Time for yet another single on this up and rising Swiss label. Three mixes are being presented to us this time, including one by the now famous Climax 69 guise. Let's check 'em out!
Photon Decay's 'Aura', Paradox's previous release, is still doing great all over the globe, especially because of the very powerful Climax 69 Remix. This new release also includes a remix by that guise, as well as two different mixes by the original producer of Feelings, Florian Schmidle. This 20 year old producer from Germany has recently started to inject his sounds into the scene using various project names like Teknoon, Sun Junkies and Ph:low Project, and is about to collaborate with DJ D-light (aka Photon Decay, Climax 69, Base Jumper a.o.)
A-side: Climax 69 Remix A deep and harsh bassline, a rather hard and rapid use of percussion and a neat drive are the key ingredients for the first few minutes, which are gradually being filled up more and more by lush string sounds, calm two-note melodies and some elevating backing chords. Suddenly being slammed in the face by the breakdown, we get to hear a melodramatic 'cathedral-melody', which is making friends with a highly energetic mega-synth real soon. Though the pace in this is wicked, I think loads more could have been gotten out of this by using a somewhat different, more tension-building version of the melody. The way it is now is OK, but I think the chords themselves are kind of forgettable, meaning I probably won't be humming it again during the next few minutes. Anyways, the amount of energy makes this a cool remix once again, but it can't measure with their 'Aura' remix at all. Rating: 7/10
B1: Original Mix Building up like your usual trancer with tight kicks, rapid percussion and some slowly building beepy chords, this subtly evolves into a more melodic experience by bringing in multiple whooshy FX, backing chords and just a little bit of extra drive. Nothing extraordinary happens during the build, and at first it seems like the breakdown doesn't really know to bring in some inventiveness either. The main theme does know how to get things moving a bit by adding the melody we also heard in the A-side mix, but again it just doesn't seem to want to lift off. This might seem like a very dry review, but I can't help but say that this track just isn't able to work on my mind in any way. Rating: 5/10
B2: Teknoon Remix While this remix is very short (just under five and a half minutes), it does have some cool things coming with it. The overall atmosphere is a lot better than in the Original, mainly caused by the very fast build, nice summery bits of FX and some nice synth work. The breakdown is rather cool: an up and down going, somewhat whiny synth starts playing the melodramatic strings melody we've heard in the other mixes as well, with the track bursting loose using a more stabby synth than the other two interpretations. Despite its shortness, this still is a nice lil' remix, though its not able to compete with the Climax 69 mix in miles. Rating: 6,5/10
Conclusion:
I found this a slightly disappointing release by Paradox. I must have been expecting something amazing right after the fabulous Climax 69 Remix of 'Aura', but instead we're being given three not too original tracks, leaning on an elevating, yet not memorable melody. Let's hope their next stuff will be more promising!
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