Artist: Sattva
Title: Echo Of Silence
Label: Xplosion Records
By: Vince Hart | 24 January 2003
Tracklist:

• A: Original Mix
• B: Way Out West Mix

Sattva "Echo Of Silence"

Xplosion Recording's artist Sattva returns to the scene with his second release for the label. With the help of Way out West on remixing duties, this is sure to be a melodic delight to progressive/house fans the world over.

In it's original from, "Echo of Silence" is a distant, moody, epic journey, initiated by a 2-and-a-half minute ambient intro with reverberated percussive jabs, conga rhythms, warm pads, and a hypnotic bassline. The kick enters and the percussion is built up around the ideas in the intro making for a very involved rhythmic landscape. At about 5 minutes in, the novelty wears thin and you're left wondering if this mix will arise from it's aimlessness. A breakdown in the sixth minute offers some hope in the form of a panned synth that echoes in the distance. The kick returns and the sequence is repeated with some additional subtle melodic work. Unfortunately, this mix never really becomes cohesive and is instead a fusion of incomplete ideas.

Bristolians Way out West offer up a mix of the clubber's variety, kicking from start to finish. Starting the journey with an atmosphere that wouldn't sound out of place in deep space, the mix builds until a monstrous jabbing bassline appears, pushing the dancefloor forward. A breakdown welcomes an indiscernible synth that has an organic eastern feel. When the chunky percussion turns, you have an infectious melody coupled with atmospherics and cradled by warm pads, all undergirded by the monstrous jabbing bassline. These layers are toyed with in various manners, teasing the listener, until the end. WOW have made a very club-friendly remix in the form of "Echo of Silence" but it is also listenable in the headphones. The remix is so radically different from the original that, to the seasoned trainspotter, this might as well be an original WOW tune. In fact, the melodic development borrows nothing from the original and proves to the seething GU masses that melody never went anywhere...