Alter Ego - Alter Ego

Harthouse/Harthouse America: 1994/1995

Even with their name right there as the album's title, I doubt most folks would believe you if you told them this was Alter Ego's debut. Oh, the old heads know, though they tend to skip straight to Decoding The Hacker Myth for their Must Have Alter Ego Records Of The '90s; Acid Jesus too, if they want some straight-up techno. Heck, even if folks are savvy enough to know Alter Ego started out on a more chill bent, I'm sure they'll name-drop the album they released before this one (The Primitive Painter as The Primitive Painter) as the more interesting of the two, if nothing else because of how unknown it is (gotta' show off that trainspotter savvy).

Thus in a discography that includes IDM, techno, tech-house, minimal tech-house, electro, faux-electro, and some acid too, Alter Ego stands alone, more a remnant of the ambient dub era of downtempo music than anything Misters Wuttke and Flügel would go on to do. For sure they put their own spin on the sound, but by and large most folks instead regard this album a chill-out option within the early Harthouse catalogue, a companion piece to whatever mellow moments Ralf Hildenbeuten, Oliver Lieb and B-Zet were providing the label. Aside from the laid-back acid vibes of single Soulfree, little from here gets brought up when discussing Alter Ego's body of work.

Well, poo on them, because I quite enjoy Alter Ego for all those reasons! Yeah, it owes a fair deal to ambient dub, but that gives their music much warmth over their more clinical excursions into music-making. If anything, I'd bill this stuff as 'lounge techno', the sort of music you could imagine being played out at a dimly-lit coffee shop while relaxing on a sofa, a warm mug of your favourite caffeinated beverage simmering nearby as you contently flip through some old novel, its spine withered from repeated usage. No, I'm not basing that off the one track titled Sentimental Books, why do you ask?

As mentioned, Soulfree was the lead single, a wonderfully downtempo outing of deep acid grooves. Atomic Playground plays up to its namesake, a playful little ditty of acid, jazz, and dub, while Chinese Eyes lazily bobbles along with dubby acid and lushly warm pads. For those who need their Alter Ego a tad more upbeat, the thirteen-minutes of Nude Restaurant works a nifty, rolling oscillating rhythm as acid and synths percolate throughout, while Tanks Ahead shows off the duo's funkier side of acid electro (small wonder The Black Dog tapped this one to remix). And as is required of most techno albums of the day, we get the obligatory ambient closer in Undersea Girl, about as warm a piece of ambience as I've ever heard from anyone of the era, wrapping you in thick blankets of synthy timbre while spacey acid bubbles to the ocean surface from Atlantian depths. Yes, I've had this album so long, it's practically painted canvases within my brain matter. How it do?

Bogdan Raczynski - Alright! (Original TC Review)

Rephlex: 2007

(2019 Update:
I don't normally include the track list in these old TranceCritic reposts, much less any review beyond some personal burned discs, since it's usually redundant, unimportant information, and takes up ugly space. However, much of the opening paragraph is dependent upon you knowing what the track list looks like, so in this rare case, it's here to see. Funny thing is, despite this album now being over a decade old (!!), I'm still not sure if the track title confusion has cleared up. The Discoggian entry has them all listed as 'Part's, but scope out the Bandcamp option, and they appear as below. I think I added 'Part' to the titles when I uploaded this album to my computer, just so the Last.fm scrobbling data didn't get all wonky too. And since the album's not on Spotify - y'know, where Bogdan can make a couple fractions of a penny via streaming - there's no way to know for sure, is there?

Sadly, this was Mr. Racyznski's last album. He's kept active in other ventures (does he still mod? I feel like he's the kind of guy that'd still mod), and recently released a four-track collection of DJ mixes on his Bandcamp. It just feels wrong that he never followed up this giddy LP. Surely he's got more ideas in his brainpan for the braindancers. Like, a decade's a long period to not release anything official, and far as I know, Rephlex's doors are always open for the quirkier chaps in this scene.)


Track List:
1. Alright! (4:59)
2. Alright! (4:51)
3. Alright! (4:31)
4. Alright! (4:32)
5. Alright! (4:05)
6. Alright! (5:32)
7. Alright! (5:58)
8. Alright! (7:38)

IN BRIEF: Um... alright?

