Activa - Transmission

Rob ‘Activa’ Stevenson got my nomination as producer of the year for 2008, and to prove that class is permanent the York-based trance man is having an even better 2009 with a debut artist album This World having just been released, on top of a tight Live As compilation and a raft of single releases under his Activa, Solar Movement and Mekk V aliases.
 
Transmission is no exception to the rule, starting off with a steely kick and a touch of percussion. By the one minute mark the sleek, groovy bassline joins in, a call to arms that’ll fill a floor in anticipation of what’s to come. He uses a mini-break to feed in the first hints of the melodies, which become more prominent as the bassline fires up. There’s also a nasty little 303 wisp tucked in with the bass, a sound he’s been using to deadly effect in recent remixes. Things wind down and the long break arrives, with the melodies initially very laid back with a 4 bar breakbeat ushering in a sparkling riff which together with the other pads slowly builds up the momentum before the kick slams back in. And when it does there’s a nice change up on the bassline, with it hardened up giving it extra bite.
 
Sweden’s Gate 42 is brought in on the remix and serves up a more minimal techno offering that’s equally on the money. Crisp minimal percussion and some new filtered vocal samples set the tone, with only the background melodic pads lifted from the original mix. There’s a soft, proggy bassline, and some harsher techno style riffs lurking around. After the sinister break, a nagging electro riff kicks in before the percussion is filtered back in.