December 2006 Chart

01 San & Sebastian Moore - Night Eyes [Niklas Harding Blackout Remix] (Fektive)
What I've heard of Niklas Harding's work has tended to be a bit too on the progressive side for me... until now. This is a piece of energetic, sweeping, driving trance with incredible depth to the production and a very catchy lead - absolutely spot on.
02 Prestige - Majestic [P.H.A.T.T. Remix] / [Ralph Novell Remix] (Waterworld)
Definitely one of my favourite things from Pierre for a while, the P.H.A.T.T. mix is an excellent piece of tough trance which doesn't fall into the trap of sounding samey. Ralph Novell's techier version on the other side is just as playable as a slightly less anthemic but still solid & uplifting alternative.
03 Mike Foyle - Firefly [Vocal Version](CD-R)
Hot off the back of "Shipwrecked", Mike's currently putting the finishing touches to his latest track. Currently in the form of a bootleg using the vocals from Santiago Nino's "Wake Me From The Inside", this is another beautiful uplifting piano-lead trance creation with a slightly grittier feel to it than his previous work.
04 Verthex Scratch - Ghettoblaster (Bomb Trap)
Dirty, fucked up and generally very very cool - part of a 5 track EP (from which "Low" and "Maverick Ox" are also worth a listen), this is a chunky techy monster which plays havock with your speakers!
05 Sandy Vee feat Darryl Pandy - Who That Is [Stu Cox's Digital Disection] (CD-R)
Featured as the 'Bassline Of The Week' on my Adrenaline radio show for one very good reason - this is an electro houser with a vicious bottom-end which sounds equally as good cranked up in a techno set.
06 Simon McEvoy - Prototype (CD-R)
Founder of the Guildford-based house/breaks night and label "Spin Out", Simon's been quite busy on the production front and this was my pick of what he had to offer - a groovy piece of electro-tinged tech house with a ripping bassline, very nice!
07 Pedro Delgardo - Dialect (Omega Audio)
He's actually from Yorkshire, not Spain or Southern America as his name may suggest, but that doesn't stop Pete Gawtry from churning out another wicked slice of funky techno with an excellent groove under his famous Delgardo guise.
08 Jesselyn - Contact (Silicon)
When it comes to the Dutch making banging trance, all roads seem to point to the horrors of hardstyle. But here Jesselyn's definitely come up with the goods with this gritty uplifting tough trancer.
09 Ricky T - Cape York [Mix 1] (Lisergica)
Despite sounding suspiciously like Marco V's huge "Automanual", this version of "Cape York" comes across as a superb sweeping trancer - rare for a practically unknown Italian label! Definitely one to listen out for in the coming weeks - it'll be everywhere.
10 Nick Sentience & John Askew - Mind Control [Thomas Bronzwaer Remix] (Discover Dark)
You know it's going to be special when two of the best producers from the hard trance and trance scenes respectively converge for a collaboration. Bronzwaer's taken the original right up a step and turned it into a belting energetic trancer capable of thrusting a club full of hands straight into the air!
11 Nickelson feat Aromabar - Winter Pageant [John 00 Fleming Dub Remix] (Captivate)
Joof's combination of sweeping trance and psytrance in a set is next to none in my opinion and this track exemplifies the trancier side of this - bold pads and dark chords make this epic trance track one of the best things I've heard from Joof on the production front recently... top work.
12 BeatTheBoy - Fizzed (Bone Music)
This is a wicked groovy house affair with a rolling and slightly techy feel to it - definitely one that could have a massive effect in a big room club setting that seems to just make anyone want to have a wiggle!
13 Moonforce & Mark Versluis - Sublima (Dark Noize)
This is just one of those peak-time trance tune which, although not hugely original at face value definitely stands out and gets stuck in your head - you'll be singing it in the taxi on the way home and you'll be asking all of your mates if they know what it's called for weeks.
14 Anonymous vs Grandmaster D - First Episode (Hard Stylerz)
The rest of the tracks on this EP are - and let's be honest here - utter shite. But somehow, amongst the annoyingly cheesey and very poorly produced hardstyle, there lies this absolute gem of a tech-trance monster! It's all about the bassline in this - very original and obviously designed to be played in a huge dark room in the early hours with lasers cutting through the smoke while up-for-it clubbers go mental!
15 Jo Micali - Contact (Real Muzik)
Every now and again, amongst all of the sub-standard material that gets released on digital-only labels, I'll find a track that makes it feel like it's worth trawling through all the crap. This is one of those tracks - easily good enough to have been signed to one of the major labels as an uplifting melogic trance anthem, Jo Micali's "Contact" show a considerable amount of promise for the Real Musik label - definitely one to look out for!
16 Greg Downey - Vivid Intent [Guisseppe Ottavani & Marc Van Linden Remix] (Discover)
It's been doing the rounds for a while now, but Mr Downey's latest trancey offering still succeeds every time on the dancefloor - completed by the Ottavani & Van Linden mix, this fits in perfectly as the next chapter in the epic story of trance anthems we've seen from the Discover and Vandit camps this summer.
17 Meat Katie & Aquasky - Feathers (Lot 49)
If you asked me to name 5 of my favourite breaks producers at the moment, both Aquasky and Meat Katie would definitely be among those few. Here they've teamed up for a chunky rolling piece of cutting synth work with a slightly off-key but very danceable sound to it.
18 Stoneface & Terminal - Another Day
Over the last couple of years as Stoneface & Terminal have got more popular, their tracks seem to have become a bit more gentle and uplifting - compare the dark and techy "Merkur" (the first track of theirs I came across) with the much more recent "Venus", for example. But that doesn't mean they haven't lost sight of a good tune - "Another Day" is simple but very effective as a light (but still driving) bit of 'pure' trance.
19 Filterheadz - Santiago (Love Distortion)
Filthy. Stung by the electro bug that seems to be going around at the moment, this is surprisingly upbeat considering the Filterheadz' recent form. A very distinctive sound which flips between bleepy synths and a torn bassline that could quite easily be thrown into just about any kind of set you could imagine!
20 Digital Assault pres. Andrew Dring - United [Andrew Dring & Kiotic Mix] (CD-R)
One of the entries for the recent production competition on the Tidy messageboards, this shows that there is yet hope for creative arrangement within the UK hard trance scene without it becoming gimicky - Dring and Kiotic have come up with a fast-paced energetic onslaught of synths and sounds which really move around and stay interesting throughout... well worth a listen!


