Category: Tech-Trance

Exclusive: Balkan Express

Balkan Express is a 2002 effort with a driving groove which earns it its name. The track has a very clean, unprocessed quality and would probably benefit from either further post-production or just plain old loudness(!), so keep that in mind when listening.

High quality wav is once again available.  Enjoy.

Download: Balkan Express (mp3)Download: Balkan Express (wav)

Middleman

Middleman appeared on Bazooka10 label’s first EP, along with the title track: G-Lock.  If this label sounds familiar, its because another Biotic track (Ghost, covered here already) appeared on a Bazooka10 compilation as well.

alek-biotic-g-lock-ep-baz01The track itself is a pretty early work (#21 in fact) and was produced in 2001. While the raw production shows both its age and its adventurousness, there is a certain quality about it that I’ve always liked.  So much so, that the string sounds and synth arrangements make it a candidate for a remix in the future.

While this wasn’t the first ever Biotic release (Ghost would be it), this was the first non Various Artists release available on vinyl.  The photo above shows its label, along with the name misspelling on it.  And no, the mislabels wouldn’t stop there. Future Alek Biotic releases would contain mis-named or mixed up tracks, even the artist name.  But seriously… who cares?

Download: Middleman (mp3)

Ghost

Produced ages ago, Ghost is the first officially signed Alek Biotic track! It appeared on the German label Bazooka 10‘s first release, oddly titled Erectional Thoughts. A sublabel of Hadshot (one of the first and most respected psy-trance labels), Bazooka 10 offered a different sound and to kick things off the label’s founder, Israeli DJ Yaniv Tal, assembled this compilation.  The album was available on both vinyl and CD and featured a variety of international artists including Cortex Thrill.

My discography with Bazooka 10 would include two follow-up EPs, but Ghost still stands out as it was the first ever signed record deal.

Ghost was inspired by the industrial sound of acts like Nine Inch Nails as well as a few popular Underworld tracks from the period. It was arranged using the Akai MPC2000 workstation and recorded to DAT. All of the sounds (drums, synths, samples) were played through the Nord Lead keyboard and the Quasimidi Polymorph module, and no loops were used. Ghost is a personal favorite and I’ve wanted to do a remix of it for a long time, however having sold most of the gear used to produce it and left with just the summed master the effort of recreating it from scratch didn’t seem particularly appealing. Maybe someday…

Lastly, this is the first track featured on trak.fm which has been previously released.  So, no WAV download available, but you can get yourself a copy of the full album at online stores like Psyshop.com.

Download: Ghost (mp3)

Goliath (part 1)

Goliath is a tech-trance jam from 2002.   The title comes from the sample used in it, taken from the 1997 Sci-fi flick Event Horizon.  If you haven’t seen this movie and you’re into the genre I recommend it, though Sam Neill’s annoying character (and his lame lines) ruined the ending for me.

I am generally not a fan of sampling stuff from movies, but I made an exception here since the track was inspired by the movie and the line (delivered by Laurence Fishburne) fit the bill.  The sound of thunder in the background also came from the movie and I always wondered what it was doing there since (unless the thunder was somehow on the space ship) it wouldn’t have been heard in space.  Hollywood… whatever.

Another interesting production note is that the bass is not played by a synth but is a heavily filtered sample of an Autechre track Rae from LP5, a sick album which I was heavily into around this time.  Rae remains one of my Autechre faves.

Initially, the track was not a Part anything.  It was just a track of its own.  But a few months later I wrote a different track based largely on it (sans the Fishbourne sample) and that became Part 2, making this one its prequel.  Look for the follow-up here in the future.

Download: Goliath [part 1] (mp3)Download: Goliath [part 1] (wav)

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