Posted by Budgie at July 12, 2005 07:46 PM

Bee Prepared...

Why the (poor) bee jokes?

Well, I often struggle sometimes in describing Trance music, especially those huge big power riffs that appear at the peak of the tracks. The only way I can describe these large, buzzy bursts of sound is by saying that they sound like angry bees trying to burst out of the speakers.

If anyone has a better description then please let me know...

The two tracks below are new Trance tunes by HoC founder member Sie. He may have changed his name, Seraphan being his new guise, but he hasn't changed his ability to pull off some incredibly well produced slices of dance music. Yes, the Trance buzz is there and yes, the angry bee analogy will appear again, so bee warned.

(sorry, I'll stop now...)

Track : SERAPHAN - "INNER SANCTUM (ORIGINAL MIX)"

The start of "Inner Sanctum" throws you a bit of a curve ball. With it's warm chimey riffs, stabs and washes echoeing back and forth in the mix over a thumping big beat, you'd be forgiven for thinking Sie had turned his hand at making an atmospheric, almost techey, house track. It isn't until about half way through that you start to get the inkling that something is about to change. You can hear it off in the distance and boy does it approach fast... Yup, the buzzy bee riff soon rips through your speakers and then disappears again leaving behind a corker of a beat changing breakdown sequence before morphing back to the elements you heard at the start. But, he still manages to tease you enough into thinking those bees are heading back to you at any second...

Track : SERAPHAN - "FLASHPOINT (ORIGINAL MIX)"

"Flashpoint" is different from "Inner Sanctum". Marginally slower, it has more atmosphere to it with the choral sample adding to this feel greatly. The simple bassline nags away perfectly in the background while parts of riffs are laid down and the choir gets chopped up over the top. The buzzy riff soon appears but the difference here is that it is almost marching with the track before those bees get the better of it and pad it all out. Again, Sie shows his skills with the breakdown with the choir hitting a peak and then that bass coming back in bolstered by new percussion and effects for the remainder.

As usual with Sie's tracks, never take them at face value. The attention to detail and depth to his stuff, especially the amount of effects going on in the background, is amazing and always makes for plenty of repeat listens.

And to think I was going to call this post "Sie And His Musical Bees"...

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie