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Andreas Schmidt returns by bringing us the fifth release on his own Venom label. This time, he has chosen to combine two of his most succesful aliases to create a blend of the two styles they represent on side A. The AA-side contains a brand new trancer by 'Kasuma', a new alias, but not someone new to the scene... Click in!
The BACED! alias has been doing the rounds since 2000, and has been used to create hard as nails remixes for Waldmeister - 'Kahlschlag' and Marc La Cruz - 'Krieg Gegen Die Maschinen' (both the originals had been produced by Ace as well). 'Destiny's Ass' was the first single to be released under the BACED! moniker, and was put on one vinyl together with the track 'Illuminatio Mea'.
The 'Ace's Delight' guise was invented in 2002, and serves as Andreas' energetic / uplifting trance alias. Last year saw the first single release 'Mental Theme', which was heavily supported by loads of big-name DJ's. In May 2004, Ace's Delight returned by bringing us the 'Sunrise' track on Ace Da Brain's 'Tales of Dusk and Dawn' EP.
This is also the first time that Ace has decided to put a track of another artist on one of the Venom releases. 'Kasuma' is actually Karsten Loos, one of the guys behind Dee Mark, a name that has been active in the trance scene for quite a few years now. Releases include 'Seven Days & One Week', 'Moonwalker', 'Destiny' and 'Fireworks'.
A-side: BACED! vs. Ace's Delight - Witness
Just like earlier productions from Ace, this track commences with an intro that seems calm and peaceful at first sight. Some lush strings and pads are being played, creating a smooth, almost dark experience during the first seconds. At all of the sudden, a deep, highly pitched voice comes in, telling us that the union of BACED! and Ace's Delight is nearing us (interesting fact: all the voices and vocals in this track have been done by Ace himself!). "BACED! may begin..." A crushing laugh is what kickstarts us right into a huge kickdrum, a rolling b-line and a super-inventive use of both percussion and background effects. Loads of dark effects and cool variations with all the percussion create a dark, but yet fast experience throughout the first minute. A wagonload of energy smiles at you right from the beginning, being powered up even more by introducing a techy, repeating synth which is being backed up by a synth that is playing a speedy, glooming, almost spooky rhythm along the way. Crushing everything on its way, the beat takes us to the voice once again, which tells us that it is now time for Ace's Delight to take over... A lonely piano note guides us towards a beautiful part of strings and violin-sounding chords, which are playing a very touching melody. All this gets intensified even more by adding a moving opera-voice, singing along quietly with the aforementioned melody part. A soothing breakbeat enters, accompanied by some very cool and really sharp sounding percussion, being backed on their part by a nice trumpet. Close your eyes and imagine yourself this huge orchestra playing, I'm sure you wouldn't notice much difference. "And now, unite...". Silence appears, just to tease us a bit more until the main melody comes in. And oh my, Ace does it again! A sublime melody enters, builds itself up more and more, just until it ends... Time for some tearing up! The devastating beat and bassline return, accompanied by a wonderful new version of the melody, this time being brought to us by using some agile synthstabs. This must be one of the most banging climaxes I've ever heard, mainly because the contrast is só big: first, you're hearing a melancholic, soothing break, but then you just get an utterly stomping kick and bassline, accompanied by this magnificent set of chords and a not much seen use of percussion. The banging goes on after the first main climax even more by creating a second one, which doesn't sound boring because it's being brought in in a rather fast way.. After all this it's time for the build-down, in which the vocals tell us something that reminded me alot of Darth Vader in one of the Star Wars episodes: "And now go, go!". Allright, time for Luke to enter his shuttle and fly out.
AA-side: Kasuma - Dreaming
'Dreaming' starts off with some fast percussion and a smooth kick. After a short while, the main bassline enters, which reminded me a bit of earlier Above & Beyond works. It is instantly hearable that this track is just built to energize: fast synth rhythms take over the sound spectrum along their way, and more and more percussion gets added. An up and down going, original sounding sample enters, and during the build-up, which comes along in a faster way than usual, one of the synths makes place for a very well crafted sound, which I'd definitely want to take a bite of if it was food! All this gets accompanied by a set of strong strings at the background, creating a very full ambiance until now. At around three minutes, the break comes in with a little vocal. No modern-day trance intro's or whatever are being used here; we're just being kicked right into the Hands-In-The-Air part by a superb set of sounds which play a fast, but very cool melody. Think of yourself standing in between thousands of people hearing this.. eek! After the hands in the air part, the main lead comes in, which builds itself up vigorously by using alot of filtering. The saw pads all sound very crispy and have an immense load of energy shining right out of them. The kick and bassline return, inducing the melody to build itself up once more to give the other elements time to come in again. Uplifting trance the way it was meant to be. This is definitely a track that is going to be played alot by the big trance DJ's, mark my words!
Conclusion:
We've got ourselves a smashing set of tunes here. 'Witness' combines the two styles in a cracking way, and will surely induce monster mania on dancefloors around the globe. 'Dreaming' is totally different compared to 'Witness', but still is a very nice uplifting trancer, which is just a bit different than most of the trance we hear today. Promo's have been sent out, and the retail release will be on the shelves within a very short time. Be sure to get it!
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