U- TURN 3 - The Dark Side Of The Beat

The dark side of the beat, heh? I guess you could say that…

Fredrikstad is not Ibiza, that is for sure and it shows – Moonitor makes very cold Euro-trance, the only actual type that is enjoyable by my standards. With one jump to acid (‘Non Human’), the other four Sebastian Komor’s tracks are very good take on mainstream trance of today. I really give him credit for mutating one sadly decadent sub-genre into fresh and chilled music. With ‘Skydiver’ comes abrasive trance and ‘Horizon Sun’ calms it down almost to a active ambient track. Sebastian keeps the pace well balanced (130-140 bpm) and flowing while maintaining structure interesting enough for a solid dance session. When you do the same with five songs that have a different nature, then you are on top of your game. I am glad that Komor declared this project as his primary output, we can expect more from Moonitor. In whichever form the new material arrives, I suspect it will be good. Now I realise why Icon Of Coil sounds as it does… it’s LaPlegua and Komor: opposites attract and create fantastic music.

Blank, as I understand, is not an one man side-project, and music created is not Euro-trance. Hm, what is it? Let’s start from track one ‘Dead End’.. lyrics, verses, melody, bridges, underlying 303 work.. nah, definitely not trance. I know! This is how Haujobb would love to sound like! This is some crossover! Kill me if I know to which genre this track belongs, no, not any kind of pop. Far from industrial (although melody is kind of Decoded Feedback type), but it is something. Something bloody good. The same applies to ‘Mutant Engine’, a boosted mix of their debut album's track eight. You’d think it’s hard trance, but where does this bassline come from? Another puzzle, another good song.
And I have to mention two band remixes: Massiv In Mensch gave a nice and solid rework of ‘Afterburn’ to our pleasure – anyone who ever heard of them knows what they do and this work is truly that: jumpy beat and strong bass and techno melodies and sweat and XTC and Red Bull + vodka and 4 AM dancing and all that we go to raves for.
Opposites again: ‘Visual Overflow’, a prime cut from Blank’s album has been treated by Rotersand. Amazing move, and here’s why: you’ve noticed that remixes are fashion of the moment – I remix you, you remix me, we’re friends from the same city, we share the label and similar stuff… overdone, boring in most cases. Give your song to someone who’s style is completely different, that is novelty. Rotersand is one of the most sophisticated and complex bands in the scene, so as a product you get complex song. Take a listen of this one, it is a surprise – design and melodies are uncommon, and arrangement is… well, Rotersand style. Effective to the maximum, although it completely stands out from other songs on this ‘compilation’.
There’s one more. ‘Data Gram’. If you heard music of Darshan, Delta, Growling Mad Synchro and other bands stupidly put into Goa-core cathegory, this is the style. Yes, full throttle-maximum power, energetic psy-trance at it’s best, this is easily a hit. And it has lyrics, subdued and hidden. Fantastic!

I mean, grading this one is easy. Being the most solid of all three U-TURN releases, with both projects delivering uniform quality on all tracks, this must be HYSTERIA. Translated into words: if you ever liked (psy)trance on top of usual dose of EBM, if you need to hear a flowing music that is more complex than any ordinary trance – you will find the best collection here.

And remember: Don’t do drugs and U-TURN. You don’t have to, music is good enough.