| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 9 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 9 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 9 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 8 |
| Overall | 8.6 |
Bit of background to start the review, I'm quite a fan of Ricky's stuff, especially the Stella Polaris Project, which as I have commented on many times actually has a good chance of succeeding in the real world (or beyond the confines of the site if you prefer), I also enjoy quite a bit of the MD-1 Project stuff, especially when he focusses on the dance floor side, some of the more purely industrial tracks leave me cold as I have no point of reference to enjoy them to be honest, but when he decides to get the feet moving there are few better artists and when he is on form he is the one to beat on the site. Which brings us to this track, A Tale Of Two Half's (there is a song structure clue in the songs title lol). Now this is pure dancefloor mayhem. As most of you know my tastes vary quite wildly from pure cheese to weird experimental stuff, so It's nice to sink my teeth into something that's designed purely to get the feet moving, but retaining enough experimental elements to satisfy the more enlightened amongst you.
Track begins with a very long intro, necessary for dj mixing which I have been told this track is intended for. This runs for about 3.30 minutes with little variation on the main theme, but I have no problems with this part. Actually in the setting of a club, it's easy to lose yourself in a groove like this, time just melts away, you just lock in, it's like a primal feeling, you just know what's coming, and when it's going to arrive, it's the very essence of dance tracks. Mix wise, the kick is very sold throughout this section, locked 4 on the floor, there are various arp lines running over the top of it, repeating themes, slight hi hat fills which sound quite complex, and a gated mid synth joins in as the build progresses, all the while there are synth lines and the usual Md-1 crazy fx patterns playing over the top. Nothing is aggressively mixed here but the kick and the gated mid synth and the repeating higher arp line, all this is great solid dance floor stuff, but by now you're thinking 'when's it gonna kick off then' lol, and this anticipation is the stuff that makes techno work, playing to this need for a release. We then get a short breakdown section which begins with delayed and heavilly processed bellish lines and a strange atonal piano, joined by a very processed synth line, was actually quite surprised at how short this section was, but this may have been deceiving as you tend to lose yourself in stuff like this. Then at about 4.30 we get to the meat of the song, when the beats start again but with a more traditional sounding techno rhythm section, followed by a cymbal roll at around 5 min which leads to the big 2nd half of the song. Now I'm happy until this point mix wise but the cymbal build didn't work for me, I understand the need for a build here and the reluctance to use the bog standard sixteenth note snare roll we all use, but the cymbals are too splashy and kind of deaden the bit directly after it. Now we have a full on 4 on the floor kick, with a strong muscular kick on the 2 and 4 beat. There is a very expressive lead line here, the big techno throb we all need here, and some tempo changes which start ocurring, as the track seems to speed up imperceptively here, gaining momentum.
Second problem for me in this section is the bass, or perceived lack of a distinct bass instrument, don't care for the one used, it's too flabby. I can here how it's been slightly raised above the kick drum but it's not cutting though for me, think this is the timbre of the sound rather than any problem with the actual bass line itself. Also whilst I really like the lead line used, and the patch which sounds great, don't like how it's mixed either, sounds too reverby for me, would prefer it to have a bit more presence in the mix, or be more upfront, I'll used the lead in your own track ' I Love weed' as an example of a lead line just ripping the balls out of a track and tearing through. Also there are some crazy fx at the highest register of the track which are pretty full on (part hi hat fx, and another heavilly processed lead line) I actually quite liked these, then the tracks sort of winds down with some very cool bell-tree like sounds leading to a noise fade which sounds great by the way. So eight minutes lol. Surprisingly it didn't feel like so long lol, and I've listened to it six times in a row to try to get a handle on it for a review. I've approached this exactly as I was asked to provide feedback as to how I think personally the track could be improved so any marks are based on this assumption, as the track is unfinished and has a specific club context, but after all that I really rather enjoyed it, all my misgivings about track are easily fixed, non of the problems are terminal, just easily changed.
To listen to the track Click Here