When first decided to listen to this album I found myself in the same situation as both Dan and Matt in that I haven't had much of an experience with drum and bass, and more specifically 'liquid funk', previous to this album. Despite this I have listened to many hours of 'house' and 'funky house' mixes, forced upon me by my dad in my pre-car ownership days, giving me something to compare Mistabishi to.The first worry I had about this album before I listened to it was a painful, ear bleeding endurance of hours of the same basic drum beats and strange sythesised sounds heard on cheesy science fiction shows such as Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. I am delighted to report that this was certainly not the case. The album had variation and cleverly constructed musical interludes and melodies, showing Mistabishi's ability as a musician and not just a DJ. Indeed the musical phrases heard in tracks such as 'No matter what', 'Greed' and 'View From Nowhere' removed all my anxiety about this album being 'unintelligent drum and bass' that I had been warned about. Furthermore the variation in drum beats and patterns changes throughout the album with Mistabishi using both accopela vocals, changes in tempo and dynamics to create relative climax or ani-climax's and the variations in drum beats and patterns such as his use of off beats in 'View From Nowhere' and a relaxed swung style beat in 'Lean'.
Mistabishi similarly uses clever techniques for creating his other tracks, most notably the much discussed track 'Printer Jam'. At first I thought this would serve simply as a gimic, making it diregardable as a listenable piece of music. I am happy to say that once again I was wrong. It not only utillises the most inventive use of sampling that I have heard but is also a piece of music in its own right. Indeed it is listenable as an example of drum and bass as well as providing an example of an inventive and clever gimic.
I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album, so much so that I am looking for more examples of drum and bass. In my opinion if an album makes you want to experience more of a genre then it has performed its job superbly. It is therefore fair to say that Mistabishi has educated me, not only in his track 'Lean' as he explains that fire=smoke and smoke=choke and that grass is green, despite the extremely high educational value that this holds. Mistabishi educated me in the existence and versatility of drum and bass as a whole. It is for this and my sheer enjoyment of the album that validates my score:
4.5/5 OR 90% OR 9/10 (there, all avenues covered ;) )
LOL, loved this review. If you want more drum and bass like this one, look into "High Contrast", possibly one of the most successful liquid funk producers ever. Also, out of all the drum and bass genres I like Liquid funk and Hard step the best. Look into "Evol Intent" for some good hard step. Its not uplifting but very dark, minor-ee and usually very clever. :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.londonelektricity.com/mistabishi/node/22
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about London Elektricity, I listen to his podcast. Another great liquid funk artist.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks for the link Anon, a great insight into what inspired these tracks. :-)
Who is this anonymous person? I sense they might like to put a review up (I take it they're the same person who wanted to smash Dan's head into a printer?).
ReplyDeletei have a feeling that it is simply Roshan talking to himself and giving the illusion that there is someone who shares the same bizarre beliefs as him
ReplyDeleteTom, don't insult our viewers. It's not like we're rolling in hits.
ReplyDeleteWe could be.
ReplyDeleteNo one knows *shifty eyes*