Back in the day when I consumed vast amounts if drugs and stumbled around raves in search of more I used to like D.J. Keoki. his songs were just that songs and not just random beats assembled with little thought. So the fact Keoki is producing this release for his label, makes me want to take notice. This album is a collaboration between Robert Jaro AKA Robert Devine and singer& creative director Vanessa Garic.
The thing that catches my ear about the opener " In A Dream" is how dark it is . It reminds me of some of the stuff that came out of the Witch House movement 4 years ago. The beats wobble and drop in a dub-step enough manner to entice fans of modern dance music."Completely In a Trance" lives up to it's name and weaves aa more mesmerizing web, it's not as dark as the opener , but the synths are shadowy enough to keep me happy and I think fans of darkwave looking to branch out in more current clubby stuff will find something to sink their fangs into.
At the onset of " Strange Mutation" something reminds me of a Lords of Acid's first album. It is a little grittier than anything from "Lust" and has a more underground feel, but fans of even My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult's more experimental and dancey moments can dig this. "Your Mind" even recalls Deee-Lite if that had been strung out on heroin. The way the synths are layered on this song draw you into the chill beats that creep in the black hole of this surreal landscape. Some of the phrasing and arrangement makes it clear these guys go back to the golden age of house from the 90's as their is almost a Rave Til Dawn feel to some of the synth lines.
I don't feel like the vocals are used in a way that live up to their potential until "Alien Love Truth". They form more of the song structure rather than being used more like samples. The alien theme continues down te dark X-files road with "Alien Dust". This songs holds less form and more wobble, falling along the lines of atmospheric dub-step.
"The Answer" blends dub-step and breaks with a glitched out take on the more occult themed days of early Thrill Kill Kult. "Touch the Sky" wraps up the first half of the album as the second is a collection of remixes by Jackal of Jackal & Hyde and previously of Dynamix 2 , along with Decoding Jesus, the Duke and Kaiser , and DJ D-Xtreme.
The first remix that is Decoding Jesus vs Duke and Kaiser takes a more upbeat approach to "In a Dream". It mixes the dark feel out if and adds a more conventional groove like something Daft Punk might have employed on the Tron soundtrack. DJ D-Xtreme's re-mix of "Completely In a Trance" gives it a hard edged groove while still retaining a sense of ambiance around the edges.Jackal & Hyde tackle "the Answer" and bring a more exotic Euro vibe to it. The pace is picked up on all the re-mixes making them more dancey with out the narcotic gloss of the originals.
Overall I enjoy the atmosphere this album creates and recommend it to any one dabbling in dance of a darker shade. For a debut it's pretty impressive and I would like to hear where this project continues to progress into in the future as they have already taken a great stride here to distance themselves from their peers.
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