What can we say about »Camargue« in 2024? Perhaps that it remains one of the most sensational pieces of dance music of all time. Maybe because it never forgets to have a working groove despite its undeniable hymn-like quality. As endearingly flat as the drums may still sound from the speakers 31 years after its initial release, »Camargue« breathes in an almost grotesque way. The soft chords that fade away like condensation on glass, the strings that lift the track cloud by cloud, and the somewhat strange, bouncy, leisurely break after four and a half minutes that doesn’t manage to ground this trance-techno flight for eternity, but only increases the desire.
»Tokyo«, which was also produced in 1992 with the participation of Cisco Ferreira aka The Advent, is also unreservedly convincing. The playful synths at the beginning are reminiscent of Galaxy 2 Galaxy’s classic »Hi-Tech Jazz«, but the track remains straightforward and lives from its furious machine-like pace, reminiscent of the epoch-making Warp compilation »Artificial Intelligence« from the same year. Hectic, but by no means heartless, the hi-hats pound at top speed and, like the overwhelmingly powerful second number on this re-release, tell of times when excess did not automatically mean stupidity.
Camargue / Tokyo