No, your eyes don’t deceive you. That really is the track list to this album. Or is it? There is absolutely nothing to hint at what the titles are, or even if the tunes contained on here do have titles. Sure, Mr. Raczynski has mentioned they should be Alright!, but given his prankster past, how trustworthy can such claims be? For all we know, they could all be called ‘Untitled’, or even ‘...’. Perhaps we the consumers have been granted the good grace to come up with our own names, although I’d imagine that would make finding these on your handy P2P programs ever more difficult. What I do know for certain is they are not titled after record labels, so ignore that fake track list floating around with names like Rough Trade and Forced Exposure: it's completely the bunk. For the sake of sanity, I’ll be referring to them by their track numbers in this review (#2, #4, #7, etc.).

Alright? Good. After reading that, you should have a better idea of what kind of a producer Bogdan Raczynski is (if you didn’t know already, anyway). Taking influence from ‘braindance’ icons of the 90s like Squarepusher and µ-Ziq, his music can be a bit, um, challenging. At the same time though, he treats his craft with the recklessness giddiness of a child, taking delight in throwing curveballs at the self-serious attitudes the IDM crowds are known for. Whether making threats to produce psychedelic trance if fans didn’t legally obtain his music or using bait-and-switch album names like Ibiza Anthems Vol. 4, Bogdan can be one tricksy musician.

On his sixth full-length, it also appears he’s become nostalgic,Alright! a kind of joyful throwback to the hedonistic days of raving, when folks were more concerned with happy-fun times rather than prestigious regard in the eyes of the larger world. Goodness knows seeing the word ‘eurodance’ on the back cover of a Rephlex release is enough to throw such serious plans right out the window.

Fortunately for fans of Bogdan’s drum programming, his scattershot rhythms and frantic pacing is still in full effect, although far less complex than in years past. There’s breakbeats at break-neck pace, proto-gabber beats bobbing about, and plenty of tin-can rim shots for you to gorge on. Er, yeah, a lot of the percussion, while interesting to hear, comes off weak and flat, as do many of the sounds used too. You’d think he cannibalized a bunch of 8-bit video games for samples, which may not be far from the truth. Frankly, aside from moments when the bass suddenly rumbles with authority (especially so in #4), much of Alright! is gleefully under-powered, and will immediately turn away those whose tastes are within the confines of squeaky-clean, pristine, EQ’d-to-the-max production.

Shame for them, then, as they’ll be missing out on some gosh-darned wonderful little songs here. Between rave-tastic riffs - #1 and #3 spring immediately to mind - and mellower melodies (#6 and #7) Alright! is just so endearing, you can’t help but come away with a smile on your face. Heck, the tinny production even helps sell the tone of the album, reveling in childlike exuberance.

Is it silly? Sure. #4 could just as easily be called The Spastic Acid Kitty-Kat Parade, but what a hoot it is! And #8 sums up Alright! perfectly, indulging in both old-school energy and ambient sentimentality for a winner of a track. Perhaps the only stumble to be found is the acid work in #5, lacking the spiffiness the other tunes have but still fun in its own right.

Undoubtedly, fans of Bogdan’s work and dedicated followers of Rephlex have already snagged this one up, but what about the rest of you? Should you commit debit to disc on a silly ‘braindance’ album? Even if your tastes are razor thin, I still say yes, if anything to spice up your collection. But more than that, no matter the circumstance, these tracks are simply fun diversions, very much channeling the care-free spirit of raving’s heyday. And isn’t the whole point of dancing to let go of the world’s formalities anyway?

