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



Artist: Various
Title: Think Different
Label: Echoes Records
Format: CD (Jewelcase with standard 4-page inlay)
Released: November 2006
Cover: http://217.160.138.169/pic_b/ech1cd001_b.jpg


Review:

Echoes Records is a brand new progressive label based in Israel. A few years ago progressive labels from Israel where very seldom, but with the uprise of the whole progressive scene worldwide, we\'re also seeing quite a few new progressive labels from this very full on dominated country. Behind Echoes Records stands DJ Osho, an Israeli DJ who have played in countries like Marocco, Turkey, Greece, Denmark and in the past have compiled a couple of CD\'s for Spliff Music and Groove Control.

The first release from Echoes Records is \"Think Different\" - a compilation featuring a quite tempting tracklist with 8 tracks and remixes.


01. Perfect Stranger Vs Ace Ventura - Perfect Ace [135 BPM]
Two of the biggest ambassadors for the progressive scene in Israel are Perfect Stranger and Ace Ventura, both signed on Iboga Records. Here they have combined forced on the aptly titled \"Perfect Ace\", and in my opinion it\'s among their very best work so far. It features some slightly modified Al Pacino samples from Scarface for humorous effect, and it has a very big, crowdpleasing breakdown with a very impressive dancefloor effect. Amazing stuff.

02. Paste - Down On The Streets (Echotek Remix) [135 BPM]
Up next is another Israeli artist, Echotek, with a remix for Pastes \"Down On The Streets\", released on Plusquams \"Wireless\" compilation last year. Echoteks sound is usually a mix of progressive and full on, but here he\'s definitely focusing more on the progressive side of things - it doesn\'t quite have the punch and deep, raw appeal as the original, but on the other hand the energy is slightly higher and it is more suitable for playing at daytime. Ok remix.

03. Fusi & Johnson - Respect [138 BPM]
Fusi & Johnson is the moniker for the two Germans Fabio and Mapusa Mapusa, some of the most well-known DJs and producers on the German progressive scene in the last many years. \"Respect\" doesn\'t bring much new to the genre, but it is a fine track nevertheless - the grooves are quite funky and it has some very likeable melodies that\'ll definitely cause a lot of smiles on the dancefloor in an afternoon set. Solid german festival-trance.

04. Vibrasphere - Capsize [137 BPM]
Vibrasphere is definitely one of my favourite acts, and 2006 has been a great year for fans of their melodic trance-sound, with a full length album, one single and some appearances on compilations - mostly of very high quality. \"Capsize\" maintains the high quality they are well-known for - it\'s not quite as in your face melodic as some of their newer stuff, but more on the dreamy, subtle side as we know from their \"Lime Structure\" days. Epic sound.

05. Ace Ventura - Go With Da Flow (Morax Remix) [132 BPM]
Ace Venturas \"Go With Da Flow\", previously released on Flows \"Globalize\" compiliation is remixed by Morax from Israel, the progressive soloproject of Michael Reznik, also known as being part of the techtrance project Triac. The intro is kind of weird, but the track picks up very quick, mixing a hard, relentless tribal groove with the slightly uplifting elements from the original. Nice remix - better than the original.

06. Tegma - Bratislava Next [130 BPM]
With 3 successful full length albums released on Digital Structures, Candyflip and Tribal Vision, Tegma is one of the biggest progressive acts to come out of Sweden, and here they are continuing the style from their last album, \"Around The World In 80 Minutes\". Tribal and psychedelic with elements of both progressive house and trance, but sadly it didn\'t do as much for me as any of their later releases. Weaker than expected.

07. Fitalic - The Way [130 BPM]
Robin Fitter from Holland recently released his debut album \"Atomic Atmosphere\" on Tribal Vision Records, but has for many years been a big name in the progressive house scene, with releases on labels like Bedrock, Vapour, Pangea, Nascent, Iboga, Plastik Park and Sprout. \"The Way\" is taken from the album, where I found it a solid track, yet one of the more anonymous tunes on the album overall. A good, deep, progressive house track with tech-house influences and nicely filtered male voice-samples.

08. True Lies - If You Wanna [130 BPM]
To conclude the compilation is \"If You Wanna\" by the True Lies - the housier sideproject of the Symponix-brothers, also known as DJ Montagu & Golkonda and organisers of Tshitraka, one of the biggest annual psychedelic festivals in Germany. The track is kind of mixture of progressive/electro house and German festival-psytrance, but I find it kind of forgettable - lacking any real energy or distinctiveness.


Bottom line:

\"Think Different\" won\'t go down in history as one of the best compilations released in 2006, but it does have some very strong points that\'ll make it a valued tool for DJ\'s in the coming months. What really makes this compilation worth the bucks is the Perfect Stranger/Ace Ventura and the Vibrasphere tracks - two absolutely stunning highlights. The rest ranges from pretty good to quite forgettable, but overall \"Think Different\" is worth the money, and Echoes Records will definitely get some well-deserved attention for this release.


Favourites:

1 (!!), 3, 4 (!!), 5, 7


Verdict:

7/10


Link:

Echoes Records: www.echoes-records.com