Tshitraka Project 2005

This double-CD release is part of a trend to release some music to promote an event. In this case, the release is made in support of the Tshitraka Project, a large annual festival held in East Germany. This isn’t anything new in the trance world, as events and clubs such as Natraj Temple, Password Is Love, and Otherworld have been doing it for years. With Tshitraka Project you get 16 unreleased tunes, equally divided between progressive and full-on. The art isn’t anything special, but the packaging is top-notch! Sinn-Tec recently began using jewelboxes instead of the standard jewel cases, and they look absolutely fantastic. A note regarding the title of this compilation: the cover only says “Tshitraka Project” whereas Discogs lists it as “Tshitraka Project 2005.” Considering the series has begun using volume numbers with the third edition, this is technically “Tshitraka Project Volume 2.”

The first CD is subtitled “psychedelic tunes” and is compiled by DJ Jackomo. The style is melodic full-on like you might hear from Israel’s Utopia, Compact, or Trancelucent record labels. In most cases the production sounds very plastic, with the standard rolling bass lines. Nothing hits very hard, but the tracks are adequately polished in most instances. They avoid having vocals or too much in the way of bad samples, although many people are going to find the melodies very cheesy. Audiotec, Goma, Toxical, Morpheus, and Fatali provide some of the more formulaic material, while Ananda Shake throws in some psychedelic guitar to spice it up a little, with dubious results. The two tracks involving Freaked Frequency are notably more distinct. Their collaboration with Alternative Control has a darker edge and manages to build energy more effectively, while the remix to Yimanya is a really solid morning anthem full of powerful 80s-style bass line twists. One decent track out of eight is not a particularly good ratio, but it’s true that I simply don’t like the style being showcased here. At any rate, I purchased this to get at the progressive goodies, with the notion that I might find some decent full-on as a bonus. No such luck.

The second CD is compiled by Montagu and Golkonda, who are also known from a few other Sinn-Tec releases as well as their own label Blue Tunes. Ski Fi opens the disc with a standard slice of the morning progressive sound. This Mexican artist has been featured on many compilations recently, and their style is certainly very polished. Red Sun proves to be another decent song, though by its very nature, this tranquil groover comes across as somewhat anonymous. The quality is substantial, and the arrangement is tight, but it wouldn’t be hard for this one to get lost in the crowd. If you’re enjoying the subtle morning side of progressive these days, this could hold substantial appeal. It’s certainly one of Ski Fi’s better releases of the time.

Dawn Driver is only the second track released by Nyquist, a more static side project of top progressive act FREq. The quality of this piece is clearly evident, even though very little happens for the duration of the song. Anyone who has criticized Aran for overdoing melodies and spoiling otherwise appealing songs would be advised to check this out. There is no particularly distinct hook, and the sly and sophisticated atmosphere remains deeply entrenched for the entire tale. Dawn Driver is a solid morning groover as the name would suggest.

Fusi & Johnson add their usual touch to Deeper Emotions, but there’s no helping those displeasing male vocals that appear across the track. I’m not always opposed to vocals, but these are bad. They ruin what would otherwise be an adequate track.

Gaudium is rapidly gaining credibility on the progressive psychedelic circuit following the release of their debut album Nordic Nature on the esteemed Spiral Trax, as well as numerous compilation appearances. Skrufat continues to advance Gaudium’s reputation with a stunningly synthetic morning anthem. The key with this one is that the artist spends several minutes pounding through a minimal mash of incidental pads and ticklish little noises, then the sky opens right up once it hits the mid-point break. There’s no melody at work here—simply a broad atmospheric pulsation that continues for several minutes. The way it is manipulated creates polyrhythmic resonances with the beat, somehow conjuring a startling degree of power. It’s so clean and basic, yet it really hits hard.

Liquid Soul has also been releasing some top-notch singles on compilations throughout 2005. Born in a New World is another solid piece of massive progressive psytrance, obviously designed for the big festival experience. Unfortunately I can’t really tolerate the amount of spoken samples there are—one for every sixteen beats for the vast majority of the song. At least it isn’t singing, but the cheesy stuff this woman is talking about really smothers what would otherwise be a good track.

Symphonix remixes Killing Feel by Xibalba, glazing the groovy original with a sly and sophisticated sound. It’s sort of typical for the German festival sound, so I suppose it’s no great tragedy that this track is also ruined by bad sampling. O-Ren’s big speech from Kill Bill is interjected near the middle, shattering the mood with an unsettlingly loud outburst. The rest is solid, despite being anonymous, but with this one sample present I wouldn’t bother to ever play this.

Snapshot shows off just how far the Vaishiyas side project Sync is going into the more energetic sounds of full-on morning trance. I’ve seldom been moved by their extensive progressive offerings, but this one is somewhat more effective. Intricate rhythms provide a stable foundation for some rather pleasant melodic contortions. There’s not much in the way of development, but it could be used in a morning set. At 144 BPM I’m not too sure what it’s doing on the progressive side however. Decent, but nothing more.

FM is a fairly new project from Fabio (one half of Fusi & Johnson) and Norbert Reiter. Dance With Me is another slice of the aboveground German progressive style, featuring some typical vocal work and some vaguely euro synth lines amidst pumping beats. It sort of seems like the German progressive equivalent of Israel’s overblown full-on pop style, although it remains much more listenable. I wouldn’t go out of my way to bother hearing this again.

Overall there’s not too much to save from this release. The first CD is a bust, with only one or two tracks really worth investigating. The second CD is better, but several otherwise decent songs are ruined by terrible vocals or bad sampling. Nyquist and Gaudium deliver the token gems, while Ski Fi and Sync round it out with a few more acceptable tracks. The general quality of the music is fairly low, however. It’s actually releases like this that provide fuel for the notion that the labels are as much a part of the widespread piracy problem as the downloaders are. When the intention behind a release changes from putting out great music to promoting a party, it’s no wonder that listeners are disaffected by anti-piracy rhetoric. The label would have been better off making a free compilation of this instead of filling stores up with a fancy physical product. Don’t bother chasing this one down, but progressive fans should seek out a copy of Dawn Driver at the very least.