My review of Wolfgang Gartner's new album Weekend in America

[passive]

Would be interested to hear what all you dubstep badmen thought of the album...

https://passivesounds.wordpress.com/201 ... g-gartner/



Album review: Weekend in America by Wolfgang Gartner
by Mike Wilde on January 10, 2012

This hotly anticipated electro house bombshell brings vintage analogue warmth and crackle to a genre too often marred by the cold sterility of digital perfection. Paradoxically the album also displays a mastery of modern techniques which places it firmly at the forefront of contemporary electro music. Sleazy, filthy and rough, another striking thing about this masterpiece is its supreme richness of melody and virtuous instrumentation.

Wolfgang Gartner is actually the electro alias of UK house producer Joey Youngman. This is a guy who’s not shy to jam out his own unique riffs on his keyboard or electric guitar, which brings a very intimate, human, even ‘live’ quality to the affair which immediately distinguishes it from its hottest competition on online music stores.

Doubtless this is a sound so devastating that many a producer will seek to emulate it. Most will fail horribly. Wolfgang’s sonic signature has certainly matured somewhat since his previous offerings (all masterpieces in their own right). One the one hand we have his ever expanding musical genius, able to interweave complex melodies with astounding fluidity and force, and on the other his long-standing obsession with vintage fuzz, and old skool vibes. This is an artist who’s only getting sicker.

Almost Every track on the album is an A-lister, with some disappointing exceptions. One possible criticism is that it doesn’t cover much musical ground, never straying too far from electro into the adjacent territories of house, funk or tech, but if you’re an electro head of any zeal this shouldn’t bother you much. Another inevitable denigration is that “it’s too commercial”.

Circus Freaks and Still My Baby feature basslines and synth hooks so catchy you’ll swear you’ve known them all your life, as well as disgustingly sleazy pop vocals by Jim Jones & Cam’ron and Omarion respectively. Forever (ft Will I Am) is already topping charts on daytime radio playlists worldwide, as is Get Em (ft Eve).

Cognitive Dissonance will induce aural epilepsy with its staggering array of layers and melodies and its unusual chord progressions, while the title track, Illmerica masterfully blends a lethal blues bass line with lush synth work that sends tingles up the spine.

Ménage a Trois is a sublime sonic threesome between a gritty bass synth and a pair of processed vocals. The unique groove of this track slyly emulates the ever accelerating rythms of sex itself.

818 is a disappointingly dull and repetitive venture into the kind of funky unmelodic electro of yesteryear, while Space Junk (with the exception of a tuneful interlude) sounds similarly mundane to my indulged ears.

It feels as though some tracks on the album are positively fraught with melodic detail, and display utmost craftsmanship and attention to detail, while others, though undeniably polished and well produced at the technical level, fizzle into the much-loathed mediocrity of modern dance.

Nevertheless I’d recommend a purchase of the entire album as there are enough life-changing moments to warrant a bit of tune spend. If you’re an electro house DJ of any description I’d say it’s a compulsory purchase, and one that will leave your crowd stomping recklessly and your venue tearing at the seams.

Passive

soundcloud.com/passive

[baseband]

the overuse of cheap hyperbole in online music reviews will cause most casual readers to hurl themselves into traffic

[optimuscrime]

the overuse of cheap hyperbole in online music reviews will cause most casual readers to hurl themselves into traffic

cheap hyperbole in place of thoughtful analysis points to a lack of intelligence in the music being reviewed.

[wobbles]

This sounds like a middle school book report

[Today]

lol someone get the guy who wanted to know what "par" meant