When you say Zenon, for me, it is a synonym for the deep night. Under the name Permutations in the second episode, we get some still unknown artists, but on the other hand some well known ones, great producers that have justified their status on the scene many times. The most interesting thing is when a newcomer also does a real great job. This puts this compilation on a list of the very successful ones. Everyone who likes deeper and darker sound with lots of technoish elements in the rhythms will not be disappointed. Right from the intro of the first track, the great emphasis placed on the seriousness of sound quality is evident, and that goes on till the very last minute. Sub basses of very low frequency and unequal midi files, complemented with fat kicks, literally meet every angle of your hearing receptors. It’s full and extremely powerful sound pronounced with fantastic production, and higher frequency tones are expressed trough the background effects.
What I find very unusual here is the fact that there are no rules about how the sounds appear and combine. This makes this release unpredictable, something I highly appreciate.
I also find fascinating the fact that in most of the track the themes of the tracks are expressed by sound effects rather then leads or pads, as is usually the case, and even though most tracks don’t use any melodies, it is clear and easy to explain what they are about. This makes the compositions interesting. You can find here samples of instruments such as a saxophone, a broken piano, a trumpet, violins, etc. all of them perfectly combine with the rest of the electronic composition. There are also noticeable funky influences manifested in the use of instruments and the excellently arranged bass lines. Even vocals do the job here, not for more then a second or two. Totally trippy. There is also a presence of glitchy element. I’m not a big fan of these, personally, but when moderately used, like here, they fit in well. This whole use of samples makes it easy to creates a 3D visual picture of the music. You can then chase some of the samples through the tracks
I will mention few tracks that I really appreciate after a few times of listening. Right from the start I knew that Sensient will be among these, because it is the minimal psychedelic sound that I have expected, and as his style of production always pleasantly surprises me- strong energy and a lenitive beat, a proof that it’s not all about heavy kick! Shadow FX brings incredible depth and fat accompanying effects in Minimal Technician (T2). Very deep sound. Autonomech’s Bit Generation (T5), with the oscillation of bass line is the best of all tracks here for me- galloping parts, funky scaling, and the rolling moments. Amazing! |
