Want to dance with wild abandon?
author: Dawn Piper
As wide as an open sky provides a wide range of possibilities from hard driving to beautiful and soulful. It is easy to get lost in the music whether you are pushing through your workday or shakin' it on the dance floor. A definite must have.
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The tunes are all dextrous and cut through the night like a knife through hot bu
author: Kristofer Upjohn
Fans of psytrance are in for an underground treat. If you remember the SanTrancecisco compilation released a while back, then rest assured you're in for the same sort of psyched out goodies. EKKO's sparkling Psychedelic trance has got exactly the slick and sleek drive you'd expect from the genre and has some nice texturing. "As Wide as an Open Sky" isn't as dense as some psy and has a little space between the different woven-together layers, but not so much that it harms the integrity of the music. Low, bassy beats (which, similar to drum and bass, sometimes offer up melodies of their own) mingle with higher melodies and luscious hooks in a forward drive that's close to irresistable. Tingling with acid energy and featuring a wicked hook that won't let you go, Ekko's multi-influened trance (breaks and ambient make appearances boasts a compositional structure that reveals artistry that's conscious of how good electronic dance sounds and how to sit down and make it sound that way. The tunes are all dextrous and cut through the night like a knife through hot butter. -- 4.5 STARS
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Funky, Strong and Melodic
author: Jay Reyes
My favorite thing about this album is it's diversity. I love to hear different possibilities, to feel different speeds, to enjoy different feelings. As wide as an open sky has it all, from full-on tracks to mellow ambient sounds. Ekko's style is definitely unique.
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strikingly original blend of progressive house and psytrance
author: tim
Ekko steps away from the decks and into the studio for a full length album of top quality tracks. Blending progressive house and psytrance, he takes you on a ride that you can tell is deeply personal, but never excludes you from making the music your own. You can easily imagine any of the tracks being played during peak hour in the big rooms (a true pleasure if you ever get the chance), but they're not out of place in your headphones on the way to work. Standouts include Pressure (with amazing vocal work by Akasha), This Is Gonna Hurt, and the clearly Burningman influenced Across The Desert. Can't wait for the follow-up!
Be sure to check him out at the WMC this spring.
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