Review: TJH87 - Deadlock
There’s something you need to know before buying/pirating/illegally borrowing from a friend and ripping TJH87's Deadlock onto your computer, there’s something you must know.
This is basically only one song.
It’s a really good song and would fit right into any summer house party that the media has told me I should be enjoying, but it’s still only one song. It is remixed in four different styles (not including the original, making it five tracks on the CD), each done by a different artist, save the last, which is an extended cut. This, including the main artist, makes this a collaboration between TJH87, Robotaki, Rico Tubbs and Roisto. I don’t recognise any of those names, but I’m sure they’re making strides in their respective genres, pioneers of musical prowess, inspirations to the latest generation of music fanatics. Or they could be pretty good techno dance musicians, judging from the five tracks I listened from each of them.
If you like variety in your music, this isn’t a CD for you. When I first absent-mindedly listened to it, I was wondering why the song was so long, until I noticed I was on the third track. Even though they are remixed, they all sound very similar. The order of the songs also sounds like a full song, with the quieter and louder songs alternating, making it seem as if there are verses and choruses. If they were in a mix with other songs I wouldn’t notice it as much, but when you bulk listen, it’s painfully apparent. I do really like the song though, the beat is incredibly strong, which, as a percussionist, is very important in music I listen to.
It’s not particularly memorable, which makes it a very good dance tune, with lots of repetition and prevalent lifts and rhythms. I find it to be very good background music, listening to it whilst writing this article even, since it fits the right volume between blaring loud and too quiet to hear. I also appreciate the lack of vocals, because I tend to dislike a reliance on vocals in some genres *cough, cough* rap *cough, cough*, meaning that if you play it in front of a group of young party members, they could quickly learn the words to chant, so yeah, that’s a plus.
As a fan of both chiptune artists like Anamanaguchi, as well as more synth-based electronic artists like Souleye or Danimal Cannon, I really like this music, but some people I’ve talked to who prefer more country or 90s style music have taken a great distaste to it. If you know you don’t like this kind of music, this won’t change your mind, it’s very formulaic of the electronic genre, but if that’s your thing, as it’s mine, you’ll enjoy it a lot. If you want to check out more of their work, check out their label's blog at http://www.lavaligetta.it or their Soundcloud to check out their music.
If you’re a fan of Daft Punk or Prodigy, you should check them out, I’d highly recommend it, despite its lack of actual content and similarity between the remixes.
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