Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
My Review of Electronica Manila : Two
Of course to help further promote the release, I'd like to write a short review on the tracks and the album as a whole and being one of the guys involved in compiling this, I hope I can also share a bit on the details about this.
Let's start of with the tracks.
Deviation by Demolee : I'm actually a huge fan of Demolee with his chillout releases and "Deviation" is a perfect title because he really steered clear of his usual stuff bringing in a breaks type of tune with filter modulated sounds and a nice angelic female vox driving it. Well done. I do hope Demolee gets back to making great tunes as he's now on hiatus.
On The Move by Evo Evolver : On first listen I was surprised because the track had a feel of jumping styles and it was a total trip. There of course was a unified sound to it but the house feel jumping to a little more dubstep with a tinge of a sidechained/LFO pad on top of it then jumpin right back into
some harder synths was really an experience.
Invisible Money by Milkriddles : This is something a bit more tamed from the Milkriddles tunes I usually get into but it was nice as well.
Qwerty by Plant a Tree : I LOVE the delayed sound used on this tune and how it just takes you on a trip.
Speed of Light by Kereta : One of the actual electronic songs on the album. The tune actually has a nice catchy melody to it and I loved that contemporary chiptune sound styling it.
Una by Hyneria Moss Soundscape : If you're into the more experimental/ambient style, you'd like this. Its soundscape floats around and I'm reminded actually of a waaay slowed down audio file.
Well Well Well by Pupiliris : A nice progressive house tune from the guy also known as singleeyeperspective. Do check out his latest release on bandcamp. It's awesome :)
The Client by silverfilter : Of course I won't review my track. I'll instead talk about it to share how it came about. To people who follow electronic music and the trends that go with it, this tune of mine may sound dated. To be honest, it is. This was actually a tune I believe I wrote 6 years back! Its working title was "Breakin" and was supposed to be an instrumental track. But after doing a few shows with Diego, we got to talking to collaborating on a tune. The structure of Breakin seemed perfect for a song and so I sent it to him. He later sent me back the vocals and since he sang about a "Client" I renamed the song to "The Client." I put in the vocals and did major edits to it for effects and stuff and this is what came out of it. It's a pretty trippy track actually :) I had fun with it.
Cheese Pursuit by Mighty Dax : This track is pure Mighty Dax. Mixing his dance sound with a bit of breaks, and some rock flavours, Cheese Pursuit does go around like a ball of styles that MD covers all in one tune. I loved the sliding portamento bass on it.
Dubreax by Alpha and Beta : This tune seems like a rock song as it makes you do some head banging when the main bass comes in. It also surprises us with a huge drop in the middle turning this breakbeat chaos into a dubstep tune and then back into a massive synth-laden breaks track. My favorite part is the wah wah type synth toward the end.
Skinny Model Remix by Emorej : Emorej churns out tracks as much as gas prices increase! Here's one classic house tune from the man with his signature robo singing. The thing that sets it apart aside from his usual robo singing is that 90s house feel to it which really takes you back.
Rapid Induction by Blusmoke : It's really interesting since Blusmoke is the only guys using Trackers (I hope i got it right) to make his tunes and not the usual music hardware or software that a lot of us use. By that, he sets himself apart with a sound uniquely his own. This track has that lo fi grit sound and breakbeat feel to it.
Frozen in Time by Spintech : My favorite is the intro loop. I just got hooked into it. I was expecting a minimal house tune and then when the synth came in I was surprised by a deep house tune complete with delayed piano. I put this last in the sequence because it sounded like a perfect ending to a journey. This way you leave relaxed with the piano wash at the end of the tune.
I hope you and the artists enjoyed this short review of mine. If you haven't downloaded the album, get it here
http://silverfilter.posterous.com/electronica-manila-two-is-finally-out
Enjoy!
Cy
Friday, February 18, 2011
My Headphones
I then upgraded to a pair of HDJ1000s. I don't know if it's just me but I liked the sound of the 500s more. they say coz those are made in Japan. I don't know the real reason. And mine broke when I accidentally packed it quickly after a show. I still use it to this day and I just superglued it. I actually have a backup pair, which I got as a gift from my girlfriend then (wife today).
My other headphones now are a pair of Rolands that I got free from buying my electric drums and a pair of Samsons which I got for the recording room for use of singers.
My favorite though are my Sennheiser HD25-1 II headphones. I got it coz of the great reviews it was getting. I read that not only is it a great pair of cans for DJing but it's awesome for the studio as well. It's a bit expensive from your typical pair of headphones but it's worth it. I've been using it for a while already and the reviews are true ladies and gentlemen. I love it for mixing tunes! It's a great pair for reference monitoring and a great alternative for your studio monitor speakers. The sound is very detailed and the good thing with headphones is that you can really hear the smallest details and that's where I feel that my purchase has been worth it. Another thing i noticed is even with prolonged use, it doesn't hurt on the ears unlike my Pioneers which hurts the ears after a while.
If you're into great sound, I'd highly recommend the Senn's. Please don't tell me about Beats. It's overhyped and I don't plan on getting a pair. I love my Sennheisers. If I had the money to get Beats, I'd just get another pair of the HD25s!
Oh yeah, and I got it coz Richie Hawtin uses it hahaha
Cy