Nokturnalist

Henry Saiz - Balance 019

At Nokturnalist we don’t normally toot the horn of too many in the dance music world, most because their work speaks for itself.  In an already over flooded market of DJ’s and producers, it’s often hard to weed out the talent because of the vast amount of electronic music available on digital dance music sites.  There is no need for us to introduce Henry Saiz to most of you reading this.  Only a few years ago, he was virtually unknown to the dance music community.  He started out like most DJ’s and producers start out… start small and go big.  In 2005 his remix of Phonique’s 99 And a Half was released on Global Underground, and ever since then, he’s been on the up and up.  Since then, he has released a boat load of remixes to go along with his own original productions, most notably, what we consider to be one of the best remixes of 2009, his remix of Guy J’s Lamur.  Since then, he has become one of the major players at John Digweed and Nick Muir’s Bedrock Records.

In May, he announced on his Facebook page that he would be doing the next Balance Compilation, 019.  Nick Warren had done a great job with 018 and we couldn’t think of a better person to follow up.  Balance has always done a great job of finding talent outside the brand name DJ pool the likes of Deadmau5 and such (not that we hate on Deadmau5).  What Balance is good at, is finding these DJ’s who are not always the headliners of the huge festivals, and giving them a chance to show their talents and by not restricting what they can do.  Often times when you do that, you will have good results.  With Balance 019, this is exactly what has happened.  Balance 019 is so good that we already think it is one of the top 3 compilations we have listened to this year (and we have listened to a lot).  The fine line progressive house has really become faded as a lot of the music we see these days labeled as progressive house would have been trance years ago.  And for the most part, a lot of the progressive house coming out these days all sounds the same (at least to us).  Henry has found a way to produce music that keeps you coming back to his Beatport page checking for updates, while not going over to the cheesy side of things.  What we really liked about this mix was his ability to pitch down the tracks, and not going with the monotonous four to the floor stomping trance heavy synths that can grow tired after 20 minutes.  Many of the tracks were produced by Henry himself, with him using the pseudonym Hal Incadenza, and you can hear the heavy presence of samples and cuts via vinyl as well as cassette tapes.  CD 1 is a bit more mellow, with CD 2 bringing a dance floor presence with things picking up.   Let’s break down the mix shall we?

CD 1:

Things start off slow and almost eary like with the opening “Taped Memories, Voice Notes, Still Moments, Through An Old Radio In A Ghostly Artificial Paradise.”  The track has a lot of samples included on it that we could never ID, and sounds like what you would have heard if you had been turning the dial on AM radio tuner.  Continuing on with Tyrane – King Of The Invisible Land, Tyrane is one of Henry’s alter names for the mix.  The track samples “The Ode,” a poem written by English poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy.  The lines were made famous in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, and in the electronic music, have been sampled by Aphex Twin among others (the acapella is often used as well).  The track hits off with a thick kick drum and an acid riff you’d likely find if you were using the Nexus VST instrument.  But hey, it works well.  Mystical Tree and 1981 are very psychedelic like with Mystical Tree being one of our favorite tracks on the album.  The piano riffs are brilliant and the background sounds blend together so well that for both of these tracks, it would be easy for you to close your eyes and forget where you are for a while.  Henry teamed up with Jesse Somfay out of Canada on Honey Wine.  Jesse had a great compilation out in 2009 called A Catch In The Voice, and has been a favorite producer of ours for a while now.  With Little Mountains, Henry shows a housey side of things  with this number and Onice is a beautifully written track with melodic undertones that fits so well with the other tracks on this CD.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neD_gYihbnQ

As the mix drives on, tracks like Lady in the Mirror and Black Heart have an eerie and dark side to them, conducive of something we would porbably listen to on an iPod if we were walking through a haunted house (as the name suggests).  CD1 hits a high note with Esperanza’ss “Ink” and Henry’s “Eterno Retorno.”  We’ve always been a fan of acid trance, and still to this day, listen to a lot of the psychedelic/acid trance that DJ’s like Sasha were playing in the early 90′s.  Henry takes us back to this point, which for us is the best track on this compilation.  The build up on this track is absolutely mental and the break at three minutes is huge (one of the few times Henry uses white noise on the mix).  The mix ends with “Uroboros” where Henry slows things down as he prepares to ride you right into CD 2 where things pick up.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5_G9C_iFR4

CD 2:

We aren’t sure if Calypso Synth Ensemble is another one of Henry’s pseudonyms for the mix, but it’s a choice for leading off CD 2.  The BPM’s pick up some and it’s a hell of a good track and would be perfect on a dark dance floor at 5 A.M.  “Caminando Sobre La Superficie Del Sol” is another psychedelic like track that reminds you of times past, maybe of your child hood, and honestly, when hearing this track, we thought of some of the early work of Pink Floyd.  The next couple of tracks on CD 2 showcase what a DJ set from Henry might sound like.  Tracks like Tango Hej Da and Indifference are great examples of dark progressive house that can be great without trying too hard.  Henry teams up with Dosem for “Zen Boat” which is probably our favorite track of disc 2.  Dosem turned out one of the best tracks of 2008 with Beach Kisses (and the awesome Joris Voorn remix to boot).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnbpgDH0Xgo

The horn build up to go with the big synth and heavy bass line really makes this one stand out and could have easily been released as a single on it’s own.  We also really liked the usage of different sounds on this CD as exemplified in Trip of The Dolphin.  The track has a beautifully constructed violin symphony running in synch with a good floor to the floor kick.  Come Wander with me is an absolute gem with an amazing vocal to go with a great bass line.  Henry finishes off the compilation with a breaks tune and a bit of distortion to give it a classic feeling and as the track ends you can hear the cracks and pops of the vinyl it was probably sampled from.

Easily a 9 out of 10 on this one.  The reasoning for such a high rating is simple.  You can tell Henry poured in days if not weeks putting together the track list, samples and edits, and finish touches for this one.  It’s a gem of a mix and shows the world just how talented Henry is.  We just wonder where he found all of the time to find all the material that went into putting together something like this.  You can find the compilation on Beatport or iTunes, as well as Amazon.com.

Check Henry Saiz’s Facebook page for information.  A special thanks to Plexi PR as well.

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