Take 2 events, both held at the same club in Coalville, Leicestershire, Mix the harder side of life with uplifting bliss, add some awesome tracks, and you have 'Dedicated' The Album

Tracklisting....

1 Elliot, Butcher, Patterson - Voiceless
2 Oceanlab Beautiful Together (seraque mix)
3 Nitromethane Time To Die (seraque mix)
4 JFK Vs Revolution9 - Phoenix Rising
5 Rapid Eye - Stealing Beauty
6 Signum - Push Through
7 Hampshire & Nysse Feat Nikita - Eternal Voices (airwave mix)
8 Rusch & Murray - Epic
9 Darren Tate - Fall From Grace
10 JFK Vs Revolution 9 - Metropolis
11 Miika Kuisma - Liber Null
12 Mark Norman - Stream
13 Ratty - Sunrise (
14 Passion Crowd - Recorded Live At Passion 06/06/03
15 Westbam - Wizards Of The Sonic

Storm Tracklisting: Mixed by Nick Lunn

1 Carl Cox & Christian Smith - Dirty Bass
2 Ben Sims - Moments (Booty Mix) (hardgroove special edition)
3 Moss - Mossiac (Joy Mix)
4 Nick Lunn & Jim Fish - Territory
5 Roku - Platinum Rebirth
6 Robert Natus & Roman Rotz - FC
7 Axel Karakasis - Temporary
8 Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri - Codebreaker
9 Redhead - The Darkness (Tom Hades Mix)
10 Chris Liebing - Too Much Show
11 Mauro Picotto - Baguette
12 Technopunk - Saturday
13 Mauro Picotto & Riccardo Ferri - Alchemist
14 Mauro Alpha - Headrush
15 DAVE The Drummer & Chris Liberator - Hydraulix



CD 1 - JFK

JFK begins his mix with a beautiful symphony of strings, breaking into a cool breakbeat, and then building into a cool little number, with some nice sounds involved, this is Voiceless and it is a good starter track to take us to uplifting heaven. Soft Pads cushion the mind in a higher state, and Strings soothe the mind, in a blissful way. Next up comes the Passion Favourites, Above & Beyond, this time in the Oceanlab guise, and Beautiful Together a wonderful vocal track, which JFK has selected the Seraque mix for. Take awesome vocals, add a cool bassline & Synth, and you've got this. Oceanlab in my opinion make good vocal trance, and as people familiar with this track know, this is no exception. Best played loud, to feel the sounds, especially when the fx are used on the vocals. Seraque are once again flavour of the month as we drift softly into the third track, Time to Die. This track has a superb structure, with more layers than you can shake a stick at, and is once again Hands in the air matertial, especially during the bit leading to the breakdown. Quality stuff!

JFK himself has had a dab in the studio, and he makes his first of two appearances next, with his track vs Revolution 9, entitled Phoenix Rising on the Mondo Imprint. Strong mixing takes us into this track, deep bassy sounds are used here, with a range of fx & percussions, leading into a gorgeous lead pad, soft & dainty as well as strong sounding at the same time. Evolving into strings, and then into another pad, which is delicate, and is soon followed by the first lead pad, the stucture here is brilliant, and ready for a breakdown, and to bring the beat back! Following up from this, a track most people should be familiar with Stealing Beauty from the awesome Rapid Eye, In this case it is not the awesome REMix that a lot of people will know used, but in this case, after the previous track, it might leave too many lulls if that had been used, so clever selection here, keeping the flow going and that is obviously something a lot of people will notice if it's not adhered to. Next up we have a track from the awesome Armada Label, the latest offering from Signum, Push Through and there is not an awful lot I can say about this track that doesn't include superlatives all the way. It has an awesome sound, like 1999 meets 2003, and obviously using two of the years people consider to be the best for trance tracks, you just know that this is quality. Ron & Pascal really do deserve more praise than I could ever word for this, the track is probably for me at least going to be in the top 5 tracks of the year already, soft strings, synths tinged with an electrical feeling, making the hairs down your neck stand on end.

