Ben Gold - The Sound Of Garuda Chapter 3 Review

Written by Richard Ronchetti on 28 May 2013 in Reviews
Ben Gold - The Sound Of Garuda Chapter 3 Review

The birth of my first child recently has brought with it many new experiences. Aside from discovering how little sleep I can function on before I pass out stood up on the tube, I’ve also found that my daughter throws up more than Charlie Sheen and that baby poo comes in so many different colours you could paint with it.

More importantly though, it’s made me take a hard look at the world my daughter has been born into and, specifically, the media she will consume in her most impressionable years.

Take entertainment in general for instance. Only last week I overheard a guy in my office describe Will.i.am as a visionary artist. Sadly it only dawned on me to ask him why he had such an opinion after I’d finished beating him to death with an office supplies catalogue. So for now, I’ve had to go ahead and draw my own conclusions.  

The bar for mainstream media and entertainment in Britain today is so low you couldn’t slide a Jacobs cream cracker under it. Our TV shows ask little more than the IQ of a baked potato from viewers, all of our pop stars are manufactured to various states of the same formula and our tabloid papers refer to the last time Nicole Scherzinger took a dump as “breaking news”. Now I know this view is a little elitist and that of course I will allow my daughter to take interest in anything she wishes (except boys), but if she is to develop any ounce of individuality or creativity I can only hope she finds a passion far from the toss that will attack her through her TV and Radio daily. For me growing up this was always the world of Electronic Dance Music. And look at me, I turned out awesome.

One thing you can be sure of in life is that healthy sub-cultures will always emerge as a response to what I’ve just been describing. In the ever-expanding world of EDM luckily this sort of problem isn’t yet as terminal. Sure, David Guetta turns up every now and then to shit on everyone’s cornflakes, but on the whole output is kept fresh and of a quality we can be proud of by an number of pioneering artists and labels. Top of this category for me are the team at Garuda HQ.

Case in point is the newly released Sound of Garuda 3 mixed by Ben Gold. As my child is currently nocturnal, the only thing that has helped keep my eyes open during daylight hours recently has been this insanely good 2-mix compilation. Riddled with a tasty collection of muscular, melodic and inventive tracks (13 of which no less are never before heard exclusives), this album showcases the high quality and intelligent production standards we have come to expect from Garuda.

Naturally boasting some of the biggest names in the game, the line up on this album reads like the who’s who of Trance and Progressive production and DJ talent. Contributors this time around include Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten, Ashley Wallbridge, W&W, Arty (for more info see his new album #Willpower) and of course Ben Gold himself.

Highlights for me come dressed as the Juvena Remix of Ben Gold’s 'Where Life Takes Us', 'Cruise Control' from Fast Distance & Rikkaz and of course the absolutely massively enormously hugely biblically euphorically epic Mikkas Remix of Emma Hewitt's 'Rewind' (yea I like that one). To be honest though, listing the high points on this album is like choosing which bits of Megan Fox you like the best. There’s just too many to bother.

It’s important to note at his point though, that if you’re after a beautifully crafted couple of mixes that cover a range of tempos and emotions, this isn’t it. That’s not a criticism by any means, but it’s best to treat each CD in this compilation as a 1-hour peak time festival mix. Like a drunken northern bird on the pull, this is unapologetically full on from the very start.

Garuda’s choice to hand the controls over to Ben Gold on this occasion should not go unnoted, as for me it demonstrates their dedication to progress. It would have been very easy and frankly the obvious choice from a sales and reach perspective to use Gareth Emery again on chapter 3. But keeping things fresh and moving forward is for me what makes Garuda great and that’s exactly what they have done here. Ben’s reputation grows by the second and this album only helps demonstrate why.

So there you have it: out now and available on iTunes. The Sound of Garuda 3 is not only a slice of top quality shut up and dance pie, but is also a great way to help pass the hours if you have the dead body of a miss-educated work colleague to bury…or so I hear.

 


About the author

Richard RonchettiRichard Ronchetti is a DJ, producer and reviewer from the UK with an unhealthy obsession for grated cheese.

He plays and produces essentially Trance with lots of House and Progressive influence and will be posting a bi-monthly promo mix on Mixcloud, Facebook and Twitter. Each mix will (if his levels of creativity and grated cheese allow) contain his own tracks, mashups and remixes.

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