Showing posts with label Hal Stucker. Show all posts
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22:24:00

A fan favourite from ‘Electronic Excursions’; ‘Celeste’ is all about the slow burn. With a moody, hypnotic analogue arpeggiator that ebbs and flows throughout this +8 minute ‘electronic excursion’ & meaty synth brass summoning up memories of Pink Floyds’ Dark Side of the Moon’. Gai Barone’s remix is without doubt one of his finest – and darkest – to date; soaking the listener in reverb this version is at home on a very dark, sweaty, strobe pulsed dance floor. Gai makes the arpeggiator contract and explode, kind of like an audible singularity, then lets the LFO filters have their wicked way post drop. 





Available here: http://pure.choons.at/celeste

Dimitri Kechagias review:
[review top="1"]
 [item value="10"]Beat and Rhythm[/item]
 [item value="10"]Basslines and Groove[/item]
 [item value="10"] Melody [/item]
 [item value="10"] Synths [/item]
 [item value="10"]Breakdown[/item]
 [item value="10"]Climax  / Drop / Crescendo / Pay off moment[/item]
 [item value="10"]Intensity, Drive and Energy[/item]
 [item value="10"]Sound-design and Arrangement[/item]
 [item value="10"]Overall Atmosphere[/item]
 [item value="10"]Goosebumps / Shivers moments[/item]
 [item value="10"]Emotional affinity and heartfelt moments[/item]
 [item value="10"]Originality and Inventiveness[/item]
 [item value="10"]Dancefloor Efficiency / Festival Arenas Effectiveness[/item]
 [item value="10"]You can’t get this memorable track out of your head[/item]
 [item value="10"]It has potential to become an anthem or a classic[/item]
 [item value="10"]Hal Stucker - Celeste incl Gai Barone remix[/item]
 [content title="Summary" label="Overall Score"]Hal Stucker aka David Forbes delivers an excellent club mix of Celeste which is a warm melodic calming slowly evolving and highly involving progressive beauty that creates excellent atmosphere that has the daydream influence on any listener as you will feel definitely above and away from anything that binds you with the mandate reality. The absolute track to loose yourself in the music and never find the way out of it. The spiral synths along with the little piano chords and the background that has hints of being balearic but at the same time dark and very moody build magnificent atmosphere. Gai Barone remix transforms the original with its slow paced deep basslines, crunchy percussion and stunning long cinematic breakdown that allows the swirling synths to shine and sparkle until the big crescendo moment of excitement followed by the climax that carries the listener for that mysterious journey of moody textures and adventurous avant garde arrangement to surprise and captivate. #PureGold Love IT [/content]
[/review]

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16:32:00

In this day and age, for any come-lately producer looking to make their mark, a debut album must swiftly be realized. Hal Stucker however is not any producer and “day and age” – as you’ll see – plays zero part in ‘Electronic Excursions’ reckoning. Hal has no hidden agendas. He doesn’t desire an extra foot up the career ladder, more gigs, better billing or ‘to blow you away’ with his music’s dancefloor-filling capabilities. 

No, both his and the ambitions of his ‘Electronic Excursions’ album decidedly lie in other areas. 

In the pantheon of electronic artists’ LPs, there have been some sizeable pending times. Hal though might have out-pended the lot. Since his debut production (the Telica Records-released ‘The World Is Flat’) a not inconsiderable two decades have elapsed. Indeed for sixteen of those years, Hal was in full stasis, before Ruben de Ronde’s Statement! Recordings brought it off-ice with ‘Coral’ two years ago. Since, Hal’s productions have established a new DJ audience, engaging the musically enlightened likes of Above & Beyond, Cosmic Gate, Rodg, Grum and others.