Forthcoming Gigs

23-Dec-06 HarderFaster Xmas Party @ Turnmills (London)
31-Dec-06 Colours NYE @ The Fridge (London)
01-Jan-06 Skazi Live @ Renaissance Rooms (London)
26-Jan-06 Tidy vs Extreme Euphoria @ Heaven (London)
17-Feb-06 ElectronicSessions 1st Birthday @ Hidden (London)


Adrenaline on Surge

You can catch my radio show every Thursday from 8pm on Surge (www.surgeradio.co.uk) for 2 hours of the best house, breaks, electro, trance, techno and hard dance around at the moment, including my Tune Of The Week, my Bassline Of The Week, a Classic Of The Week, Guest Mixes from some of the best new and established artists and much much more. So far guests have included 4 Strings, Richard Durand, Olly Perris, Dom Kane, Edwin Van Cleef and many more.

Forthcoming guest mix schedule:
07-Dec-06 Alex Buck
14-Dec-06 Bass Pimps (live in the studio!)
23-Dec-06 Christmas special co-presented by Mike Foyle

Look out for guest mixes coming in the new year from: Andy Moor, Jesselyn, The Viceroy, K.A.R.L. and John Bentley with some VERY special guests still tba!

Don't miss it!

Join the Adrenaline group on dontstayin: www.adrenalinedsi.co.uk



New promotional mixes coming soon...

___________________
Stu Cox |

Last edited by Stu Cox on Dec-05-2006 at 11:07