Michael Splint's compilation is finally here, what's it contain, did it meet the hype?

The Ultimate Trance 4 – Mixed By Michael Splint (S Records)

Danish born deejay/producer Michael Splint comes by with his mix compilation for the Ultimate Trance series for S Records, based out of Scandinavia. Michael Splint is well known to most of you, he first hit the scene with his production that was a Judge Jules fave called Michael Splint presents Eruption – I Feel Free. He always has worked closely at times with his close friend Michael Parsberg and he is known under the alias “Falkon”. He has done a few productions with his wife Sasja. He recently added label co-owner to his resume, he is working with 2Trance and LCM on his new label that should be releasing some new things in the next little while. So this is his first real mix compilation

CD 1

Falkon and Fairlite – Moonfish (Peter Dafnous Remix)
Jan Johnston and Serge Devant – Transparent
Sayla – Second Thoughts (Original Mix)
Digital Blues (aka GTR) – Digital Blues
Alt + F4 – Alt + F4 (Matthew Adams Remix)
Kyau vs. Albert – Made of Sun (KvA Hard Dub)
George Hales – Isolation (Original Mix)
Signum – Second Wave 2004 (Signal 2004 Remake)
Whiteroom feat. Amy Cooper – Someday (Vocal Mix)
Menno De Jong – Watermark (Original Mix)
Van Faber & D-Suza – Overload (Original Mix)

CD 2

Fairlite – The World To Me (Tukan meets Michael Splint Remix)
Alex M.O.R.P.H – Unification (Original Mix)
Super8 – Cre8 (Mirco De Govia Mix)
Young Parisians feat. Ben Lost – Jump the Next Train (Kyau vs. Albert remix)
Avanto – The Flute (Airbase Mix)
Mike Shiver and Elevation – Hurricane (Mike Shiver Mix)
Jamie P vs. Aurelius feat. D Hughes – Sorrow (Main Vocal)
Barbed Wire and Sunglider – Ruffed Up! (Original Mix)
Rank 1 – Beats at Rank 1 Dotcom (Original Mix)
Peaktwins – Hypnowaves (Original Mix)
Mainbrain and Somville – Euphoria (Dave Joy vs. Emphasysts Remix)


Disc 1 gets off to a fast start with Falkon and Fairlite’s Moonfish, which was missed by some trance lovers, I like the song personally. The song was always uptempo and it really gets you into the mood, no 10 minute intros here, just slamming trance. I love the riff and reminds me of Push That Feeling On from 1993 for some reason.

Jan Johnson and Serge Devant’s Transparent comes in at track 2, which is a song that I’ve never heard before, I must have fallen out of the loop in terms of trance. The subtle melody is genius in all aspects but the highlight is the voice of the siren, as some call her aka Jan Johnson. Its not her greatest vocal, that belongs to Skydive. I’m not a big fan of her vocals but just about everyone else I know is.

Sayla’s Second Thoughts come in and Splint here is clearly defining the mood and clearly building up the set, he’s slowed down a bit after track 1’s hyper start. The melody that this track brings here is the key but this has the slight house tip. Sayla if you did’nt know is Menno De Jong, based out of Holland. This is clearly another track that is building up the pace, before I guess something will kick me in the teeth.

Digital Blues is in at track four and that is an alias for Gareth Emery, which I don’t honestly understand why people dig his work, his stuff is not genius as evident here. The melody catches you early on but it just feels a little lifeless. Splint is still working on just building up the emotion as well because nothing so far has made me want to get off my chair.

Track 5 brings in the genius of Matthew Adams, who has finally got his due after years of producing. He takes this track to another level, I can’t remember how the original sounds but whatever Adams has done here, seems to work well. The melody is so catchy, it reminds me of the old days when I saw PvD and Tiesto live. Alt + F4 is a underated track imo, yes a lot of people are hammering it but I feel they don’t realize how well you can use to build a set, not for peaktime moments. How the melody just creeps in, is really good and I like how it comes in.

Kyau vs. Albert’s own hard dub of their own Made Of Sun comes in and I hated the vocal on this track originally but this dub is not bad, the track still is allowed to do what it needs to do. When the vocal is brought back, you can’t help thinking, this is the dub?. Bad vocal but ok track.

Track seven brings in another young producer, which continues the industry trend of getting young whiz kids to write tracks. George Hales is like Matthew Adams, young and extremely talented and there are even more of people out there like them. If you don’t believe me, you should see all the emails I get from young producers. I always liked Isolation for some reason, I always liked how its just in your face from the start and the melody just hit the spot for some reason.

Track eight brings in, one of my old faves from the past, which is Signum.. I always liked Second Wave for some reason but why re-release it, could it be Signum doubling their money. The original was much much better and this remix does’nt seem to do it justice. The harsh bassline is there but that’s really about it, too bad Splint did’nt bring it in.