If you don’t already know, you’ve probably guessed anyway - Hal is considerably better known under another name. The ‘who’ is largely immaterial here (and possibly even unhelpful), as this album is an exercise in artistic emancipation. An opportunity to vent stylistically, after many years inside an ever-tightening perception box, it’s electronic excursions in name and nature.
“Over the last 12 months, says Hal, I’ve embarked on a little musical outing to try and create a body of work with depth & emotion that you could listen to anywhere. I know that could be a cliché, but it’s the truth. It’s been an absolute joy working on the album - my first body of work in 25 years of being in the music industry. It’s different, but I sincerely hope you all enjoy the album as much as I did writing it”. 
Across 14 tracks, ‘Electronic Excursions’ is a refreshing master-class in not giving a flying one about the dancefloor. That’s not to say you wouldn’t dance to it. Only that it’s not its primary spur. The same goes for other conventions. Track runtimes regularly enjoy the luxury of 8, 9 10 or in the case of ‘Chaos Bowl’ 11+ minutes to play out their ideas, angles and sequences. Genre classifications are likewise largely redundant. Adjectives like ‘atmosphere’, ‘ether’, ‘mood’ and ‘journey’ play a far greater part in defining compositions like ‘Rubix’, Monlith’, ‘Conjour’ and ‘Chimes’. Tempos too enjoy greater-than-average bandwidth and while instrumentals are its norm, vocal interludes also exist (most notably on ‘Walking Over Fire’ sung by Emma Gillespie and Eilidh Hadden’s ‘Retrace’. 
Funny How Things Stick: Mr. Stucker enlightens us to the evolution of his unusual artist name. “Many people are unaware that Hal Stucker is an alias conjured up back in 1998. The name actually came from reading an article written by the real Hal Stucker and after a few releases under this alias I got an email from the man himself. He was and still is based in Boston, has written articles for the likes of the New York Times, WIRED and other major publications in the US. 
He asked me (and I quote) “did you just come up with the name or have you read one of my humble scribblings on your travels? I have been using your music as a talking point at my dinner parties over the years, it would be great to know”. I replied that I had read one of his humble scribblings’ and he was delighted!” 
So now you know the ins-and-outs, you’re prepped for ‘Electronic Excursions’ arrival, in all its unshackled glory. That happens today and you can order Hal Stucker’s exceptional album here.



‘Electronic Excursions’ by Hal Stucker tracktlist:
01. Celeste
02. Chaos Bowl
03. Fairlights
04. Monlith
05. Conjour
06. Rubix
07. Chimes
08. Retrace
09. 123
10. Walking Over Fire
11. Colloseum
12. Disillusioned
13. Stars Bonus
14. Retrace (Sunrise Edit)

Additional info:
twitter.com/halstucker
soundcloud.com/halstucker
instagram.com/halstucker
puretrance.com
facebook.com/puretrance
twitter.com/ilikeitpure
instagram.com/ilikeitpure
www.blackholerecordings.com
www.facebook.com/blackholerecordings
www.twitter.com/blackholerec



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21:05:00

 This is the 2nd instalment of David Forbes first Hal Stucker album ‘Electronic Excursions’ (forthcoming on Pure Progressive in a couple of months time). The Hal Stucker sound is dance legend David Forbes (Public Domain, Optimus, Active Force, Tekra, Arkadi etc.) exploring his progressive side; deep, emotive, melodic, expertly crafted dance music.

‘Disillusioned’ is constructed around a pulsing, arpeggiated bass-line made from multiple, filtering layers, which creates a locked-in groove on the floor. A neat dialogue sample makes it’s statement at the break, while analogue Pink Floyd-esque tones come to the fore – driving the track to it’s grinding peak. First on the remix tip is the Australian Matter – famed for his stunning ‘The Bends’. His remix, in Matter’s own words is “possibly by best work yet” – and we wholeheartedly agree. It is deep, sultry and glorious. Secondly, Russian Slam Duck – fresh from the mind-blowing ‘Mercury EP’ delivers an acid-bass-line fuelled prog masterpiece.



Dimitri Kechagias review:
[review top="1"]
[item value="10"]Beat and Rhythm[/item]
[item value="10"]Basslines and Groove[/item]
[item value="10"] Melody [/item]
[item value="10"] Synths [/item]
[item value="10"]Breakdown[/item]
[item value="10"]Climax / Drop / Crescendo / Pay off moment[/item]
[item value="10"]Intensity, Drive and Energy[/item]
[item value="10"]Sound-design and Arrangement[/item]
[item value="10"]Overall Atmosphere[/item]
[item value="10"]Goosebumps / Shivers moments[/item]
[item value="10"]Emotional affinity and heartfelt moments[/item]
[item value="10"]Originality and Inventiveness[/item]
[item value="10"]Dancefloor Efficiency / Festival Arenas Effectiveness[/item]
[item value="10"]You can’t get this memorable track out of your head[/item]
[item value="10"]It has potential to become an anthem or a classic[/item]
[item value="10"]David Forbes pres. Hal Stucker - Disillusioned [/item]
[content title="Summary" label="Overall Score"]The Scottish legend David Forbes brings the second track taken from his Hal Stucker alias album that will be out soon on Pure Progressive. The track Disillusioned is a magnificent deep dark haunting hypnotic trancer with progressive house references. Pulsating basslines, thumping kicks, rolling drums and thrilling suspenseful synthy line that appears in the breakdown along with the excellent choice of vocal sample that sounds just the right sample in the right place to elevate the whole production. Matter remix goes for a nearly 9 minutes deep travelling spacey journey with superb application of the dark moody and sinister synthy hook while on top Jean Michel Jarre type of synth highlights the tension even more. Lastly Slam Duck continues on the same driving melodramatic melancholic progressive trance with pulsating basslines and superb cinematic strings with warm atmosphere. #PureGold Love IT [/content]
[/review]

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