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To be released Monday 4th August. Ben Keen shows us what happens when his talents are used in collaboration with various other huge talents.
The Tracklist:
01. BK & Chris Lawrence - Warp
02. BK & EJ Doubell - Butterflies
03. BK & Tom Harding - Raucous
04. BK & Dave Randall - Tiptronic
05. BK & Anne Savage - TGone
06. BK & Andy Farely - Face Facts
07. BK & Rob Tissera - Zulu Nation
08. BK & Guy McAffer - Gonna F**k U Up
09. BK & James Lawson - The Storm
10. BK & Paul Glazby - Get Out Of My House
11. BK & Andy Farely - Accelerate
12. BK & Lab 4 - Final Chapter
The Kollaborators:
Anne Savage, Andy Farely, Rob Tissera, Paul Glazby, Lab 4, Guy McAffer, James Lawson, Tom Harding, Christopher Lawrence, EJ Doubell & Dave Randall.
We start with a very typical introductory track titled BK & Chris Lawrence - Warp that would most certainly set the mood for what was going to a decent Hard Trance set in any club. The intro is short but sweet, and the beats quickly fade in. It's not till the end of the track that you realise how much of an effective intro it is. It starts slow, but keeps on building and building till we are taken through to track 2; BK & EJ Doubell - Butterflies.
BK & EJ Doubell - Butterflies rapidly picks up the pace. At first it’s like we are taking a quick breather before we continue on with the journey and to do this we are greeted with a short break beat session. The break beats become more intense until the track suddenly kicks in quite hard, with a quite unique sound, with the added bonus of the flanger. The synths on this track are very effective and the melody is somewhat amazing. This is a very powerful track, and it's always nice to see artists combining such pumping hard tracks with great melodies.
BK & Tom Harding - Raucous also greets us with break beats, but it is a much smaller period this time, and the track explodes very quickly into an amazing breakdown which then proceeds to kick in very hard. The melody is simple but also effective, and there is a "muffled" vocal that keeps getting repeated throughout the main riff.
The next track is called BK & Dave Randall - Tiptronic. This is also a vocal track that has repeating vocals throughout most of the track. Right before the kick you get the feeling that the remainder of this track is going to be quite epic.. and you'd be right. Combining such an epic melody with a hard beat works a treat here, and this is a collaboration I would definitely like to see more of.
I believe track 5; BK & Anne Savage - TGone, is the track designed to take this album up a notch. The intro is much darker sounding, and the buildup is also much darker. There is a very repetitive melody and the track certainly does a great job of taking the album from hard trance to more pumping hard trance. This track definitely has an "Anne Savage" feel to it as you can clearly hear the typical sounds and synths that she commonly uses.
BK & Andy Farely - Face Facts. This tune almost has a Hard House feel to it. The baseline is almost your standard Hard House bass line; those who are familiar with UK Gold - Cuz The House Gets Warm (Tidy Boys Remix), may see what I mean by this, and I guess this is expected when 2 giants such as BK & Andy Farely come together. Yet again there are vocals repeated in the background throughout most of the track.
BK & Rob Tissera - Zulu Nation is next. This track takes the album to yet another level. The intro keeps to the darker theme of the 2 tracks before it (BK & Anne Savage - TGone, and BK & Andy Farely - Face Facts) but this time suddenly out of nowhere just explodes into a very pumping track with a very distinct melody.
Next up, BK & Guy McAffer - Gonna F**k U Up. How rude! Just kidding. But the vocals on this track are just as odd as the title, and at times.... quite scary! This is indeed a very unusual track which uses some very unique sounds and synths, which in my opinion definitely work quite well.
BK & James Lawson - The Storm is definitely the most pumping track on this album that we have encountered so far. No time for fancy melodies here. Just driving baselines, "energetic and pacey" breakdowns, and hard kicks. The level of "hardness" if you will, in this track is setting the mood of what we should expect from the remaining tracks on the album.
BK & Paul Glazby - Get Out Of My House. Very interesting buildup, with unusual stabs of sounds and synths. There are almost like sirens, and keep going all the way to the breakdown. Right before the kick there is the vocal; "Get the f**k out of my house, and then Boom! Energetic Hard Trance at its best.
BK & Andy Farely - Accelerate. There is a very clear reason why this track is called Accelerate. As the track progresses it slowly starts to pitch up, ie. Accelerate! Slowly at first, but then rapidly increases in bpm. At first you kind of wonder what is going on, but it is actually quite exhilarating. At first I was expecting a massive anti-climax as I wasn’t sure how on earth BK & Andy Farely could bring this back down without killing the mood they set. But they do achieve this without destroying the atmosphere. This brings us to the last track on the album...
BK & Lab 4 - Final Chapter. I very much like the way this track brings a close to this album. It's extremely energetic, and I have always loved the pace of Lab 4, which no doubt is reflected within this track. The buildup is quite lengthy, and with every second becomes more and intense until it kicks in very hard. This is certainly a very unusual piece, but with no doubt draws a very high paced album to a close.
Conclusion:
I absolutely love how well this album is structured. It tastefully goes up in stages which keeps building and building, but does not anti-climax at any stage. Not only is this an excellent display of tunage between BK and the kollaborators, but it is also superbly mixed. It combines many styles of Hard Trance, which is what you would expect when a Hard Trancer such as Ben Keen combines his talent with various other artists of different styles. Recommended!
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