Juno Reactor - Nitrogen (Part 1 & 2) download mp3 flac

Mmm, Nitrogen. I make a point of it to pull any Juno Reactor vinyls I can find, anywhere I go, due the great pleasure it gives me just to chill out to their tracks..so, that in mind, we'll try to get an unbiased review out of this. =)

This isn't for fans who will expect the old, old school Juno Reactor..you won't find any high energy protons spilling over into the atmosphere, on either of these cuts. What you will find, though, is some extremely unique and versatile music. I'll go into this song's mixing versatility, later..

Nitrogen, Part 1 can be broken into three distinct "movements". Innitially, the artists offer you a taste of the ambient, peppered with vocal samples speaking of "circular objects flying in formation" for 90 seconds or so before a sudden build up dives into one of the most positively derranged basslines I have ever heard. A standard goa bassline, back-looped..who would've thought it could sound so other worldly? That one line manages to set the flavor for the rest of the "second movement", which comes complete with beat and even more bizarre vocal samples ("eeeeah..EEEYAH. Yah..eh..pu.."). Four minutes of this deliciously psychedelic onslaught brings us to the third portion of the song where we are presented with an almost 80s-pop styled outtro. Now, don't get me wrong, this is no Duran-Duran rip; it must be the soft female vocals, heavy on the resonance and LFO that do it for me. The rhythm of the previous movement is carried through this with delicately layed highhats and effect samples that fade away into a soft, easy end for a great track.

Nitrogen, Part 2, is much more straight forward than Part 1. No real division into distinct movements. This one, though, is one hell of a goa-psy floor pounder. Want to hear some old Roland gear? Then pop this one in. The Juno Reactor boys pulled six and a half minutes worth of samples off of their vintage gear for this one. It's quite a bit more familiar to their Transmissions style fanatics. While it doesn't really offer too much variation over it's playtime, it does certainly rip your head off for the time it plays. Very aggressive with the bass, beat, and samples. No real melodic strains, here; a hard trance-esque synth line takes care of that.

All in all, I find this to be a good 12" to have in your collection. I especially enjoy mixing Part 1 in all sorts of ways..versatile as it is. Use the outtro, alone? Back loop the main movement to experience what the bassline is like when everything else is reversed? Did I mention that intro makes an awesome ethereal bleed-in for almost any style?

It's all about those circular objects..flying in formation..