Clocking in well under an hour, Alright! breezes by quickly and like the rave party that prematurely ends, you can’t help but long for just one more song. End it does though, as does this review.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved

Advanced UFO Phantom - Alliance Of Worlds

Werkstatt Recordings: 2013

What's funniest about this EP is its alphabetical placement in my music directory. I've just completed a run of three 'alien' albums, plus there's a fourth one I reviewed a couple years ago (Nacht Plank's Alien). Come to think of it, it wasn't too far back that I'd revisited Alien Project too (cringe), so there's definitely something of an extra-terrestrial nature lurking in this lump of music of mine. Heck, might there have been some Greys lurking in Air Farina too, some unidentified flying thing that come down from sky? This particular release doesn't have 'alien' in its title, yet here it is, appearing in the list just a couple items after all the others. And I find that hilarious because with cover art like that, you'd just assume Alliance Of Worlds a shoo-in for hanging out with its alien brethren. Not quite, standing between them a pair of robots, a local rocker, some ancient mystics, and those Irish dudes who just won't go away.

That's all I really got for this EP. No, wait, this was also Werkstatt's ninety-ninth release, one shy of hitting the big one-double-oh. Of course, the Greek label is up to three-hundred-five now, but it's always a special moment when you first hit that triple digit achievement. Goodness though, I don't remember what my one-hundredth CD was. For sure I was buying music at a respectable clip for a teenager with almost no significant income, but it wasn't until I started working at a music shop that I truly began indulging my musical consumption habits. My guess it was something from Moonshine. My one-thousandth CD, then? Ah, hm, I don't remember that one either, and it couldn't have been more than a year or two ago that I got it. It all comes in such waves and bunches now.

Anything else? Ooh, the one-hundred-one item in Werkstatt's catalogue was GosT's debut EP, Nocturnal Shift, so that's kinda' cool. Oh, you mean about this release I'm supposed to be reviewing. Well, as Rorschach As Voiced By It'sJustSomeRandomGuy would say, “Hrrm.”

I honestly have nothing to work with here. There's zero information of who Advanced UFO Phantom is, not even a brief blurb on the Bandcamp page. For all I know, this could be Werkstatt head Toxic Razor under another alias. He/She/They/Being-From-Beyond appeared on that Aeon Nemesis compilation I'm sure y'all have already forgotten about, but didn't offer anything worth a namedrop there.

And so it is with Alliance Of Worlds, a four-track EP that musically failed to grab my attention. The titular opener, at not even three-minutes long, is chipper, Alien Combat and Oblivion Oracles Of Beta Orionis work more a New Beat groove, while Empyrean Star opts for a chill closer. It all just sounds like so many other under-produced sci-fi synthwave offerings from this label though, with little unique to say about it. Alien Combat does have a decent New Beat stomp to it, but that's the extent of anything I can recommend about this release.

Death Grips - The Powers That B

Third Worlds: 2015

(a Patreon Request)

Impossible to ignore Death Grips, isn't it? They were among the heaviest hyped acts to emerge this past decade, in no small part due to their on-again, off-again disbanding antics; y'all better get this latest album of theirs, 'cause it might be their last! While I wasn't in a rush to check them out, I figured they were worth a scoping if most of the talking heads I trust with musical opinions were showing interest. Like, if savvy folks were going on about how that one Kanye album was essentially style-biting Death Grips, then there had to be something to this Oakland trio. I've heard all their albums are quite unique from one another though, so where to start, where to start? (Note: this Patreon Request left it to me with which album I'll review)

Most professional reviews recommend all their albums, though for differing reason, while fan lists have them arranged in all manner of random order. The Money Store seems easiest to get, but also feels kinda' wrong, being on a major label and all. Not so sure about that No Love Deep Web cover art being on my blog either. Their latest? How can I critique it without proper background comparison? Fine, I'll go with this double-disc one – should be a good sampling of their stuff.

The Powers That B is essentially two albums, each disc radically unique from its companion. The first, Niggers On The Moon, came out early as a download, and had the gimmick of featuring Björk samples throughout. Eh, I only really hear one, a consistent “ah ah-a” chopped and screwed with over digital hardcore beats (reminds me of Chemical Brothers' Song To The Siren). As for the beats, yeah, they're frenetic and spastic and experimental and Kaos Pad'd to the nth degree, but it all sounds kinda' samey throughout too. Without watching the tracks play through, I honestly couldn't tell when one ended and another began. It's an interesting listen, for sure, but strikes me as something only the dedicated Death Grips fans will get much out of.

