Review: Richard Durand feat. Simon Binkenborn - No Way Home

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DATE : Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:20:39 PDT
Entered in Database : 2009-10-17 21:20:39
length : 1057
Link to the Show / Show Notes

Long time no review, I know, but adjusting your life to university can be a real challenge :). But hey, here I am, presenting You yet another great release, perfect for everyone, everywhere and at every occasion! Tiesto sure did right when he discovered this young talent back in the days and brought him to us: yeah, I'm talking about the guy on the cover art behind those funky stripes and the Magik Muzik logo. Born as Richard van Schooneveld into the sparkling home of trance, Holland, he soon realised that writing music is a fun thing to do. Constantly improving his skills, the fluid of music that flows through his veins rapidly took the body of some nicely crafted songs. As he recieved very positive feedbacks, Richard picked up the Durand artist name and his first track was released back in 2005 under the title Make Me Scream. The Dutch record label, Terminal 4 saw interest in the tune and after that, Richard's early songs were released under them: the acoustic guitar driven fantastic Sunhump and the remix of Skunk Anansie’s Brazen, titled as Weep, to name a few. As Terminal 4 was being adopted to the Black Hole family, Tiesto himself came across this young talent and decided to give him the opportunity to prove himself. Well, he did: after remixing Flight 643, Lethal Industry and Break My Fall, a contract was made with Magik Muzik regarding an artist album. That was the hit disc called Always The Sun which came out around the middle of May this year and gave the scene some very nice tunes to move to. One of those was No Way Home, a really moody track by Durand and one of trance music's most rising male vocalists, Simon Binkenborn. Simon performed the vocals for Sunlounger's One More Day and Leon Bolier's I Finally Found, two of last year's greatest tunes in my opinion, so with his voice, a track can only be massive! So the new single No Way Home landed on Black Hole’s online store on the 21st of September and many fans have already put their hands on it as it seems to be the sound of Autumn this year. Is it? Let’s see!   First we have a Radio Mix, which (of course) is the short cut version of the original. The original introduces itself with nice bassline and confident beats. Little offbeat alt-kick can be heard in the back and the overall sound contains structural elements from alternate acoustic genres, such as indie rock. As we hear the beats evolving, there’s something new approaching: soft pads and dreamy synth notes appear, then let room for a monotonic bass guitar riff, the main bassline and Simon’s voice. The refrene kicks in with the beats and a little bit of powerchord guitar, and in a short time, we can only hear the vocals and the pads, as Simon lets out his voice even more. Catchy lyrics! The main synth lead debuts slowly and nicely, the buildup is short but effective, the chorus is real energetic with that funky bassguitar, you’ll have to move to this one.   Mr. Andy Duguid himself is in charge for a remix, and many people prefer this one to the original. Progressive claps and hats spiced with high-filtered kick: that’s just the beginning. Soon our subs will be smashed by a real deep bass and little crunky bleeps add to the oddity of the song. The vocals, along with some melodic pads come in, bringing nice harmony to the monotonity. The breakdown is calm and a bit mystical as we flow toward the chorus which is a little bit empty to me. Very prog drums and a strange but well made synth plucks as the main melody. No vocals for a time, but we don’t have to wait too long for Simon, as he takes us to yet another breakdown and another chorus section. Pumping remix for partypeople, with an instrumental version in the package.   Ah, and there’s my favorite one, the Unplugged Mix. As the name suggests it is a more acoustic approach to the theme. This is for those who don’t like electronic music that much or for those who want a calm stream of sounds with no beat. The track puts the vocals in the foreground and makes sure that nice guitar riffs and soul-touching violins won’t let you down. Really beautiful, essential for every chillout mix nowadays.   The last mix is Richard’s Radical one: much like Andy’s interpretation of the song, it also has progressive elements, but not so dry as the remix. Packed with vocal-like FXes, trancy plucks and hard, pumping basslines this version reminds me a little of the ‘old’ Durand. Not so much of Simon’s voice can be heard here by the way.     To sum things up, I’d say the original is a very moving song with excellent vocals, but the remixes could be better. As I’m a big fan of uplifting tunes, I really miss a Shah or Andy Blueman-like rework. Richard Durand feat. Simon Binkenborn – No Way Home Magik Muzik, 21th of September 01. No Way Home (Radio Edit) 03:06 02. No Way Home (Extended Mix) 05:32 03. No Way Home (Andy Duguid Remix) 09:00 04. No Way Home (Andy Duguid Instrumental) 07:26 05. No Way Home (Unplugged Mix) 04:03 06. No Way Home (Radical Mix) 06:54 Listen & buy it @ AudioJelly And here’s the official music video: