Trance.nu review - F16

F16 is one of the biggest and most hyped records around right now, with its first play on ASOT sparking all kinds of 'There's an F16 in my living room!' craziness here on trance.nu. It's been released for a couple of weeks now, and is really causing a stir all over the place, so lets check out the Original and Mac and Mac remix to see how good they are.

Original Mix

This tune caused a total headache when trying to define it's style. The intro has trancey stabs, but the bassline and acid lines that squirm and rock through the opening minutes have much more influence from psy than regular trance, yet at the same time there are quirky cuts and effects that nod in the direction of tech-trance. Needless to say though, it's a great groovy tune as we build towards the break, where it's safe to say the tune get's ever so slightly more interesting. The break lasts over 2 minutes, and is dominated by the sound of an F16 jet screeching through the speakers. It sounds great on a stereo, but hear this bad boy in the club and, as anyone who's been out there in clubland recently will testify, the crowd response is phenominal. After the big event, a trance riff comes in to add a further level to the tune. a couple of minutes of blasting trance is on the cards, before another crazy stop and the psy sounds come back. All in all this is probably the most original track of the year so far, and comes thoroughly recommended.

Mac & Mac Remix

So how does one go about remixing such an original and distinctive track? Spinnin turn to their trusty tech trancers Scott Mac & Mac Zimms to do the business, and they've come up with a typical tech trance tune. Stabs and layer upon layer of percussion are here, before the F16 and then big main riff come in during the breakdown. A pretty standard tech trance build up follows, with everything building to a huge crescendo to be replaced by the stabs again. Honestly, compared to the original mix this is pretty average tech trance and both the Macs have produced much better stuff than this.

Conclusion

The original is one of the biggest club tracks of the moment, and is guaranteed to work wonders for the dancefloor. Mac & Mac's remix is solid and acceptable as you'd expect from the boys, but is nowhere near the quality of the Original mix, and you'd be better off looking for their recent collaboration 'Listen' also on Spinnin'. So a 5/5 for the Original and a 3/5 for the remix gives us a steady 4/5 for the package, which means it comes highly recommended.