After bringing the first review of Frantic Residents 3 a while back, we can do the same with Frantic Residents 4 mixed by Phil Reynolds, Hard Trancers & Hard Housers, follow me!

Track Listing:
1) Malixx feat. John Watts ‘END’ (MARCO ZAFFARANO REMIX)
2) The Disco Brothers ‘THE SOUND’ (SCRATCH ‘N’BREAKS MIX)
3) Rafferty & Kershaw ‘MUSIC’ EXCLUSIVE
4) JoBabe ‘GETTING HOT’ (ROWLAND & WRIGHT REMIX) EXCLUSIVE
5) Nick Rafferty & The Coalition ‘U’ (ORIGINAL MIX)
6) Organ Donors ‘LOOKING FOR DRUGS’ (CLASS B DRUGS)
7) Billy Daniel Bunter & Roosta feat Niki Mac 'DEVOTION' EXCLUSIVE
8) Kevin Energy & Phil Reynolds 'POUNDING SENSES' EXCLUSIVE
9) James Lawson & Phil Reynolds 'IT’S A DREAM'
10) James Lawson & Phil Reynolds 'ROCK & ROLL'
11) Double Drop 'IMAGINATE' EXCLUSIVE
12) Billy Daniel Bunter & Jon Doe 'ANOTHER LEVEL'
13) Anne Savage & James Lawson 'THE HOFFMANN EXPERIENCE '
14) Matt Williams & Phil Reynolds 'WAR ON DRUGS '
15) Nick Rowland & Dave Wright 'DEEPER'


Kicking off with End from Malixx ft John Watts, with Marco Zaffrano on remix duties, we are treated to an awesome dark piece of hard techno, pouding the speakers. with a non-annoying male vocal, which doesn't sound out of place, like some can in tunes like this. A simple melody comes on top of this, with a lead that fits in with the beats very well, sounding at home here, leading to a string just nicely in the background, not too overpowering, and by being how it is, adding another great layer, rather than sounding out of place. Some wicked mixing later and we have The Sound from the Disco Brothers, which has a wickedly deep bassline, and an unexpected melody quickly comes in to let us know it's here, then disappears to leave us with the Bass, Percs & Beat and a spoken vocal. This breaks into another melody, progressively going up which almost gives a sound of it being faster. After this we get a couple of melodic bits, with the bass still prominent, and quite an epic section later on, which works quite nicely to give us a range of styles within one tune! More long mixing, which is nice to hear, as a lot of DJs tend to short-mix these days, and you can lose the flow if you're not careful by doing so. We're taken into Music From Rafferty & Kershaw, the follow up to the huge We are Connected. A Simple melody repeats, with changing background elements helping to make it not sound repetitive, until a standard breakdown, which whilst used many times like this, still sounds good each time it's incorporated, I guess if it's not broken, don't fix it. Late into the tune, a nice acid sound is used, rolling & flowing nicely, and prolonging the tune to give us a quick break from the melody, which is soon back into play, before we are Getting Hot which is a new track to me, with a very typical Rowland & Wright edge to it, mixing a deepish almost acid sounding at times bassline, a trancey lead too which gradually gets more complicated, and a female vocal that isn't intrusive at all, just adding another element to it, and by the time you're a couple of minutes in, it seems like it's been a lot longer simply because of the top notch usage of layering all the sounds together.

Next up, Nick Rafferty & The Coalition bring us U which is yet again quality work. Starting simple & getting more extravagant, we're soon in a beautiful string sound, a feeling of tranquility, and joined in that feeling by the lead synth. At just after 2:30 of the track, it really takes off for me, with a deep bassline, driving us forward at about 200mph towards our next offering, Looking For Drugs from the Organ Donors, which is distinctively dark & heavy to start off with, and although it has a trancey lead, still retains a feeling of darkness compared to earlier offerings on the cd. Deep long bass sounds, and the lead on top, are joined by an awesome breakbeat section, which sounds amazing with the heavy kickdrum used and which sounds equally as pounding on the breakdown. After all this, we're soon taken onto Devotion From Billy Daniel Bunter & Roosta, 2 DJ's who've been there, seen it, and got the t-shirt to prove it, Billy especially. Deepish sounds lead us to the breakdown, nothing amazing but still does it's job, If you threw 15 tracks together with 2 minute long breakdowns, even the strongest of minds would crack! A slightly flanged synth is used and really works well, leading us to the strongest part of the track in my opinion. Moving us forward the second breakdown is slightly different, and really works well to prolong the track, without being samey. Pounding Beats comes next, and It really seems to do that, so I'm definitely not complaining here, the bassline is very prominent here which adds to the pounding feeling, and soon pushed slightly down by a lead synth that just squeezes in enough to live together in harmony with it. With a kick so heavy you don't need a complicated percussion either, so all is good. Losing the bassline we have a synth that sounds like it could electrocute you should you dare touch it. The rest of the tune is very well done, standard stuff, but works well, and mixes a great breakdown & synth with prolonging the journey that we're on here.

It's a Dream is next, and is in the middle of a threesome of tracks co-produced by Phil Reynolds, our DJ for the day. We are informed by a whispering voice that It's a dream, which is pretty good if you're using this as wakeup material as I am today! I have to admit that I love the lead used here, just has something that I can't quite put my finger on, that pleases me aurally, and it is definitely the one element I'd say sticks out at me begging me to write about it in such a way. A fast moving melody is soon with us, and that signals the awesome Rock n Roll which pounds the brain with the elements combining for a supercharge of forcing into the mind. evolving sweetly into a mixture of a heavy kick and a strong lead sound, we glide through the melody until the kick makes a reappearance to guide us on towards the following track, but not before giving us value for money in continuation. Our 11th installment in this ride is Imaginate which has probably the best percussion sounds so far, I love how it's been used, leading us down into a standard lead synth, but intelligently, all the sounds are crafted to work im harmony and heighten the experience, which you gotta hear to fully understand I think, leading to a spacey sounding section later on in the track, something a bit different, and definitely works, and is also the first & exclusive New work from Nick Sentience!

Another level is the next track and is maybe one of the weaker tracks on the cd, but saying that it's not bad by any means, just fills me in nicely for the first couple of minutes, and doesn't really kick in til the wickely evil synth at 3 minutes or so comes in, and from there, it definitely takes off, just needs to come into that bit sooner, and it'd send me mad to hear it sooner! The Hoffman Experience takes us on towards the finish line, and there's not a lot that I can say about it that I didn't last time I wrote about it in a compilation, it keeps a very deep edged feeling throughout, and once again fits in well in a mix. Next to last, is War On Drugs like so many tracks with a bit of a voiceover but nothing too intrusive to not be able to appreciate the track, probably ranking as closest to Hard House as I'd classify on this cd, no trance-leads here, just pure driving music. We End the journey on Deeper which definitely demonstrates the described feeling straight away, deep bass helping to bring this feeling over, and a lowish melody coming over the top, slowly evolving into a more intricate one that's very stabby & ends the cd on a nice note.

Conclusion:
Yet another quality release from the Nukleuz guys, how do they keep it up ?