Maarten Hercules - Body Fusion (FRACTION ZERO)

One half of Pax Royale duo Maarten Hercules (worraname!) signs back in with this summertime trancer. 'Body Fusion' has got plenty enough production smarts to get it up and running. Up top it's an even better story, with three melodies all in full shimmer and flutter mode. 'Fusion' virtually sounds like a Breakfast track, so giving Casey Keyworth the remix was a risky option. He manages to add some additional verve though and anyway you look at it, this is the best Fraction yet.
DJ Mag 2007 - 8 - 29
 

Maarten Hercules - Body Fusion (FRACTION ZERO)

The latest release from the Fraction stable comes from Maarten Hercules (1/2 of Pax Royale). His latest offering "Body Fusion" follows suit in his rather techy, chunky and overall unique sound. Complimented with a Breakfast remix and a Vintage touch mix, it's clear that this is going to be an interesting release.

Original Mix

Chunky percussion starts things off. Moments later a thick, coarse bassline pops in. Meanwhile, the percussion slowly builds and a few odd high-end synths filter in. A break of sorts drops in, featuring a few pad stabs and an offbeat synth riff which sounds pretty cool. The bass starts to shift back and forth when the track picks up again. Pads fade in, providing a nice backdrop, and a playful arp adds as a nice touch. The breakdown approaches soon enough, featuring a few new delicious saws that quickly filter in. The chorus features the bass, saws, arp and pads, which come together to create quite an uplifting experience. The chorus fades out, making way for a brief verse before the chorus makes its return. Overall Maarten's sound is highly original and very catchy. Check this tune out if you're into uplifting trance with a techy flair, much to the likes of the Flashover catalog.

Breakfast Remix

Speaking of Flashover, Casey Keyworth (better known as Breakfast) provides the remix duties, bringing in his own unique techy yet melodic touch to "Body Fusion". He starts things off with a bouncy percussion before he begins to filter some nintendo-sounding synths in. The percussion soon drops (bar the kick), making way for the chord progression from the original. Once the percs start to pick back up, a delicious pluck fades in and out repeatedly. The track slowly creeps into the breakdown, which features a few new synthy riffs. An epic chord progression soon emerges, followed by a rather huge, piercing lead. The chorus kicks in without much warning, featuring a cacophony of synths with the prominent lead on top. Clarity is a big issue here, as the track sounds very congested. Otherwise the chorus is very powerful. The lead soon disappears and the old chord progression emerges. The track takes a good 3 minutes before it finally fades out and comes to a close. Despite the overall blurriness of the track, this remix is quite satisfactory. But what else would one expect from Breakfast?

Vintage Touch Remix

The final mix comes from Maarten himself, providing an oldschool dance feel to "Body Fusion". The percs are a bit less busy at the start, quickly dropping before the introduction of an odd bass riff. Background synths kick in as the percs return. A filtering sidechained pad in the background adds a nice atmospheric touch. Soon enough the track filters down to make way for the breakdown. Odd synth stabs soon appear, backed by the sidechained pads. The percussion slowly re-surfaces, piece by piece. The track suddenly kicks back in full-force, featuring the odd plucks, pads and bass. Not very much too hold my attention, but it's still nice to listen to. After a second brief breakdown, all the pieces included soon start to depart one by one and the track soon comes to a close.

Conclusion

All three mixes offer an original interpretation, but in the end the Breakfast remix edges out on top. The original is impressive as well, but I just have a soft spot for Breakfast's sound.
Steve Bolger - trance.nu 2007 - 8 - 19
 

Pax Royale – There’s Always Music (FRACTION RECORDS)

New outing from Joni ‘JPL’ Ljungqvist and Netherlander Maarten Hercules. ‘There’s Always Music’ is a harder affair than we’re used to from either producer. Built around a minor Marco V-ish vocal and a curious ravey stabbed centre line, it’s refreshingly difficult to pigeonhole. Elsewhere on the release The Signal Runners chip in a choppy, electro-edged rocker, which is very usable. Finally, the ‘JPL & Anquah’s Techfunk Remix’ does indeed ‘tech’ and ‘funk’. Nice release!
MIXMAG 2007 - 3 - 14
 

Pax Royale – There’s Always Music (FRACTION RECORDS)

Fraction Recordings is the exciting new full format electronic dance music label specializing in uplifting, progressive and tech trance from around the world. Owned and run exclusively by Alan Nimmo and Andrew Bayer, best known for their work as 'Signalrunners' , 'Syndica' and 'Team SR', Fraction is commited in bringing you the hottest releases from some of the worlds leading established producers alongside the pick of the new wave of exciting up and coming talent.

First up on Fraction, we have Pax Royale - 'There's Always Music' , a project from Maarten Hercules and Joni Ljungqvist. Joni is well known for quality releases such as "A Place Called Home" (ETCR), "Bali", and "Nella". Together Maarten and Joni have a forthcoming release on Mondo / Statement.

