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The new System 7 album has been labeled as a collaboration with Derrick May, which means techno-heads and Detroit addicts immediately pay attention. Actually Mysterious Traveller is a compilation of all the (unreleased) tracks and remixes that System 7 have produced with Derrick May. Without that knowledge the first four tracks will almost have you believe System 7 have found a way to finally release May's long-lost debut album. These tracks all present the classic Derrick May sound: the weird, interlocking rhythms, the jumping bass and those majestic strings. Again a useful reminder of how great yet personal May's sound used to be. Opener Altitude (Mayday mix) dates all the way back to 1990, the first collaboration between both camps. Immediately a dreamy synth line envelops you before May nails you with a hard jumpy beat. This is followed by the title track, where the ambience is a bit sinister; the rhythm deftly shifts shapes at times ending up in a cascading house track.
Highlight of the album is next: Big Sky City (Mayday mix) where May builds, with typical self-assurance, a complex yet danceable rhythm track off which tiny melodies are bounced. Eventually a Steve Hillage guitar line enters, at first you suspect as a friendly remainder to identify the track but over the following three minutes it evolves into a beautiful ambient interplay between guitar and cloudy electronics. Jaw-dropping. This very strong section ends with the Rhythm Is Rhythm classic Icon (Montage Mix) included here because it fits well with the feel of the System 7 tracks. Suffice to say it's one of last century's truly great pieces of music, techno or otherwise. It is also a hard act to follow and while the rest of Mysterious Traveller is pleasant enough, it never regains the intensity and wonderful sense of discovery of the beginning - one reason being that both mixes of Mysterious Traveller and Big Sky City are just less involving compared with the first versions on the album.
Indeed one can almost divide Mysterious Traveller into two parts, the first half leaning more on May's influence and the second on System 7's (to counter-balance Icon, E-Merge, a System 7 original is included). But putting such divisions aside we just should be thankful for System 7 to give us a change to hear some rare Derrick May music. A sad yet also joyful reminder of his unique genius.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/system-7-derrick-may/mysterious-traveler/1785/
Meer System 7 & Derrick May op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/system-7-derrick-may
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