DJ Solitare - Music Reviews
Man With No Name: Interstate Highway
Dragonfly BFLCD 63
The world of psychedelic trance has just received a powerful testament in the form of Man With No Name’s new album “Interstate Highway.” Released on Dragonfly, one of the first trance labels, it features some of the most classic-style and well-produced psychedelic dance music to be put on disc in years. Putting a new face on dance music (including putting his own face on the cover of the CD, an unusual move for a trance artist album), Martin Freeland - the name behind the face - is bringing us back to the roots of trance.
The title itself may be more appropriate than most would realize: it is likely taken from a quotation “Music is the interstate highway into the memory.” This album serves not only to remind us of the power of all music to our memories, it exposes us to the fundamental sound of psychedelic trance before it was diluted by copycat cookie-cutter music that has little to do with the original vibe of trance (to paraphrase Dino Psaras’ view of the scene when I interviewed him back in 1998).
I clearly recall Man With No Name’s music from the early days of my introduction to trance in 1994. He produced or engineered almost all the tracks on the first ‘Concept in Dance’ CD, which was one of only two discs available at the time, and a number of his tracks (including the rarer ‘Energy Level 137’ on Phantasm) were widely played in Tokyo at the time.
When I lived in London from 1996 to 1998, at a time when musical taste was shifting, his presence was still undeniable. I remember seeing him at a number of parties, usually dancing enthusiastically. Mike Maguire got one of the biggest reactions I ever saw in London when he played one of the Man’s tracks (I believe it was the rarely-heard Jardin De Cecile remix) at a massive Blue Room party, and he has been known to say, “I’ve never found a dance floor that didn’t like Man With No Name.” Mark Allen ended a magnificent party at Mount Fuji with the classic track ‘Possessed’ and told me that he felt that MWNN tracks were unparalleled in terms of production. And Dino Psaras spoke of him with absolute reverence.
Those who have formed their opinions of him and his music based on his earlier releases have not had a full deck to play with. His contract with Paul Oakenfold appears to have been restrictive, and there were stories circulating in London that he had produced a stunning album that Oakenfold had stated was not commercially viable enough; he allowed him to keep some tracks – which were obviously ‘Tarantula’, ‘Possessed’, ‘Own the World’, and ‘Mainframe’ (the latter only being on the Japanese edition, from what I gather) – while insisting that he rewrite the rest of the album. This cannot have done much for the self-esteem of an artist who helped create psychedelic trance, and while various tracks surfaced after that album, few captured the essence of his earlier glory.
Until now. This new album does truly serve as a reminder of the uplifting potential of electronic music and presents a number of styles of music most likely unknown to newer initiates to the world of psychedelic trance. (Many who heard him perform live at Glastonbury this season were saying that they hadn’t heard such beautiful trance since the early 90s.) Anthemic melodies abound, more mature and less simplistic (despite their simplicity) than those of a decade ago; the power of a simple rhythmic one-note baseline is evident; and gated melodies which bounce between the speakers provide an electric and elevating atmosphere.
In particular, the slower BPMs are representative of the music from 10 years ago, which went above 140 less frequently than they do now (Juno Reactor’s first album doesn’t go above 138). These slower tracks show that intensity need not be from speed but can come from harmonic, structural, and sonic elements within the music. The nearly one-minute build-up in ‘Axis Flip’, for example, is one that will raise the roof of any party and belies the fact that the BPM of this track is 136. ‘Space Juice’ is a stormer of the old-school anthemic variety, yet is only 138. Clearly in our pursuit of intensity, something has been lost – the focus has been on the external signs of strength rather than the inner state of concentrated energy. This album presents the possibility of Paradise Regained.
The engineering bears witness to Mark Allen’s assertion quoted above. Each voice has a delay which has been precisely set and fades out smoothly, without any of the jarring shifts that are prevalent in much of the supposedly well-produced ‘new’ music of today. Placement is incredibly precise, and the purity of the sounds is unbelievable. To fully appreciate the subtlety of his work, I suggest listening on headphones. It is worth remembering that since your speaker-physical body ratio is the opposite at home than it is at a party, listening on a regular stereo system does not provide the full effect of the music. Headphones help to provide an extra level of clarity until the tracks are heard played out.
While not all the tracks are to my liking – ‘Broken Promise’ is really too ‘commercial’ for me – I find most of them to be solid, uplifting tracks, many with greater depth than the average trance-head expects from Man With No Name. ‘Axis Flip’ has a layout of voices that is powerful and reminiscent of old European trance from the 90s: a chorus singing one note, followed by an electronic “voice” above, and a melodic riff. This pattern in sequence provides a delicious effect. The huge breakdown/buildup is one of the most exciting sections of a trance track I have heard in years. ‘Space Juice’ has a marvelous baseline, wonderful electronic sounds, and a beautifully-voiced melodic line: listen to purity of the sound when the melody is introduced. And when the “chorus” screams at climaxes…fantastic! (His sounds always produce a voice-like effect.) The build-up in this track is also phenomenally exciting.
The slow, solid pace of ‘Cocoon’ provides plenty to trance out at: the ‘Indiana Jones’ chorus and rhythmic baseline are super. ‘Visit the Moon’ is brilliant – the off-pitch chime sounds that open the track give it a strong mystical feeling, and the solid baseline is again reminiscent of older tracks. Here, as in several of the tracks, he provides sweeps of ‘white noise’ that used to be prevalent in older tracks and which give a huge burst of energy on the dancefloor. The gated voice is magnificent, and the crowd I played it for shortly after this album’s release was going off big time when it hit (truth to tell, they went off at all of the tracks from this album that I played). The closing ‘Pipeline’ is, at 128 BPM, a huge energizer with a funky yet deep groove.
This album truly is a reminder of the original vibe of psychedelic trance, stunningly updated and freshly presented. Here’s hoping that it will be played well and heard for the masterpiece it is, and that The Man will gain the respect he deserves for his original innovation and its revival. While taste has shifted in the trance community, there are some universal elements to this music that will hit people when it is played at the right time and place. You’ll know when it does.
