As one of Armin van Buuren‘s closest watched artists, we’ve personally seen this young artist grow from Armada based producer into a fearsome force of reckoning within the Uplifting and Tech Trance communities. While he has gained great success with tracks such as his collaboration with Tomas Heredia on Sao Paolo and his bootleg to Armin‘s smasher, Communication Part III, he has been sweeping huge strides within his personal career with pieces such as his collaboration with Harmonic Rush on Dymond Rush, Helios and Siren’s Song on Armin‘s personal Uplifting label, WAO138?!. Even now, he has been delving deep with the Tech world by taking cues from Simon Patterson‘s newest direction with his single of Just Let Me Be and his remix to Indecent Noise‘s Razor, and these behemoth mixes have contined to up the ante up the production level that is the chief standard for all artists. While teasing us with a few new ID’s over the course of the year, he is now ready to make his debut on the monsterous Psy label of Paul Oakenfold entitled Perfecto Fluoro, with his beaming single entitled Samples Of Silk. This track is Dymond‘s most Psy induced work to date, and the Original Mix delves straight into full on acid with a multitude of various ethnic sounds and textures. Even though the Original Mix is fantastic in its own regard, we find here at Your EDM that the amazing Activa mix shines with the latest in groundbreaking futuristic sounds and melodies.
Activa is a regular time contributer to Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto Fluoro label, and his Psy induced rhythms, (coupled with some of the smoothest, most consistant sound designs in the world), has earned him an elite posititon as one of the leading innovators in technical production to date. While the original dominates in terms of full fledged power and raw, gritty timbral action, Activa‘s detailed and lushious sound world brings about the piece’s true potential in terms of flow and overall continuation of the track as a whole. This remix isn’t exactly a complete overhaul of the original in any regard, but his handiwork in re-envisioning the track has left a healthy atmosphere where timbres can float free with some of the sharpest and cleanest arrangements that we’ve heard in 2014. His breakdowns are breathtaking throughout the slow moving pad work and the fantastic work with the strings and vocals leaves a haunting impression upon the listener before slamming us with offbeat robotic sounds that hits HARD when the relentless bassline kicks in. What I personally love the most about his productions is the general personification as a painter whose brush strokes blend upon each other so that the various textures sound as one, organic force of nature that twists and tumbles through real time and space. With some of the most cutting edge sounds that I’ve personally heard in any piece, the transition from ending of the main breakdown to the final release guarantees anyone listening to it to simply state ‘wow’ upon experiencing it.
Activa‘s stellar remix to James Dymond‘s Samples Of Silk is out now on Perfecto Fluoro, so make sure you purchase a copy and support real talent! Make sure to check out the Original Mix as well; its a piece to shatter your kneecaps for sure!
Keep the music alive. -Q
Beatport: http://www.beatport.com/release/samples-of-silk/1405895