Area 51 Vol. 1

Area 51 Vol. 1 is the first in a prospective series of progressive psytrance compilations from the undistinguished German label Planet B.E.N. Records. The sound remains fairly close to that of releases such as Between the Lines and just about anything from Sinn-Tec Recordings. In other words, this is the middle-of-the-road sound of the European festival circuit. With the plain cover art and no hint of a theme, this release is clearly aimed at DJs, not home listeners.

Ski Fi takes the customary opening slot with Herztone Era. As with other songs from this Mexican artist, this is clean and smooth progressive psytrance with pleasant melodies and satisfactory production value. The beat rumbles along with a mild hint of funk and groove, while the rest remains fairly straight-forward throughout the track. This is a decent selection for morning time.

The up and coming artist Liquid Soul delivers one of the better offerings of the compilation: After Effect. While Nicola hasn’t quite managed to top Go Reality, released on Iboga’s Set 5, this one is a solid effort. Fat wobbly rhythms and chunky bass lines build a thick synthetic groove. The melodic strata is dusted with tricky particles, climaxing with a sharp and snarky series robotic utterances. This is simple, direct, accessible dance floor fodder, and better than average for this compilation.

Symphonix provides standard material with Any Drug, snugly fitting the German festival mold. It is pleasant to hear, and there is some attention to detail, but there is nothing to make this stand out from the rest. Filler.

FM is a new project formed by Fabio Fasco from Fusi & Johnson and Norbert Reiter. Here they deliver the title track Area 51. It sounds fairly similar to Trouble Galaxy, Stullen Lude, and other productions from F&J in the 2004 season. If you have heard Auricular’s Time album, you know what to expect: dry creaking melodies backed by a pulsing hypnotic groove. Not bad.

Scoter from N.O.K. is full-on with progressive characteristics; the “neo” bastard child of the two big movements in psytrance. Like most artists dabbling in this marriage of opposites, N.O.K. doesn’t manage to inject anything noteworthy into his creation. Easily overlooked.

Sonus (better known as S:O:N:U:S from Jum Jam Records) soothes and entrances with the dreamy Trancoso Sunset. I hear a hint of Vangelis in the short female vocal sample that comes in every now and then – is this sampled from Rachel’s Song? Whatever the source, this really works. This is seductive melodic trance with a psychedelic touch.

DJ Sangeet makes an appearance as Defolder with Discomonstamurdra, a shamelessly cheerful and carefree track with a light and funky electro-influenced feel. It pumps along at 140 BPM, but the frantic energy makes it feel faster. I am not entirely certain what context this is good for.

Fusi & Johnson are up against the Mexican progressive act Xibalba on Lazy People, another chunky progressive tune suitable for the daylight hours. The slinky Auricular vibe is alive and well on this one, with a subtle arrangement of small sounds and a tasty little hook in the bass line. Again, it is nothing complicated, but certainly one of the more appealing tunes to be found here.

Suntree wraps it up with Electric Mind, a melodic morning epic with a tangible amount of full-on power behind it. As a new artist, Suntree falls into the trap of dousing this early effort with ill-fitting Hollywood movie samples. Beyond that, there are a few promising aspects to be heard in this production, but the artist needs more time to develop.

I am not at all surprised that this is just another mediocre compilation. Planet B.E.N. has been pumping out the filler like few others, flooding the market with predictable fare such as this. Anyone who is really into the German progressive sound might find this to be a worthwhile purchase, but I don’t feel as if this has enough depth nor character to remain interesting for very long. There are a couple of decent tunes in here, but Area 51 Vol. 1 still proves to be an ephemeral compilation for DJs and impulse buyers. Not recommended.

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