Trance producer Darren Porter has been coming off with an incredible hot streak recently. He has been smashing the Beatport charts with outstanding releases, including his single, Spellbound and his stellar remixes to Jonathan Carvajal‘s Rawkaholic, Mark Sherry‘s My Love and Adam Seller‘s Titanium Orchestra. Now, he has teamed up with fellow producer Gareth Weston to bring us a truly monumental collaboration. Weston is no stranger to the scene, as his recent track Checkmate, (with remix duties by Ian Standerwick), received heavy airtime on Armin van Buuren‘s A State Of Trance radio show. It should be noted that this isn’t the first time that these two talented producers have teamed up to create music. They have collaborated to bring the mighty Tesla Effect, a track that raised the bar of expectations and plunged their talents into another realm. With their combination of sounds, they have created the genre bending track known as First Contact. Combining both Tech Trance and Uplifting sensibilities, the track catapults both genres into the stratosphere with quality and production value at the forefront.
http://youtu.be/Mxz3M7A2pfQ
Starting things off with a punch, both producers convey an ear-quaking bassline to shake things up. Darren‘s clean basslines clash wonderfully with Gareth’s melodic ostinatos (along with some Trousey breaks that add character, rather than actually ‘electrifying’ the track). During the course of the breakdown, the name of First Contact becomes heavily apparent; with broken, static induced radio transmissions, and extra-terrestrial sounding synths, (assisted by smashing, repeating drums). A beautiful, floating section comes alive, as the spacial expanse and free flowing harmonic progression almost sounds as if it is more of a cinematic score than a Trance track. After some more static and nice touches, (a subtle heartbeat permeating throughout the track being one of them), First Contact pulls into a beautiful drop that focuses more on the emotional impact of the entire piece rather than sprucing up the melodic line with some extra fancy synths. The melodic line is actually quite simple, and yet, there is a certain magic that exists throughout the whole piece. Through the constant drive of the bassline, the melody hits all of the right notes in the chords and brings along an impact that is rare in Uplifting tracks, the kind where the melody really hits to heart and causes these themes to catapult the listener into space and beyond.
First played on Aly & Fila‘s FSOE 218 radio show, it has since provided a flurry of reactions from producers and listeners alike. After hearing both this and their incredible track called The Tesla Effect (as mentioned above), it seems that we might have come across a duo that can, for lack of a better term, create magic in the studio. Both tracks have clearly gone through the paces of countless hours in the studio and each track has that extra polish that many tracks today do not. But what is even more prevalent (and exciting) is that this particular track has a certain sound to it unlike other Uplifting tracks today. While some critics might criticize the whole ‘theme’ behind the piece as corny, we for one find this particular motion innovative and almost like a new frontier. Now this isn’t to say that all producers should do this, but if handled in the right, it could bring new and exhilarating possibilities into the sound spectrum that we call Trance. Each aspect of the track is fresh and uncharted, and maybe these brave adventures into risky territory might bring forth some amazing music in the future. Darren Porter & Gareth Weston‘s First Encounter will be released on Aria Recordings soon, so make sure to keep it locked to Your EDM for any future news.
Keep the music alive. -Q
Sources
http://www.beatport.com/artist/gareth-weston/269811/tracks?perPage=100
http://www.beatport.com/artist/darren-porter/154412/tracks?perPage=100
