a baggy, lazy groove with acid rising subtley and evolving into a totally gorgeous, dreamy fing masterpiece. My god. Your god. Everybody’s god. Everybody is god. Echotek’s Skykorg Key comes in on a more fullon tip, the way it comes alive with an anthemic breakdown has to be heard to be believed. Human Blue’s Motionrun, an utterly staggering piece of highrise, happy morning “fck yeah!” trance. Simply brilliant, there are no words. And there’s barely time to recover before Parrket comes back with Sventevith, a spacious and delectable groove, that once again is largely too good for words. Sheesh. No question about the marks out of ten on this one. For a debut release on a brand new label, this is uttlerly awesome. Every track’s a winner, every track makes sense against all the other tracks. Whether you love or loathe progressive psytrance, this unquestionably deserves a place in your collection.