Imported Nightmare

About the track

It went online at MP3.com on 24 September 2003, the same day as Lobotomized Unicorn and earlier than planned. The band announced it as a blend of Marco V and trance[]control, a highly progressive hard trance tune with tribal techno beats, and on MP3.com wrote of tribal beats with German techno and hard trance influences, "yet with our own twist".^1,2,3

Asked about its pitched, drill-like sound, Alexander wrote that it was a sample the band had found, probably a gradually pitched hoover sound, meant to imitate a train whistle. Asked what the band now made its music with, he answered a computer, Logic Audio, a set of software synths and a large sample library.¹

In the release thread's poll all 24 voters gave it four or five stars, 17 of them five. It was in the band's set at Waterworld in Montreal two days after its release, as listeners identified it in the recording, and it was in the band's own track list for Club Sensation in Borås on 3 April 2004. In October 2003 Alexander wrote that he was pretty confident it would be on one of the band's vinyl releases planned for 2004, and in the forum's poll of February 2004 on a planned 12-inch EP it shared second place. In July 2004 he wrote that he was looking forward to a new work in progress named Exported Nightmare.^1,4,5,6,7,8

Alexander wrote that the band had strictly applied its mixing and mastering method, all done in Logic, to this track, paying closer attention to frequency ranges than on earlier ones. In October 2003 the band entered the track in a competition on mp3.com.au, then found that it was open to Australian residents only.^9,10

It is track 2 of MISSION 2002 Vol. 3, released on 30 April 2004, where the band's 2005 discography lists it simply as Imported Nightmare, and in October 2005 it was one of the free tracks of the band's podcast. The remastered MISSION 2002 Vol. 3 of May 2012, rebuilt from uncompressed masters instead of the 160 kbps MP3 files behind the earlier editions, names Imported Nightmare among the band's hallmark tracks.^11,12,13,14

In their words

“The pitched 'drill-like' sound is a sample we found - probably a gradually piched hooversound of some sort. In our minds it's supposed to imitate a train wistle.”

“Prepare yourself for the blend between Marco V & trance[]control in rage...”

Played live

1. Waterworld · 26 September 2003 · Montreal

   Track 8 of 10 in the set, as a listener identified it from the recording.

   

2. Club Sensation · 3 April 2004 · Borås

   Track 5 of 12 in the set, as the band listed it.

   

On the band's forum

• trance[]control LIVE @ Waterworld, Montreal (CA) · 24 Sept 2003 · 19 posts
• MISSION 2002 Release #19 · 24 Sept 2003 · 32 posts
• MISSION 2002 Release #20 · 24 Sept 2003 · 36 posts
• A contest you should look into... · 17 Oct 2003 · 7 posts
• trance[]control LIVE @ Club Sensation! · 21 Dec 2003 · 41 posts
• trance[]control - 12" EP's [2004] · 15 Feb 2004 · 36 posts
• MISSION 2002 Vol.3 RELEASED! · 30 Apr 2004 · 22 posts