Review by:
Jannick Andersen // DJ pr0fane (Dance N Dust Records)
www.sunrisesupplies.com




Artist: POTS
Title: Social Success Remixes
Label: Tribal Vision Records
Format: CD (Jewelcase with 12-page booklet and DJ-inlay)
Released: June, 2006
Cover: http://217.160.138.169/pic_b/tvr1cd009_b.jpg


Review:

The German progressive trance group POTS (Prisoners Of The Sun), was the first artist to release a full-length artist album on the Czech Tribal Vision Records, namely the duos 2nd album \"Creating Social Success\". The album was in my opinion a very strong release, with a sophisticated mix of progressive trance, progressive house and minimal trance, and now, roughly half a year after the release of the album, Tribal Vision Records have released the remix-CD, \"Social Success Remixes\". Looking at the tracklist, the list of acts behind the 9 remixes was very promising, so I had pretty big expectations for this one.


01. Crystal Cream (Rai Remix) [130 BPM]
Like on the album, we start out with \"Crystal Cream\" (actually all the remixes are in the same order as on the original album) remixed by the upcoming Czech producer Rai. I\'ve been quite impressed with his first progressive house releases, but this time he\'s provided a smooth and delicious little breaks-tune. Sweet and naive, and surely an interesting way to open op the CD.

02. Hello Kitty (Fitalic Remix) [130 BPM]
Robin Fitter from Holland is up next with a remix of \"Hello Kitty\", and it\'s another solid tune from him, continuing in his well-known style. It\'s got that wonderful upbeat and bouncy tribal Fitalic-groove, but still with some hypnotic tech-house deepness and character. Great remix, and I\'m definitely looking forward to the Fitalic album, coming out on Tribal Vision later this year.

03. Trance Popper (Greed vs. Sonic Cube Remix) [128 BPM]
\"Trance Popper\" is remixed by the Swiss acts Greed and Sonic Cube, a remix you can also find on their recent \"Divine EP\". It has a very catchy electro-groove, and generally the musical part of the track seems to work very well, but I must say that I really don\'t like those almost annoying vocals. Overall I found this remix rather corny, and the weakest one so far.

04. Bravo (Antix Remix) [132 BPM]
\"Bravo\" was by far my favourite on the original album, so I had huge expectations when it was announced that Antix was behind the remix of this particular track. Sadly they don\'t quite deliver the goods though - where are Antix\' epic trademark sounds and more importantly: where are the sweet, thoughtful melodies that made the original such a great tune? A very odd and messy remix for my liking, and also the weakest track I\'ve heard from Antix in quite a while.

05. Botox Party (Parrket Remix) [128 BPM]
Parrket has in a short time marked himself as one of Croatias most well-known psytrance artists, releasing both progressive trance and harder, more full on psychedelic sounds. His remix of \"Botox Party\" is more in the progressive house/trance realm though, adding a harder, techier groove to the original. Not a bad remix, but quite anonymous and doesn\'t really stand out.

06. Groove Garden (Human Blue Remix) [136 BPM]
After some slightly mediocre tracks, Human Blue brings the course of the remixes back on track with his remix to \"Groove Garden\". His second album \"Electric Roundabout\" is one of my alltime favourite morning albums, and if you liked that one, you\'ll undoubtedly be impressed with the remix of \"Groove Garden\", as it\'s a flashback to this album and the oldschool scando-trance sound. Epic, euphoric trance in its purest form - a wonderful, uplifting morning tune.

07. Eifelgold (Tegma Remix) [136 BPM]
The Swedish duo Tegma are up next with a remix for \"Eifelgold\". Tegma impressed a lot of people with their recent \"Around The World In 80 Minutes\" concept-album, and with that album in mind, this remix was somewhat a letdown for me personally. It has all the well-known Tegma-elements I could have hoped for, and all of it seems to be done right, but somehow I feel the end-result seems to be missing something. Can\'t really decide if I like it or not.

08. Dandy Division (Side-A Remix) [138 BPM]
Following the release of the \"Creating Social Success\" album, Tribal Vision announced a remix-competetion where everyone could make a remix of the track \"Dandy Division\", and the winner turned out to be Side-A from France, known for his releases on labels like Groove Zone, Tatsu, Candyflip and Domo. I can understand why they picked his remix as the winner, as it\'s actually one of the stronger points of the compilation - a bit faster than his recent releases, but still with lots of his bright, trancy sounds and melodies. Great remix.

09. Tussy De Luxe (Elysium Remix)
Things get slowed down for the last 8? minutes, when \"Tussy De Luxe\" is remixed by Elysium from Denmark, one of the longest active artists on the psytrance scene, and currently also a member of the house-duo Holm & Andersen. Here we have a chillout remix though, and it\'s a real beauty - very ethnic (without sounding like the majority of the psychill releases) and with a hypnotizing tribal groove. Very enjoyable.


Bottom line:

\"Social Success Remixes\" is a worthy follow-up for the \"Creating Social Success\" album. I didn\'t find the overall quality as consistently high as some of the best releases from Tribal Vision Records so far, but with a flow that stays true to the original album, some daring elements along the way and some true standout tunes, it doesn\'t disappoint overall. I am particularly glad that Tribal Vision didn\'t fall for the temptation of releasing 9 remixes in the same style, but chose to involve a wide variety of producers, that provided the release with some very diverse remixes, ranging from chillout over breaks, progressive-, electro- and tech-house to progressive psytrance.

Ultimately, I find that \"Social Success Remixes\" is a good release overall.


Favourites:

1, 2 (!!), 6 (!!), 8, 9


Verdict:

7/10


Link:

Tribal Vision Records: www.tribalvision.cz