Music : Nu Energy Collective - Live At Frantic

Rating: - Worth Buying
This is a live recording of the increasingly popular Nu Energy Collective Live show, which has recently been taking the underground rave scene by storm. If you're not familiar with their style of music, its basically (very) hard trance. Note that when I say hard I mean in terms of speed (its got the most rapid tempo of any cd I've ever listened to), not in terms of being extremely deep and dark.

In fact, the tunes are relatively uplifting and euphoric, just a lot quicker than conventional trance. The tracks by K Complex in particularly are outstanding, and I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for anything he produces in the future. The last track, adagio, is a remix of the classic adagio for strings, and is an amazing and much welcomed take on one of the best tracks dance music has ever produced (much better than the excessively hyped Tiesto version).

A couple of points to note - this is an actual recording of the collective at Frantic, but the sound quality is fine - no dodgy crackly recordings here. Also there is a a little bit of crowd noice here and there, but it is just the right amount. Its not there most of the time, and when you hear it its just in the background and works really well - you can hear everyone screaming and having a great time!

Also there is a live PA over the top of the tracks - as they always have in their show. Personally, this is something I'd never known before in the dance world, and I was sceptical before hearing it, but it actually works surprisingly well. He doesn't talk too much, just a little in the build up to really work the crowd up to that peak - but he wisely keeps out when the tunes drop in.

In fact all in all this is a great CD, not only great tunes that you don't really get anywhere else, but also the live elements with the crowd touches and the bits of PA really serve to generate that club buzz that you don't get on normal CDs. Generally tracks tend to lose something when you hear them at home away from the clubs - but somehow this CD captures that spirit as well as the music itself.