Let’s face it, Israel gets a bad rap. But now that they have salvaged England’s dreams for Euro 2008, we at Turbo felt it was time to jump on the bandwagon.

In Israel, when a boy turns 12, he has to join the military. This is called a Bar Mitzvah, and it is the first step in the grooming process that ultimately allows young Jewish men to control the global economy through an invisible banking empire. But for young Chaim (aka DJ H, aka Silent C, aka Chaimpion Of The Universe) destiny dealt a different set of lush, prog, melodic cards. I must confess, my only real experience with Israelies is on the beaches of Goa, where their reputation is dubious at best: dragon-stick juggling, hard-partying stoners, with cosmic space-trance pants, and post-military abandon. Nothing quite like a bad-tripping AND Mossad-trained 19 year old naked on a motorbike. But over the past few years even the most hardened euro-centric techno snob has been forced to acknowledge the rise of Israel as a purveyor of serious techno… and Chaim and Guy J are two of the leaders of this new school.

I normally do everything I can to avoid talking about the music (just seems so 94) , but in this case, I’ll indulge: the Isreality EP features three tracks of modern, serious, melodic trance-dance. Let me remind you we are NOT talking trance as in the genre, but trance as the verb… If you are
human, you WILL trance. It is simple, Chaim, working in his countryside lab outside Tel Aviv, has developed the formula… A formula that has made him a star on Cocoon, Dogtown, Supplemental Facts and GoldenBalls Disks.

First off is the politically charged “Don’t Panic”… A message of intent that political leaders would be wise to heed, and a possible response to last years “Panic” ep by his arch-nemesis Vhaim (also pronounced Haim), leader of the so called Negev House Mafia. Don’t panic, ironically causes… PANIC on the dancefloor. Good panic, some even say Groove-Panic. The only panic we are concerned with, however, is the panic you feel as you fumble for your credit card and wonder if beatport will run out of copies. Panic. Did I mention panic?

Rue De Charlotte, named after some street, is a 7.00 epic builder that builds into an epic.
But “don’t panic”, cuz on the b-side, Guy J. (Real name Brett Simpson), not to be outdone drops “SKIN”, a lush, nu-school trance workout that is fantastic and great.
Turbo is proud of these dance-songs.

Ultimately, Turbo is not a political entity, and we have no agenda… I feel we proved that with 2005’s Hamacid 303 EP, and the deleted 1996 techstep explosion of Syria Killa feat MC Da’ Mass Kuss. This EP is not about Israel, or the Middle East, it is simply about new artists, gorgeous techno music, new directions in global dance culture, and the fact that we assume you are not an anti-semite.

Love from Tel Aviv VIA Montreal

Tiga