(Bang On!/Central Station)

When Tracid Traxx and Tidy Trax get together you’d expect something amazing. Prodigious and with loyal followers, Tracid and Tidy epitomise the sound of now. Steve Hill has been chosen to represent the Tidy camp and Hennes & Cold the Tracid sound. Do they succeed? Read on!

From looking at the tracklist of Steve Hill’s disc I was a bit surprised. It didn’t look all that Tidy to me. The first five tracks are like a homage to the style of the oft proclaimed Gods of trance, Paul van Dyk, Armin and Tiesto. If you don’t like melodic trance you might not like the start of Steve’s mix. I happen to love it though and I’m sure many others will too. This disc has a more “feel good” and happy vibe whereas the second disc leans towards musical paranoia, but more on that later.

Blink and you’ll miss the Intro but never mind because Aureas’ beautiful vocals and some classic lush trance sounds float up on the PvD edit of Agnelli & Nelson’s Holding On To Nothing. If you thought that was as warm and fuzzy as it was gonna get, The Other Love sidles up with other ideas. Heavy on the euphoric vocals, it shows its delicious true colours about three minutes in. The next three songs, Burned With Desire, Crush and Traffic are evenly loved and loathed by trance fans. These remixed versions do inject some new life though!

One of the best moments in Steve’s mix is the incorporation of Carte Blanche. The classic Vincent de Moor/Ferry Corsten tune has been reworked by Euphony into a spectacular trance epic! First dropped at the Tidy Weekender 4 party, this track adds an energetic and brighter sound and will prove an instant hit to a new generation of clubbers. Another great tune is Steve Hill’s The First Day. Layered with a druggy accapella, it makes for a bouncy yet driving descent into the harder end of the disc. Hill has included many of his collaborations and remixes on this release, including the challenging Inside of Me and All My Life.

Halfway though, Sam Sharp’s Twister rolls up and is oh so ferocious. It’s from here that this mix really kicks into darker territory. A tricked out remix of BK’s Mayhem in Miami ups the ante and Picotto’s reworked Iguana relentlessly pummels you to death with its dark kicks and timeless melody.

Finishing up the mix is Steve’s reinterpretation of Ferry Corsten’s, Punk. An nrg laden stormer, the production work breathes one more breath of life into the tired old track. I usually can’t stand Punk, but this version sounds so fresh I just can’t help it.

Hennes & Cold’s disc is more edgy and is a true reflection of the Tracid sound. Where Steve’s mix takes its time in dishing out the thunder, Hennes & Cold unleash it from the first bar. From the take no prisoners opening thunder of Boomerang, to their finale production, Evacuation, this mix takes no prisoners.

As you would expect from H&C there are some favorites and some unknowns. The ever popular Time Is Running Out by Marcel Woods features, as does Dj Scot Project’s FM (Feeling Me). FM is a tasty blend of skull-breaking kicks, evil synth lines and a soaring vocal hook that never fails to ignite the dancefloor.

An always welcome surprise is when DJ’s dig deep, and the inclusion of Solar Factor’s No Return, however brief, is a great way to inject some always welcome M.I.K.E intelligentsia vibes. Derb is true to form with the very slamming, Attack. A true Tracid track, it is followed up beautifully by Isiah Major’s epic production, My Palazzo. This is a track that brings out the animalistic lust in all of us. It’s a bedroom approved bangin’ tune!

The big room tune, Burnin’ from Global Cee acts as a chaotic prelude to the end of the mix in the form of Evacuation. I personally feel that Hennes & Cold are better remixers than producers, but once Evacuation kicks off it aint half bad. It takes too long to get started and drags on just a bit too long, but the Resident Evil sample meshes well with the spiralling urgency of the instruments throughout.

Steve Hill’s refreshing serving of unashamed uplifting and Hennes & Cold’s hard trance expertise make this a great compilation. Diverse in its scope, the underlying feeling is uplifting euphoria. Put it on and wear a smile, you deserve it.