Utopia 2: The Promised Land

Everyone loves a good concept album, don’t they? I suppose Crystal Matrix had such a good response to the first Utopia that they decided to give it another run. The idea here is that each track is named after a fantastic place, supposedly expressing the character of that particular utopia. One look at the track list will indicate that these songs are almost all in the full-on style of psytrance.

Astrix & Delirious open the compilation with Tel Aviv, an obvious nod towards the long history of Israeli trance. There are hints of Astral Projection and Power Source, although some of the leads seem to have a much more commercial character than anything one might have heard in the deep past. The tribal chorus from Etnoscope’s Qula can be heard in some moments, strangely enough. Though this is a very straight-forward and accessible piece of melodic morning trance in the usual Israeli style – not something I would usually like – the artists manage to forge something that seems a bit better than normal. I don’t usually listen to or play out this style of psytrance, but if I were going to, I might just reach for this better than average tune.

Ananda Shake’s Wonderland is another avenue by which an Israeli artist attempts to capture some of the old melodic glory of Israel. I usually think of this as the Utopia Records style (no relation to the title of this compilation) but would have to admit I don’t like a single thing in their catalogue. Admittedly, Ananda Shake is probably the best (or least irritating) artist on their roster, so there is some hope for Wonderland. In fact, this producer does a commendable job mining the Israeli classics for an authentic melodic flow, with some success. The big lead is complex enough to maintain an interest through many repetitions; think MFG or Astral P rather than late period Oforia. The arrangement, rhythmic programming, and production value are nothing special, but this track still has its charm!

Psysex teams up with Paul Taylor to give you a vision of Cyber Space. Unfortunately I can’t discern anything particularly unique about this song, which just seems like standard Spun or Solstice-style full-on party music. The formula consists of a fat bass line, big crowd-pleasing drops, and some simple Oforia-style acid lines. Luckily the track is highly polished, smoothly unfolding with slightly more class than the usual anonymous full-on pop trance producer.

X-Noise stirred up massive controversy with the release of Anjuna Beach, which was originally an unauthorized remix of The Delta’s classic As a Child I Could Walk on the Ceiling. This copycat Israeli group who had yet to release anything noteworthy leaked a version of the song to the net and gained plenty of attention by association with the old classic. One could hardly dream up better self-promotion – too bad it came at the expense of disrespecting one of the most innovative acts in the psychedelic world. At any rate, some deal was cut to alter enough of the track to make it possible to commercially release it, and this is where we get Anjuna Beach from – a track which has been re-released at least four times. This just doesn’t happen with a track these days. As if that weren’t enough, X-Noise was been found guilty of trying to rig votes for a member survey on Isratrance in 2005. Without considering the background story and the reprehensible actions of the artists themselves, it isn’t a bad track. This is sure to light up some dance floors and get people shouting – especially if they recall the original. I refuse to have anything more to do with this song on principle, however. The last thing I will point out is a truly ironic sample added to the remix: “imagination can’t create anything new, can it? It only recycles bits and pieces from the world.”

Long-time veteran Space Tribe (Olli Wisdom) delivers a scorching hot tune laced with wild acidic sounds and backed with a rambunctious bass line. With ten full albums under his belt, this Aussie master has developed quite a knack for laying down energetic dance floor grooves full of psychedelic intent. It might not be terribly innovative, but Olli’s blistering style is not easily mistaken for any other. I find a lot of Space Tribe’s work to be decent but somewhat disposable, and the same goes here. This is something to light up a dance floor with a touch of the old school energy, but nothing hugely special.

Shift – Dune is the reason I purchased this compilation. What a killer! South Africa’s top artist takes on the theme from either the movie or the computer game (does it matter?) and turns it into a twisted peak-time dance floor anthem. All of the rhythms are fat as hell, the melodies are large, and the drops are as sick as one might expect.

I have never been a huge Parasense fan, but I might have enjoyed Mars if it weren’t for one massive problem. With one minute left to go, the right channel dies completely. I can’t even think of a comparable mastering or production error of this magnitude! It makes the track completely unusable.

Seroxat drops another Azax-derivative track with Gothem City. You know, I say that every time I review a Seroxat song. No wonder – they all sound the same. This one is a bit more towards conventional full-on, but all the drops and jittery acid lines remain. It might be good if I hadn’t heard much better – as is, this is filler.

The final track is the obligatory chill out number, sounding very hackneyed with sitars, ethnic voices, and other acoustic noises. I hear this kind of thing when I go to the Indian restaurant down the street. It doesn’t sound authentic there, and it doesn’t fit here. Weird.

The second Utopia compilation is a mighty peculiar release. There are some good tunes here, but the amount of formula-driven full-on is excessive, the chill out track is a joke, and that one colossal mastering error really bring it down. Furthermore, the underlying concept seems rather tacked on, as if they received demos and arbitrarily thought up some ‘fantastic places’ to roughly fit. The good news for any sane and rational individual looking to pass on this lacklustre compilation is that a version of Shift’s Dune can be found on his 2006 album Byte Me, so there is now even less reason to bother with this botched release. Unrecommended!

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