Whiteroom’s Someday brings it another bad vocal, I’ve always argued if the vocal don’t work then don’t use it and I wonder why Splint has injected it. I’m not going to discuss this more because this vocal makes my already mean headache, even more painful

Menno De Jong appears again at track ten, with only one more to go for this CD. This track continues the pace but I think somewhere the energy has been lost, as well as something else. I do notice that Splint likes to focus on very melodic tracks to make his mixes, he uses tracks that use the melody to take on a journey.

Van Faber and D-Suza’s Overload ends CD 1, which has been ok, I thought it would be more in your face because of the start. This track tries to make up for the lack of energy and this has some over the top riffs, that you expect from more deejays these days. I just don’t think the flow was that great from the tracks that were not really over the top to the final one that’s over the top

CD 2

The second CD starts with Fairlite’s The World to Me, I reviewed this on another CD but it never made it to press sadly because of issues that I rather not get into but when I did review it, I did like this track, its cheesy but it works. Now I’m not quite sure because I just dig the bassline but the vocal does’nt do it for me. I doubt that many people have heard this unless you religiously listen to Michael Splint’s sets. I like the subtleness of everything here bar the vocal. The vocal does grow on you, whether you hate it or you like it, its odd how this track does that well. I think I’ve been caught on a bad day but I do digress, it’s a great track to start the second CD with, its not too over the top or too over produced, just a smart Danish production.

Alex M.O.R.P.H’s Unification comes in at track two, this continues where Fairlite left off, but it has more uptempo than the CD, if you compare it to the first disc. This track does’nt do anything for me but its only purpose is to slowly build up the tempo.

Super8’s Cre8 comes in next, I like Cre8 because the melody haunts me for some reason and that’s always a good thing, not near the haunt of being struck in a dark warehouse with Steve Lawler playing tribal but it’s a good feeling. I like how calm this track becomes at times, it reminds of Saltwater for some reason.

Young Parisians feat. Ben Lost jump in at track four and if you have’nt had it up to here with the song, then this is for you but if you have, you may want to hit mute on the CD player for a track because if this was’nt overplayed to death, then I don’t know what is. The vocal is Ben Lost and the track just grates my nerves, if you have’nt canned it to death or you have been in a cave for a year, then this is for you, if not just save yourself the trouble and move on.

Airbase makes an appearance on this disc, with his remix of The Flute. This continues Airbase’s lacklustre performances and this is certainly no different, please don’t hope for anything different. Some will point out that Airbase seems to make something out of nothing but if the original was awful and you don’t save it, then nothing changes. The riffs are too mild and weak and they don’t seem to do anything for me. A lot of people dug this track because of its incredible riff work and melody but I think it does not do that much and Airbase tends to do the same thing. I have heard stories of this track just doing massive damage on the dancefloor but I don’t believe them

Mike Shiver’s remix of his own track called Hurricane and the vocal in the background is probably my favorite part of this track. The track besides the vocal is not really worth mentioning since it does’nt help out, CD has received an already mortal blow and we are only at track six.

“Sorrow” by Jamie P vs. Aurelius continues the mix and this continues the does nothing for me phase because the vocal just grates me nerves and it pushes a weak bassline. You ask yourself why is Splint pushing these bad vocal tracks, whatever happened to pushing vocals like Subsola’s so pure? It must be an industry trend because I have’nt heard a decent vocal trance tune in a long while.

This track “Ruffed Up” keeps getting mention by Splint in his monthly updates and this does nothing as well, it seems that Splint has fallen into mediocre trance. Ruffed Up suffers from something but I can’t put my foot on what exactly. The bassline is weak, the riff is not back, the breakdown, yes that’s it. The breakdown is just plain weird, it goes nearly silent then some annoying keys come in and it uses a sound that reminds me of the Emergency Broadcast System.

Rank 1 make their appearance on this album with Beats at Rank 1 dotcom and this tries to save what has been a bad disc two. I like Beats at Rank 1 dotcom, even if it is overplayed because it gives you at least something decently produced. Disc 2 has been hit hard, it has wallowed in a sea of mediocrity since track four and this is Splint’s attempt to save it. I don’t like the song that much but I never thought I’d see the day when I looked forward to a Rank 1 song and I guess I just have.

Peaktwins’s Hypnowaves comes in and it can’t come quick enough, I’d like this CD to end now. Yes Splint is a friend but this is just wrong and its almost painful to listen to at times. Hypnowaves pushes the CD is a good direction for a change because I was beginning to want to throw my CD player but I still might

The CD ends with a Dave Joy remix, which is great because I do like Dave Joy’s stuff but the injury that the CD suffers can’t be repaired and they are taking it off life support. Why could’nt Splint have used more tracks like this, uptempo kick you in the ass trance because this is amazing.

Conclusion:
CD 1 uses some decent tracks to gain some success but that about it. Its not as uptempo as I thought it would be but its worth a look. CD 2 is the one to avoid, with bad vocals and just awful songs, it sends the CD into the abyss. This will serve to showcase Michael Splint’s deejay talents but sadly won’t do that much else for you.