As for Jenny Death on CD2, hole Lee bovine...! Now this, this is worth the hype. Just viscera, balls-to-the-wall thrash-punk bedlam, squalling guitars and chaotic drums over forceful, pissed-off shout-rapping from MC Ride. This is the music Liam Howlett probably wanted to take The Prodigy, before all that commercial success neutered his rebellious streak. I know Jenny Death is no more indicative of Death Grips' style than Niggers On The Moon is, but I've no doubt this is as solid an introduction to the group if you're itching to expose them to the undecided.

Hell, even the obligatory 'RnB tune', Pss Pss, is like some crazy psychedelic romp about a dirty festival. And that insane digital hardcore closer of Death Grips 2.0 is greater than anything on CD1. Okay, that Say Hey Kid was amusing, in that it reminded me of another long-since forgotten California rave-rap genre-fusion act: The Movement! (don't O.D., yo').

Aira Mitsuki - C.O.P.Y.

D-Topia Entertainment: 2008

(a Patreon Request from Philoi)

Holy cow, it's a j-pop synthwave album! You'd think this is a shoo-in mini-scene, as '80s anime seems ripe for aesthetic plundering as anything else form the decade, but for some reason I don't see it much. Then again, a lot of the animation coming out of Japan was setting its sights in the far future (anywhere between 1995-2152), and synthwave is more about celebrating stuff that actually existed in the '80s, even if it's a hyper-stylized version cribbed from direct-to-VHS fodder. There's no doubting that cover though! The font, the streamers, the car, the city lights, the purple vector grids, the retro-future eyewear – looks about as synthwavey of art as I've ever seen. I wonder what sort of cool sounds I'll hear in this ...2008 release? Wait a second... *does a playthrough* Oh. It's not synthwave at all. Huh, I forgot the '00s cribbed a ton of '80s iconography too, all the while sounding nothing like '80s music.

Before getting into what this is, let's get into who this is. Aira Mitsuki is a j-pop songstress who apparently won some contest called the Mega Trance Songstress Audition. I have no idea what that is/was, and a Google search just brings me either to her bio, or the Mega Trance compilation series, which has nothing to do with Aira, j-pop, or trance. I'll assume it was another idol contest that Japan loves throwing, though Ms. Mitsuki used her opportunity with the victory to go in a totally unique direction.

Instead of retreading chipper ol' synth-pop in cute/fetishistic outfits, Aira instead presented herself as a “techno-pop idol from the future”. Sure, we could always use more cyborbs in our dance-pop, and she accommodated this style by going full electro-house. No, wait, that's not right. With the heavy use of vocoders, auto-tune, and other digital effects on her voice, I'm hearing nu-italo in her tunes. Yes, that short-lived novelty genre of the early '00s, where it didn't matter what you sang or how badly you sang it, the machine would turn it into a catchy radio hit. Pair it up with bouncy, stylized dance-pop, and it's basically nu-italo half a decade past its peak popularity. But then, Japan has always been resistant to global trends in their music.

It's not all nu-italo though, with plenty of that mid-'00s electro house acid farting going on. Some tracks even take things into Ed Banger territory, Beep Count Fantastic and Rock'n Roll Is Dead in particular all sorts of garrish, chunky, abrasive electro-trash noisiness. Meanwhile, イエロー・スーパーカー is... happy breakcore? Where did this come from? The future, is where!

As for lyrics, even if I understood the language, the digital effects still render everything almost unintelligible. Which is fine for me who only like nu-italo on a dumb level. Sing about being blue or a Darling Wondering Staring, it all sounds the same to me.

ACE TRACKS: December 2018

Well, that was a disappointing year. Oh, I'm not talking about all that other stuff, though it wasn't any sunshine either. Not that I was surprised by much of it, that Gen-X upbringing bracing myself for all manner of nihilistic developments as history unfolds. Still, there were little signs and portents that maybe, just maybe, things will turn around.

But no, I'm talking about on a personal front, specifically with regards to this blog. The Year 2018 saw my lowest output yet (again!), which is crazy considering I probably bought more music than ever before. It's like, in getting so many new items, I just don't have the time to digest them, taking me longer to form cohesive thoughts and opinions before committing them from fingers to keyboard. On the other hand, I did actually finish my initial goal of listening to everything I have in alphabetical order, so there's that to be proud of. Already feels like an age ago though. Also, since I'm now dedicating one day per week to Patreon-exclusive reviews, that has cut a tad back on content here. Maybe I ought to re-upload those Patreon posts here, after a month of time has passed from their posting? Maybe...


