Artist: Medway & Sven Hauck
Title: Heliopause
Label: Groovecollection Records Black
By: Jason Calvert | 1 June 2007
Tracklist:

• 1. Original Mix
• 2. Kosmas Epsilon Mix
• 3. Add2Basket Mix

Medway & Sven Hauck "Heliopause"

'Heliopause' marks the debut for GrooveCollection Black. And with Medway and Sven Hauck on the case, how can we ignore it? For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past ten years, Jesse Skeens (aka Medway) bust on to the scene with a track called Fluid Intelligence, which caught the attention of pretty much everyone who heard it. He was then picked up by Hooj, and the rest is history. You can be excused however if this is the first time you're hearing the name Sven Hauck. He is currently working on more tracks with Medway, and is a name to keep your eye on, particularly if this release does it for you.

The Original Mix is a true proggy number, working up a chugging bassline-fuelled groove, and building up the rest of the track from this. The track soars to great heights yet never gets lost. The depth is amazing, and the track needs multiple listens to do it any sort of justice. This is easily one of the hottest progressive tracks I have heard in some time, and you'd be pretty crazy not to pick this one up. Really took me back to the golden ages of progressive!

Kosmas Epsilon provides the first remix, and he really has his work cut out for him with such a solid original. The track morphs into a much more blippy affiair but without losing any depth. The lush pads of the original feature alongside Epsilon's own haunting riffs. The track takes on a darker feel without compromising on anything. Fans of Epsilon's previous work will love this.

The last track on the release is the Add2Basket mix. And sadly this is the only track which lets the release down. The track has been stripped of its beauty and all that seems to be left is a very wishy-washy light affair, with no groove to it at all. The mix feels very incomplete overall, and it is such a shame to end the release on this note after the first two magnificent outings.

Don't let the Add2Basket mix scare you off. If you respect progressive music then you really need to check this release out, you'll be missing out if you don't. GrooveCollection Black has made quite an explosion on to the scene with this one, so I'd be keeping an eye on them for future releases, as well as Medway & Sven Hauck, who we will definitely be hearing from again very soon...