Solarstone – Touchstone Remixed
Pin ItSolarstone – a legendary name among most of us right? Over 15 years in the EDM scene, and still bringing us fresh music! Very special and original taste for trance music. Today I’m bringing you, my own look on this artist’s newest album ‘Touchstone‘ in the remixed versions by many unknown yet very good artists!
Album kicks off by a vocal track featuring the voice of Bill McGruddy shouting towards us in "Is There Anyone Out There", remix by Dirty Herz. Fat beats, yet sweet piano melodies in the break down, all sub-coloured by nice progressive sounds. Reminds me of collaboration between Rasmus Kellerman and Zoo Brazil on their’s – "There Is Hope".
Following up, is the calm track called "Ultraviolet". Soft, trebled bass lines, magical work with few piano melodies connected together with gentle beat and dark progressive synths. Tucandeo did a wonderful job on this remix, keeping their classical style of emotional, dark, progressive trance.
What took my attention further on, is the greatness in each of these tracks. Now, I’m not saying that every track on this album is perfect! I’m saying that every track on this album fulfills its task perfectly! It’s amazing to hear how every one of those tracks brings us a completely different emotional story. Slow and dark tempo in nearly each one of them, sets your mood to one of those moments when you forget about all the worries. That calm moment, when you press play and just let yourself go to the lovely waves of these deep tracks. Lovely!
In the second half of the album, I caught myself waiting impatiently for the break down of each track. The tracks were sounding nice to me from start till the end, but the break downs in some of these tracks were just something unbelieveable! Completely takes you away and makes you get high on music. Two perfect examples are the "Electric Love" in the Piotro Microprog Mix, followed up by "Intravenous" in the Konektiv’s Epicentric Mix.
A fellow legendary name got it’s place on this album too! Solarstone collaborated with Orkidea on two tracks from ‘Touchstone‘. Especially these two tracks got a new look in the remixed versions, a bit of a tech-trance touch. "Zeitgeist (The Spirit Of The Age)" got remixed by a well-known name, Dennis Sheperd. Unfortunately, this remix hasn’t brought anything special on the track, pretty typical trance track of today. On the other hand, "Slowmotion" got a pretty new sound, thanks to Klauss Goulart. Big room sound, fat beats, definitely a massive "fist-pumper".
What completely took me by a suprise and made my face look like this → !O_O! Was a remix by Royal Sapien on "The Last Defeat Pt II (Part II)". I seriously wasn’t expecting a liquid D’n'B track on this album and since I’m also a huge fan of liquid D’n'B, it quickly became one of my favorites from this album. Soft beats, high, gentle hats and sweet vocals together? Definitely a beautiful remix!
Verdict
In my opinion, remixes did a very nice job on this album, making a bit more interesting for me than the original version. This surely deserves everyones attention and at least one complete listen!
