Magic City is the latest compilation to come out of the highly esteemed Transmission stable. Transmission, notorious for being one of Australia’s favourite trance and hard dance events, has given Magic City a unique Dutch flavour to it with one of the lowland’s favourite sons, DJ Zany, aptly supported by up & coming hard NRG and trance duo Bas & Ram.

Bas & Ram – real names Bas Abels and Ram Boon – make their debut appearance on a Transmission compilation with their unique style of NRG and hard trance. Their sound is not to be confused with hardstyle or hard house, as Bas & Ram are inspired by music predominately from England and Germany. Their mixture of energy, rhythm, bass and melody is blended together perfectly and you’ll find yourself moving on an overdose of hard dance. While a relatively ‘new-name’ to the Australian hard dance scene, if this disc is anything to go by, they’ll be well and truly established as Aussie favourites in no time.

They open brilliantly with their collaboration with Massimo Nocito, Trancesetterz.nl. To open with this track, which would normally occupy a ‘peaktime’ spot toward the middle/end of the set, gives the indication for where the duo intend to take you on the next 72 minutes. Twisted is the latest offering from Reborn label head honcho, the hotly tipped hard dance producer Lee Osbourne. Lee currently is in his second month in jail in the UK after being accused of involvement in a murder. Let’s hope for hard dance fans worldwide that he is acquitted of all charges and can get back to doing what he does best; producing and playing quality hard dance music!

Bas & Ram spread their production prowess throughout the set with the aforementioned Massimo Nocito collaboration, and also Powerstroke featuring towards the end. Neither have anywhere near the impact that track 6, Alien Threat, has. Hands down the best track on the album, it’s a slamming selection of hard trance and NRG, fused together brilliantly and mixed seamlessly. Not to be outdone, Australian producer Dr. Willis flies the flag, featuring twice on this disc. He first features with his single Go Away and then later with Here Come The Drums, produced in partnership with Public Domain front man Mark Sherry.

The penultimate track, Intense Energy, sums up this first disc, a beautiful collusion of hard trance and NRG. Bas & Ram finish the set with a cherry on top, closing it out in style with the Organ Donors remix of BK’s immortal, It’s Just a Feeling. I had the pleasure of reviewing Peaktime earlier in the year, and labeled the first disc by Yoshi as the best for the year, remarking that it was unlikely to be upstaged for the rest of 2007. Bas & Ram have managed to do that, and then some. Scoring each of the 13 tracks out of 10, the lowest I gave was an 8, and even then I was unsure if it should really be a 9. Each and every track is a highlight within itself. There’s no hit and miss here, it’s all gold. One of the best single mix discs I’ve heard… ever!

Moving onto disc two, and it seems nearly unfair to play it in the same session as the first, having just been blown away aurally by the brilliance of Bas & Ram. DJ Zany, real name Raoul Van Grivsen, is a Dutch hardstyle DJ and producer of the very highest ilk. An immortal in his own land, he has carried his sound to the four corners of the globe, immersing a legion of fans with his unique sound and style. Like Bas & Ram, Zany opens his set with an own production, Volt. Two tracks in and the sound is immediately harder and heavier than that produced on the first disc.

As mentioned, DJ Zany is a producer of the highest quality, and he gives a number of his productions some airtime during his set. Album opener Volt is supported throughout by production masterpieces Inflator, Annihilating, Back Again and my personal rave favourite – Front 2 Back. His set also features his mix of Cheers by hard dance don A*S*Y*S*. The picks of the set for me are definitely Superstar DJ by Dark Oscilator, a dark twisted hardstyle single, and the dirty and raw single No One Can Stop Us by Donkey Rollers. Zany caps off a memorable set with Dirkjan DJ’s Hardbass.

The third disc is a short 3-track bonus DVD mixed by Sydney favourite Nervous, and it’s an absolue treat. While short in length – just 16 minutes – it’s tall in stature. The cinematography is phenomenal as it brilliantly transcripts a Transmission event, taking you on and off stage, revealing what goes into making one of these massive parties happen. If this short DVD is anything to go by, then the Transmission crew should look at doing a full feature DVD, because I, and others like me, certainly would buy a copy.

In summary the Transmission crew have pieced together one hell of an album. The selling points are the DVD and the first disc, mixed by Bas & Ram. Their timeless set is worth the purchase alone, but add in the short but sweet DVD and a solid enough set from Zany; and you’ve got one hell of a buy.