Original Mix

The original mix starts out with a chunky, compressed perc line. The deep grainy bass soon fades in, followed by the full perc ensemble and an assortment of synthy backup melodies. Moments later the lead bass filters in, which has a great deal of LFO on it. It's rather catchy, really makes you want to move. About a minute later, a vocal verse emerges, which caught me by surprise. The breakdown instantly introduces the chord progression and the unfiltered bassline, with a simple chorus vocal line. A breakbeat section comes into play before the chorus emerges. Overall a very creative track, taking various twists and turns yet still following the traditional trance/progressive song arrangement. The bass is easily the strongest feature of the track, making it easily recognizable even for those who cannot ID a track to save their lives. Very nice work by Joni and Maarten.

JPL and Anquah Techfunk Mix

To no surprise, this mix is extremely techy and funky. The percussion is noticeably so, and the vocals are used as sort of a melody at the start. The chord progression is much more uplifting this time around, and it emerges quite near the start of the track. Less than 2 minutes in, the track seems to be in full swing, with a simple melody, the driving bass, and the full funky percussion. The bass riff from the original mix makes an appearance a few minutes later, followed by a sweet electro-breakbeat section featuring the vocals from the original. The buildup comes quite unexpectedly, with a dropping sinewave followed by a short snare riff. The chorus features the original bass riff, the chord progression and the strange funky percussion. All in all a pretty storming track, a bit more uplifting than the original mix.

Signalrunners Mixes

I thought the bass was tough before, but the bassline in the signalrunners is as rigid as they come. After a short percy intro, the bass drops in, backed up by a few synth blips, swirling FX, and a twinkling synth in the background. The breakdown is very short, it starts with the introduction of a synth pad and a breakbeat section (reoccuring theme??) in full chord progression before the chorus kicks in. Not as synthy as the other mixes, the Signalrunners mixes focuses more on the bass with an upbeat percussion and a great deal of FX. The only difference between the signalrunners remix and dub is the use of the vocals.

Thomas Sagstad Remix

Aimed more towards the progressive audience, Thomas' mix starts out very percy then quickly drops off to feature the deep dark bass. The initial bassline is much more tame in this mix, serving more of a backing purpose rather than a lead feature as it was in other mixes. The traditional bass lead is used as an ocassional riff in a question and answer arrangement with vocals before the breakdown. The break features yet again more breakbeats along with a brief use of the full bass riff before the question and answer section kicks back in. A very pleasant mix from Thomas, highlights including the new subtle bass and the use of the bass riff from the original.

Overall the release is rather nice, something quite original in today's day and age. Unfortunately the mixes didn't bring in a great deal of variation, as all the mixes were mainly progressive / techy. That said the release is very catchy and all mixes were moderately creative and definitely pleasant to listen to. "There's Always Music" is simply infectious and perfect for the dancefloor.
Steve Bolger - Trance.Nu
 

Remix for JPL – Mirakel (MONDO RECORDS)

Joni Ljungqvist's tranciest alias "JPL" returns to the forefront here with a massive melodic number on Statement! Recordings, a sublabel of Mondo which is run by Dutch boy Ruben de Ronde. 'Mirakel' has 4 mixes here which cross all trance subgenres, let's check them out!

Original Mix

Joni's own mix is one of the tranciest tunes from him in a little while with an addictive chimed melody which is present from the very start. One of Joni's trademark rumbling basslines is also here to drive the track along, while there are plenty of subtleties in here which demonstrate his incredible ear for both melody and production quality. There's nothing markedly new here from his previous tracks such as "A Place Called Home", but when something works this well then why change? Any fans of Joni's music will lap this one up, it's a quality piece of music.

Maarten Hercules Remix

Maarten's remix ups the BPM slightly and adds a more euphoric feel to things. Starting with a nice little intro, before introducing a deep bassline that reminds slightly of Armin vs System F - From the Heart, this mix is a bit more upbeat and, dare I say it, ASOT-ish in sound. Maarten adds a more euphoric break and some sweet pads to his remix, serving to up the euphoria meter and blast this tune on along nicely. This is a really nice driving remix of an already great tune.

Supuer Remix

This mix has been supported by Markus Schulz, a statement (haha!) which should give you some clue as to the direction that relative newcomer Supuer has taken his mix. Coldharbour is written all over this track, with a deep sidechained bassline and a balance between progressive and trance being effortlessly struck up here. There's also the addition of a guitar section to give the track a bit of variety and to elevate it above a lot of tracks in what is becoming, in this reviewer's opinion at least, a rather stale area of trance. Decent, if not the best mix in the package.

Ruben de Ronde Remix

The label boss couldn't resist getting his hands on Joni's track, and here he turns in an eclectic remix with elements of progressive, electro and house stirred into the mix. Ruben is the only one of the 3 remixers to really mess around with Joni's original chimed melody and adds a more interesting and attention grabbing progressive mix than Supuer manages to do.

Conclusion

All 4 mixes are worth grabbing, with the Original, Maarten Hercules and Ruben de Ronde mixes standing a little way ahead of the Supuer mix. It's been a long while since Joni turned out a track that wasn't completely drenched in quality, and this is certainly up there with his best work. There's a ridiculously long list of top DJ support on the track, and here at trance.nu we're adding our seal of approval to this release too! It's out now, so go and grab it from one of the links below! 
Will Brookes - Trance.Nu