After their first outstanding single with We’ll Never Die, Tech Trance champion Bryan Kearney again teams up with fellow Tech producer Jamie Walker to give us Nataraja; a storming tune with some of the most floor pounding beats to grace dance floors around the world. Nataraja, which means ‘The Lord of the Dance‘ in Sanskit, derives its name from the Hindu god, Shiva as the Cosmic Dancer and the source of all movement in the universe. Its dance releases all humans from illusion and its dance represents the qualities of Creation, Protection, Destruction, Embodiment and Release. Kearney and Walker utilize these qualities in spades throughout their piece as Kearney‘s unbreakable drive and Walker‘s life stopping, melodic atmospheres shine throughout the piece. Their individual qualities and sounds collide as they forgo a trip into Indian culture which finishes off with a mind reeling drop that will have hearts stopped and jaws dropped.
Nataraja starts off dark and mysterious with a subtle, breathy choir creating ambiance and chill inducing tones of foreboding omens. A blippy ostinato is met with increasingly frantic drums and upward synths to a controlled, yet action packed drop, (with a healthy dose of bass and melodic charm all wrapped up in one). The low, cinamatic basses are showcased as the melody fades away into a single woman singing (Shiva, perhaps), with white noise and clips adding increased atmosphere. Jamie Walker‘s incredible ostinatos come into play, as Kearney starts utilizing one of his trademark qualities by adding samples from movies and video games. This time, it is with multiple quotes, starting with one by Meister Eckhart, a German theologian born in the early 13th century, (with ‘Louis’ re-telling it from the horror movie, Jacob’s Ladder). “The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of life. Your memories, your attachments; they burn them all away. But they’re not punishing you, he said. They’re freeing your soul. So, if you’re frightened of dying and you’re holding on, you’ll see the devils tearing your life away. But if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth.”
It harkens a triumphant, steady melody, filled with power and emotion as the choir and brooding atmosphere returns with another quote discussing the outcomes of war. Qualities of both Uplifting and Tech wrestle with each other for supremacy at the drop during the building section. As the intensity reaches a breaking point, we hear a frightened Private screaming at an unknown object as he cries, “I don’t want to die!” As the music cuts out completely, the listener is suspended by pure, potential energy as another soldier next to him says, “Trust me Jackson, we’re gonna die“. A gun is cocked as it thunderously strikes into a brutal, heavy drop that is full of raw, reckoning power and unforgiving ferocity that completely takes the winds out of the listeners lungs. A man chuckles as he mutters, “Relax“, almost as though he telling the listener to not be afraid of death and let the energy (and the music) flow through you and let all of your inhibitions go, tying in with the monologue in the beginning.
Bryan Kearney and Jamie Walker both give great representations of Ireland and England, and each brings their chips to the table in some of the most intricate and delicately produced tracks we have heard in a long time. Their attention to detail and their flip flopping between dark Tech and Uplifting, along with their integration with the monologue and the music of Indian culture/music, creates a stunning display of teamwork and a complex infrastructure of sounds. The mixture of Tech, Psy and pure power is evident in the massive drop that follows. Nataraja was released on Bryan Kearney‘s personal label, Kearnage in early June of 2012. It was released along with F-6‘s slamming tune, Paradigm Shift as a part of their ‘Summer Warm-Up‘ EP to bring us to another incredible festival season and is available now, on Beatport. Head on over and snag this wonderfully produced track and keep 140 alive, Trance fans!
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/track/nataraja-original-mix/3545727
Sources
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/404146/Nataraja
http://www.eckhartsociety.org/eckhart/introducing-eckhart
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/quotes
Unsung Heroes is a weekly segment where we take a look back at an amazing production and bring it back into the light for older and newer fans alike. These tracks were often overlooked, overshadowed by a huge release or are just not that well known to the public here in America. Here, you can find all the hidden gems in many genres and find a new favorite track (or another tool/weapon for aspiring DJ’s).