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Nick Sentience
» Dance Planet
Reviewed by Ashley James
/ Submitted 24-02-07 20:41
Label: Extreme
Format: 2 x CD
Genre: Hard Dance, Psychedelic Trance, Techno
I always thought that "Universal Language" was going to be extremely hard to top, but as Nick shows us, he is an absolute master of his craft, and in fact, pretty much everybody else's as well. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's breakbeat, psy trance, hard trance or techno - just a few examples of the various styles of music he can make both competently and elegantly. Extreme Records' debut "Dance Planet" is, in my opinion not only the single best Hard Dance album ever, but a masterclass in exactly how it's supposed to be done. The concept of the album is great, pleasing both DJs and clubbers alike. The first disc is a 14 track mix, whilst the second disc is jammed full of 11 DJ friendly singles. Usually I'd pick out my favourite few tracks and write about them but as each track on this album is so individual I thought it best to write a sentence or two on each.
The first track on disc one is "Trouble Shoot", cheekily sampling the "Please do not be alarmed..." vocal on top of a ploddy, dark edged tech trance groove. The choppy percussion pushes the track along with all manner of strange noises appearing and disappearing to keep the audience on their toes. Next up is "We Don't Stop (Inside The Party)" laying down a percussive techno groove under filtered, choppy vocals and stabby synths. It's the dirty synthline that appears just over halfway through the track that really makes this track though. Peak time tech material for definite. The mix rolls on on a techno tip with "Get Up" and slides effortlessly into "Telepathy", a groovy hard trancer which was given away as a free DJ friendly track during the promotion of the album. Next up is the superbly euphoric "Long Way Home", peak time hands in the air material drenched with Nick's trademark high end production skills. "Carte Blanche" and "Strange World" are two classic trance anthems that have been given the remix treatment for the album and brought bang up to date. Whilst admittedly not the most original choices to remix since they've both been done before a numerous amount of times, these are easily the best of the new remixes that have been done to both tracks and they both still manage to please a crowd without fail. "Wake Up" is a psy trance flavoured collaboration with Alf Bamford and is a track that I've been playing since last October - it's one of my favourite tracks on the album and manages time and time again to completely obliterate any dancefloor lucky enough to hear it. Quite simply immense! "Beats Like This", Nick has told us, is his favourite track on the album. I'm not usually the biggest fan of MCs but this is just something else. In my opinion MCs can make a track sound a little messy but "Beats Like This" is a lesson in exactly how to do it. The vocals aren't intrusive and compliment an intense psy edged groove. Following on is the superb "Aliens", a groovy full on psy trance track with oozing with squelchy noises, crispy percussion and a killer acid line. This track would sound equally at home at Psygate as it would Innovate, the production is nothing short of immense and it's a toss up between this and "Wake Up" as my favourite track on the album. "Supercharged" sits somewhere between hard and psy trance. The bassline really gets you moving along to it perfectly complimented by the late arrival of closed hi hats to really push the track along. "Contour" is a menacing hard trancer and is another track I'll definitely be slipping into my sets this year. Peak time dark riffs infused with psy edged basslines and percussion make this a sure fire winner in my book. Second to last we have "Closure". My favourite thing about this track is pitch bent synth that appears during and after the breakdown sounding a lot like some kind of distant space aged siren. My only grievance with the entire album is that unfortunately "Closure" doesn't appear on disc two, but due to a limited amount of space I suppose there is not much that could have been done about that. Finally we're treated to "Never Lost His Hostile", the offspring of Nick's remixes of NRG's "Never Lost His Hardcore" and Glazby's "Hostile" and the result manages to be playful yet retain the powerful serious edge that is characteristic of Nick's production. Fortunately, the track is like a kind of "one more" added onto the end making it totally DJ friendly.
In total, this album is nothing short of a masterpiece and totally sets the benchmark for other producers to follow. It's the kind of album that you can listen to before going out to get yourself hyped up, or when you come back to remind you of how good the previous night was. Above all, it breaks new ground and shows exactly why Nick is heralded as the most forward thinking producer in our scene. Absolutely essential!
Tracklisting (Disc 1)
1. Trouble Shoot
2. We Don't Stop (Inside The Party) (feat vocals by MC Hyper A)
3. Get Up
4. Telepathy
5. Long Way Home (feat keyboards by Mike Loney)
6. Carte Blanche
7. Strange World (feat James Lawson)
8. Wake Up (feat Technikal)
9. Beats Like This (feat vocals by MC Hyper A)
10.Aliens
11.Supercharged (feat vocals by Lizzie Taylor-Allee)
12.Contour
13.Closure (Album Mix) (feat BK)
14.Never Lost His Hostile (feat NRG & Paul Glazby)
Tracklisting (Disc 2)
1. Trouble Shoot
2. We Don't Stop (Inside The Party) (feat vocals by MC Hyper A)
3. Long Way Home (feat keyboards by Mike Loney)
4. Carte Blanche
5. Strange World (feat James Lawson)
6. Wake Up (feat Technikal)
7. Beats Like This (feat vocals by MC Hyper A)
8. Aliens
9. Supercharged (feat vocals by Lizzie Taylor-Allee)
10.Contour
11.Into Action (feat Andy Farley)
Rating: 
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