Natious
Tim Ratcliffe, aka Natious, began DJing in the early 90's, playing at the Lovejam parties alongside Kevin Hurry (DOP) and Fabi Paras and at a monthly party in North London called Havashag. More recently he could be seen at the Cross London for regular Club On Magazine parties and in the back room at Bagley's. DJing naturally led to music production and remixing, to date with a string of vinyl releases including 'Amber', 'Alone', 'Flashpoint' and 'Power Crazed', and remixes including Fragma's 'Toca Me' for Positiva and York's 'Awakening' for Manifesto. Tim also records under the names Azzurra and TAG.
Edited from Triple XXX
12": Natious - Amber
[AL12007]
| Track Listing:
|
Released 5/99 on Amato International. Written and produced by T. Ratcliffe for Natious Productions. Two quality slices of uplifting trance. The Silk Mix is the simpler (and better in my humble opinion) of the two mixes which, after a solid build up, glides and charges. The Lightning Mix is "catchier" and will probably suite the mainstream better than the Silk Mix. Don't miss.
12": Natious - Sonic Sunrise
[NP001]
|
Track Listing:
|
Released '99 on Natious Productions. Written & produced by Tim Ratcliffe. The title cut is an amicable slice of progressive house, although the quality isn't quite up to the same standards set by 'Amber'. On the flipside breakbeats and trance combine in 'Digital Hymn', although this dwindles with an overall feel of incompleteness and lack of direction.
12": Natious - Alone
[NP002]
|
Track Listing:
|
Released 8/99 on Natious Productions. Written & produced by Tim Ratcliffe. 'Alone' is a quality follow-up to 'Amber', with two strong mixes, both of which are medium paced, smooth progressive housers. As the title suggests, the Piano Symphony Mix features additional flowing piano melodies, whilst the less uplifting Decisive Mix is a more direct, solid track. Both of these mixes are set to be big hits.
12": Natious - Flashpoint
[AI12014ab/AI12014cd]
| Track Listing:12" 1 [AI12014ab]:
|
Released 4/00 on Amato International. Written and produced by Tim Ratcliffe. Remix and additional production by Christian West. Flashpoint is quite a fun little track from Tim Ratcliffe, following in the rather big footsteps of 'Amber'. Both Flashpoint 1 and 2 are let down by rather mediocre melodies - the point being is that a few chords would have been nice, rather than the 'one-finger-on-keyboard' approach. However, Christian West beefs up the beats and thickens the electro sound in the Feel Mix 1, giving the track a real BT ECSM/Flaming June vibe, dropping the weak melody in the process. The result is a pounding, electro-meaty stomper that shouldn't be missed for the world. Incidentally, the Feel Mix 2 isn't quite as strong, but who cares with the strength of Mr Wests first mix.
12": Natious - Another World / Lift
[BS002]
| Track Listing:
|
Released 2001 on Blue Stone Records. Track 1 written and produced by Tim Ratcliffe; track 2 by Tim Ratcliffe and Gary AZukx. 'Lift' was originally written by AZukx and released back in 1995 on the album 'Everything is Everything' and later released as a single with remixes by Joi and Reeperbahn. In 2000 Natious produced a series of remixes, one of which was featured exclusively on the Whirl-Y-Waves Vol.2 Global Grooves compilation. This version which features on Bluestone Records is a deeper trance version, where the spoken samples of "music was designed to lift in a very over laden world" are heavily distorted with electro FX.
12": Azzurra - Travel EP
[NP004]
| Track Listing:
|
Released 2/2000 on Natious Productions. Written and produced by Azzurra. This is an interesting release in that the style of trance here is almost like what was being produced on EyeQ Records back in the mid-90's. But i'm not saying that it sounds dated - it's just that i've not heard anything like this for quite some time. All three tracks are well produced, but its 'Falling' that stands out from the three with its haunting, yet enchanting ethnic sounding vocal. Quality.
12": TAG feat. AZukx - The Arrahant
[INV13 / INV13X]
 |
Track Listing:Disc 1:
|
Released 10/01 on Inversus Records. Written and produced by Tim Ratcliffe. Vocals by Gary Dyson. Additional remix and production on track 2 (disc 1) by Natious, on track 1 (disc 2) by Harry Lemon and on track 2 (disc 2) by Neil Kolo. This release sees a solid range of mixes of what is another excellent tune from Natious in disguise under the pseudonym of TAG. Vocals from Gary Dyson (AZukx) are half-spoken / half chanted, very much in an Underworld style.
