X-Kalay Trance 2 Items

Maara makes seductively uninhibited, proggy dance music. In fact, she’s quickly becoming one of its foremost exponents. Barely pausing for breath between releases, ‘Spiral 2 the Other Side’ finds the Montreal artist summoning divine feminine frequencies with a hypnotic, ritual-ready 4-tracker. Some Maara productions are shot through with an almost radiant optimism, but here, darkroom throb prevails. Big on the gated vocals, ‘Spiral 2 the Other Side’ achieves cybernetic sensuality through trippy, moiré-d electro, while ‘Take the Wheel Miss Sweetie’, with its driving, fathoms-deep approach, provides a direct take on the blueprint. The Canadian assumes the role of high priestess on the flip. ‘Forget the world’ is a ritual incantation for bridging seen and unseen worlds; prog house magick with shades of ‘90s trance utopia. Rounding things off with a tunnelling electro tripper, ‘Doom Quest’ references the vortex-dwelling atmospherics of early tribal modes to mind-altering effect.

Familiar Strangers founder Remotif heralds the 30th release, complete with a digital-only remix from Youandewan. The first half finds the Bristol mainstay at his deadliest. Harnessing pure proggy momentum, peak-time scorcher ‘In the Blink of a Cosmic’ comes hurtling out the tracks. ‘It’s Inside U’ then keeps pace with more of that driving, fractal pressure. Tunnelling wormhole torque straight out the nether-realm. Comparatively restrained but no-less mind-altering, the B-side embarks on a full-blown vision quest. Where breaks-fuelled cut ‘For Love or Money’ nods to early ‘90s bleep, ‘In The Möbius Strip Club’ ushers into a chugging, ritual-ready space. Proper third-eye dilating stuff.