Carrying on, we have an Airwave remix of Eternal Voices a vocal edged track, with deep kick & bass and just the right amount of sounds to make the vocals stand out, and not sound manufactured, anyone who knows great vocal tracks will know this is a must. In my experience, you know when a vocal track is good, as you tend not to hear the sounds in the background so much as the vocal itself, meaning the perfect blend has been made, and I get this feeling here. Up after this, we have one of the most talked about tracks this year, Epic produced by awesome up&coming producers Christian Rusch & Greg Murray, and getting rave reviews for most of the year. Both of these producers have come together here to bring a beautiful masterpiece of soft synths, gentle leads, wicked percussion and once again I'd rate this in the top 5 trance tracks of the year, It has a feeling of warmth, even on these chilly mornings, and is a good sign of things to come from two of the most highly rated new producers, Once again a good transition from JFK, infact I've not heard some of them they're that smooth, and I like to be able to do that. The following track is produced by hot as ever Darren Tate, rated as one of the UKs most consistent producers alongside guys like Lange, Pulser & Steve Helstrip, and this is Fall From Grace a deeper sounding tune than the one before it, and this, while not his strongest piece this year, is very nice. Catchy as always, with a variety of layers as always, it's hard for me to pin-point one exactly that stands out more than another.

JFK himself makes his 2nd appearance on track 10, with Metropolis which has an edgy sound to it, uplifting still, just with a strong feel to it, not as chilled or laid back as some of the earlier tunes to begin with, until the main melody kicks in, simple but as always in trance, less is more, and the added stringish sound to it also helps build, and that's what is needed. Finnish prodigy Miika Kuisma is the distinguished producer of the next track, with a fresh sound to it, like so many of these new producers this year, new ideas, and it is what the sound needs. Taking a deep catchy bassline, adding soft elements including string & a voicelike one, and then giving it a driving melody, soft but designed to make you move Liber Null hits the spot! Getting slightly harder next, Stream from Mark Norman is a heavy sounding, pounding kick which incorporates a heavy sound and definitely is the hardest track on this cd so far, and has a very intelligent break section, which I love with the heavy sounds & the pulsating synth.

To end with, we have a nice selection of 2 tunes plus an innovative Crowd noise section inbetween them. This begins with Sunrise The very familiar Ratty song, which has been played by all djs all over the world, and not a lot can be said, the vocal is well sung and known by everyone, and the rest of the track is slightly-harder than tracks before on the compilation but never too much. Cleverly used next is Noise recorded live at Passion on 6th June 2003, so if you were there listen out! Following this, we get the amazing Wizards of the Sonic from Westbam, a classic if ever you heard one! Can't say much about this, apart from how refreshing it was to hear it again!

Overall this is an awesome mix, with a strong choice of tunes all the way through, and if CD2 is as good, you're onto a winner by buying this, so lets go to cd2 then!

CD2 - Mixed by Storm Resident Nick Lunn

Moving onto the harder side of Dance, Nick Lunn aims to rock us in true Storm style, as hundreds of people are each friday night. Beginning with Dirty Bass from Carl Cox & Christian Smith, a dark & dirty piece of work, with a very techy edged sound, intelligent percussion work, and a bassline to die for, squelching in the mind trying to pound all sides of the brain. A bit later we get some dark sounding strings, and this mix already is not for the faint hearted, it's going to be a dark & heavy journey for all, which is fine by me! After six minutes we are mixed smoothly into Moments which quickly breaks down, into a vocal sample, a trippy sound, and then a cool heavy kick & percussion arrangement designed to rock. The hard feeling continues into Mosaic which has a more basic buildup to the tune, but sounds very good played after the last one, continuation being a key here.

