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(Little Mountain Recordings
It has been a long time since the epic My Lexicon got played everywhere round the world. Despite this not being Sander Kleinenberg’s first release, it shot the Dutchman into spotlight, and his 4 Seasons EP became part of clubbing folklore.
After the success of EP1, including two tracks becoming part of Sasha’s Global Underground Ibiza compilation, it came as no surprise that EP2 would follow. The single Venus & Mars included the likes of Fluke and Junkie XL, and Slipper Sleaze also went down a treat. September 2003 sees the 3rd, and final, instalment of the 4 Seasons trilogy, with 4 tracks that effortlessly cross genres.
First up is Work To Do with guest vocalist Miss Bunty, providing something slotted in between progressive and vocal house. The percussion builds with vocal snippets, and then a vinyl ‘rewind’ sample gives way for the full effect of Miss Bunty’s vocals. This track works so well because the vocals are of a club house feel, yet when combined with Sander’s production the end result is a single that would work on any number of different dancefloors. This was featured on the last Global Underground, from Deep Dish, and it won’t be long until an edit of this is caned on the radio.
On the flip is Triple Seven, that has a deeper bassline and relies on a beautiful ‘twinkle’ of xylophone-styled percussion. Just as the epic chords build the track up, a menacing tweaked bass takes over, and then all the elements kick in. This is the type of quality we have come to expect from Sander K, and Triple Seven won’t be leaving my box in a hurry!
Picking up the tempo is Buenos Aires, which is bound to have trance and progressive fans drooling at the mouth. Heavy percussion and light chords go hand-in-hand for the first few minutes at around 130bpm – then an unbelievably epic string of deep chords kick in, then a Ben Hur backing chord fuses with the track, and you know that any dancefloor would be instantly destructed. Middle way through, the track pauses, and then the chords kick in with just a bass-kick, and you can already envisage a dancefloor full of smiles and gurns. This track is reminiscent of the way trance used to be, and it will no doubt tear clubs apart for many years to come.
Soul Shelter rounds off the package, with Sander getting some help from none other than Chris Bourne and Andy Holt (aka Tarrantella and Redanka). Whispy female vocals and and filtered chords give it a trance feel, yet then a upbeat bassline and tech percussion combine, and you have yourself one of those tracks that works early on in the night to warm people up – or as an end-of-night special.
Sander states that “I hope that they’ll be things that people will go back to five years from now and go, ‘Yeah, I’ll play that’. I hope that it has a sort of timeless quality about it – that’s what I try to achieve.” Work To Do is bound to be a commercial success, Triple Seven has an understated quality about it, and Soul Shelter provides something a little deeper. Ironically, Buenos Aires has the sound of mid-90s trance, but will no doubt still be as great now as it is in five years time, and will no doubt go down in the same league as My Lexicon.
