Turkish producer Ozgur Ozkan makes his debut on Stripped Digital, ably supported by remixes from Yuriy from Russia, Corei & Matias Spataro, and AMAN. 

‘Bosphorus Rising’ is a low-key slice of trancey progressive house, with a simple hypnotic hook and bass growls building towards the breakdown, where a more urgent melody comes to the fore, tripping out the track as an offbeat bassline intensifies underneath.

Yuriy from Russia’s remix sounds just like the original at first, but more explosive percussion and a massive, rumbling bassline soon distinguish it. Yuriy wastes no time before enriching the percussion and spinning Ozgur Ozkan’s main hook over the top, and adding in eerie and mournful sounds that constantly shift octaves. There’s a power to this remix that the original lacked, and the shimmering main melody and huge key shifts don’t hurt either. Fantastic work, that had me reliving some of the thrills of my psy-trance roots.

Corei & Matias Spataro push the track in a very different direction, with a low-slung bassline and techy percussion. It’s the least melodic of the four versions, but fortunately the remix never gets too minimalistic, keeping things interesting by teasing some of Ozgur Ozkan’s ideas on top, adding both texture and atmosphere in the process.

AMAN’s remix is rather more gentle, offsetting a wall of bass against aquatic synths and chiming hooks. The final breakdown introduces a groovier bass part that gives the track a bit more swing as it heads into the understated finale.

Ozgur Ozkan’s original is definitely nice, but it’s the remixes that really make this package – what’s really welcome is that each takes the track in a genuinely different direction, ensuring that ‘Bosphorus Rising’ will work for a range of different DJs and a range of different points in the night. Yuriy from Russia’s high-octane version is my personal favourite, but this is a strong package overall from Stripped Digital. 8/10