As on the first CD, the DJ of this, Nick Lunn makes an appearance on the production side, alongside Jim Fish here, bringing us the fourth track, Territory which has a very good deep bassline, alongside a stabby sound that sounds almost old-skoolish, I guess once you hear it you will get the idea I'm bringing here, very much like that used by Oliver Klitzing in some of his productions. Following on from this, and after a long transition which works very well, you'll find Platinum Rebirth, a techno stomper, best played loud, as it will test all aspects of even the best speakers, a very strong track for this mix. Obviously this mix is all about the journey on a whole and not highs & lows which you find in a trance cd like the first one, Maybe not quite as suitable for playing in the car mind, this could do serious things to your concentration! Continuing on as we have to, we discover FC next with a funky-stomping bassline, driving, with a quick arrangement of notes ready to make us scream out in pleasure. It's the first time I've come across this tune, and It definitely won't be the last, I love how it continues on in the journey of the cd, but has so many tricks of it's own, and of course the bassline, but if that wasn't enough, we're taken to flanger central which is enough to make you duck for cover as you hear it coming in & out, and just to finish you off, an awesome break section as well later on, this track has it all!

We must carry on though, and we do so with Axel Karakasis' Temporary which isn't as messy as the previous track, and maybe that's a good thing for now, don't want to destroy the listeners just yet! This is a pretty standard tune, which as fans of this style know, is usually needed just to let you cool down a bit. Following up, Codebreaker incorporates a heavy kick, nice layers of noise (yes it does work like that!) and a cool percussion involving a snare at times which just sticks up above others in the mind. Next on the agenda is The Darkness which has an awesome dark & deep bassline, which works in 4/4 time, just to compliment the choice of percs used and forms the basis of a strong track, which when the kick comes in drives you on an insane journey with the noise that's played, which might be best described as a seal screaming or something, I can't really put a name to it, guess you'll have to buy it & let me know what you think, answers on a postcard please!

My personal favourite DJ in the techno scene appears next, Chris Liebing brings us Too Much Show. stomping when the beat comes in, and even as I write this I find myself nodding to the track, conciously aware of all the sounds arranged perfectly. As we continue with Baguette a classic track, from a couple of years back, which Mauro Picotto hammered for so long he'd probably have reached Australia if he literally 'Hammered' it, anyway stupid jokes aside, everyone should be aware of the qualities in this track and it sounds perfect in this compilation.

If you have managed to get this far, the end is in sight, just four more tracks! Beginning with Saturday which if you were at storm you'd probably be at by the time you heard a set this awesome, we have a nice transition into it, and a whispering of saturday over the top of a cool bassline and a rolling sound, almost tinged with electricity if you know what I mean in the sound. Anyone who's head hasn't been stuck in the toilets at work or school by the resident bully should be aware of the next tune, as it is currently huge tunage, Alchemist from the EP of the same name is by Mauro Picotto and if you don't know it by now, you definitely will when you're done here, Maybe not as trippy as New Time, New Place, but still driving moody techno, designed for only the headstrong takes you through a typical buildup from Mauro, Weird sounds, a heavy kick & bass and a wonderful array of percussions & effects used including the customary filtering like in Baguette before it. Just when you think you're done, an amazing buildup comes on too, unexpected at first, using a flanger and wow is all I can say about it, something you'll have to experience for yourself. The Penultimate track is Headrush and probably is self-descriptive, it does what it says on the tin like a tin of soup or something, and has a driving kick & bass, deep & filtered at first, to give a good feeling of progression in the track, but still so hard that it is a headrush! All good things must come to and end, and in this case it happens with Hydraulix which has a couple of lulls in it to gather your mind while a vocal is spoken but hard to work out what's being said, and then a wicked kick & bassline appear, really funky as well as hard as nails, definitely a great end to a great journey, Although I wasn't familiar with everything here, it's been an eye opening experience, and much recommended for all of you!

Conclusion:
Amazing stuff, Best track on CD1 would be Push Through, for CD2 would be FC! Check it all out available now! Great stuff Passion & Storm