Aura Flirt is a nostalgic thrill-ride of lightning round trance, techno and bridled hardcore that showcases impressive might without ever overstaying its welcome, and stands a strong chance of appealing to even the most stringent techno-bro.
From the opening shining notes of ‘Speed Demon’, you know what you’re in for with this new release from the Angels Gun Club collective. Throughout, there are magnificent nods to Psy and Goa, and even neuron-tingling notes of the kind of uplifting trance that would have rocked any dance floor in the early 90’s with no snobbish complaints from those in attendance, only jubilation (Don’t forget that trance and techno are fruits of the same tree, that; phylogenetically speaking, they diverged from similar roots in the 90’s in Germany and would have been played together in clubs much more often back in the day—think the olden days of the LoveParade.) Even featuring at times the shouted background announcer voices one would have expected to hear over the loudspeaker at Thunderdome, certain tracks are at times reminiscent of a Ferry Corsten or Paul Van Dyk style in their heyday, but modernized with peculiar sound design and speedy breaks.
For example in ‘UfLeaf’, the main character is an unplacable elastic sound, almost acidic but not quite (the litmus test is thankfully inconclusive), gurgling along with an energy matching, yet somehow in counterpoint to, the frenetic breakbeat undergirding it.
A chopped up percussive element fires off at what might approach 200 BPM, barely keeping time with a clearly accelerating kick that drops into dark psytrance on speed as synth pads turn asthmatic trying to keep pace on ‘Balisongs of Praise’. A voice is imploring you to open your eyes and look at the sky (classic trance lyrical terrain), but it’s overwhelming to do much more than just listen.
A grimy, snarling undertow of a baseline with filtered hats introduces you to ‘Don’t Say Hello’, a kind of furious interlude, evocative of the tormented squeals of a stuck pig, that succeeds on well-articulated sound design and a successful ramp-up of anxiety. Their Bandcamp page states that “The ancient connection between human beings that was broken is being rebuilt, stronger and faster than ever. Interconnection is forever changing our way of experiencing reality: this is our new present.” The manifesto applies well here.
The tension is well maintained by DJ Garden of Earthly Delights, with an understated hypnotic techno groover (we are in deep Nina Kraviz set territory now), cultivating a false sense of security which is deftly shattered by the hardcore acid banger ‘Hardi’, which features an incredibly melodic break sequence. Even more welcome are the flare-ups of a genre long forgotten by time: Happy Hardcore, which influence mischievously creeps in on occasion to inject unbridled glee into these hardcore explorations.
A few tracks, like ‘Dysphoria Be Like’ with the tachycardic synth line and Yolandi Visser-ish vocals, and ‘Central Hudson’, with a whole bevy of samples punctured by unruly bursts of noise patterning; are akin to sound-collages intended to evoke a particular frame of mind. The closer is a laid back, downtempo offering borrowing from hip-hop that cools off this overheated pile driver of a compilation and drops us off at an after somewhere under billowing clouds of smoke.
-Winston Mann
Link – Bandcamp
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