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Aeon Nemesis
Supercar - Highvision
Aquasky - Aftershock
Various - Alien Dust 1
TUU - All Our Ancestors

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 16%
Most “WTF?” Track: Igorrr is as wonky as it gets, though compared to some of the other offerings off that album...

Gosh, what an enjoyable playlist this month turned out. Like, it's already chock full of choice tunes, but even some of the pairings are fun. For instance, going from the faux-live antics of Scooter, to the proper-live antics of Daft Punk, what a contrast! Then you got peppy synth pop, classy progressive house, thoughtful ambient techno, nifty psy-chill, assorted miscellaneous stuff keeping things diverse, and a dash of rock AND roll for spicy flavor. Gonna' make sure this one makes the list of ACE Ace Tracks Playlists!

U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

Island Records: 2000

The only post-Millennium U2 album everyone still remembers fondly of. Oh, I'm sure some still rate How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb and even No Line On The Horizon (not so much Songs Of Innocence though, heh), but this one, this reminded folks that, yes, they actually do like U2. So successful was the Irish band in convincing everyone of this fact, even I got myself the album, and I wasn't even that big a U2 mark when it came out. Sure, I enjoyed their '80s music, but I only ever needed a greatest hits package of said work to sate my needs.

It was a can't-miss project though. After so many years of genre dalliances and wayward muses, getting back to basics was inevitable, the band undoubtedly aware of just how far off the rock path they'd gone. Maybe they couldn't recapture the unforgettable political fire that marked much of their '80s highlights, but they could at least bring in some familiar producers with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Take a little of what you know, a little of what you learned, mix in all that remains of you (what you can't leave behind), and present it all in a humble, simple little package, none of that technicolor opulence the Pop tour indulged in.

And hoo, did we buy in, desperate to hear the U2 we remembered of yesteryear. Lead single Beautiful Day done did that, offering up the soaring strings, soaring Bono chorus, soaring guitars, and even a little soft 'techno drums' in the rhythms, just in case some of you did like Discoteque. With such a stirring, rousing, grand opening statement and return to form for U2, we all believed the forthcoming album was gonna' be all that. No, don't deny it, you did.

Elevation hits that high too, with a little more boogie going for it, but nay, All That You Can't Leave Behind is a far mellower album than folks expected, and save the big singles, has kinda' fallen from memory as a result. Like, I've played this CD plenty of times now, but I can never remember how Peace On Earth or In A Little While goes. I do recall Walk On being another overplayed mall-radio jangle, and New York being a charming ode to The Big Apple, but I always forget they're from this album. Wild Honey has me thinking the Beach Boys rendition instead, and Kite... isn't this also Gorillaz' Slow Country?

And thus we reach this record's conundrum. For all the accolades All That You Can't Leave Behind earned, reinvigorating U2's career, and adoration it received at the time of release, when stacked against the band's greater body of work, it just can't live up to that legacy. The big singles, yes; the rest, not so much. For sure it was the right album at the right time, but that time has passed, and the older it gets, the further it falls in favour. These things happen.

Tuu - All Our Ancestors

Beyond/Waveform Records: 1994/1995

It's a strange thing, Tuu appearing on an 'ambient dub' label and all. Wouldn't they have made better sense on a New Age print? Perhaps, but the trio always floated around different musical circles than kooky mystic crystal worshippers. Their first album came out on the German print SDV Tonträger, more known for industrial sound experiments from the likes of Konrad Kraft and Jesus Drum. Meanwhile, knowing he'd have to do some serious hustle to get their band any sort of exposure, Martin Franklin would hawk Tuu's CDs and tapes in whatever stores would take them.

In the UK, that usually meant the underground joints where hardcore rave records were found aplenty. As luck/chance/fate would have it, Mr. Franklin ran into a label promoter in one such shop, where they shot the shit about what was what in the burgeoning chill-out scene flourishing in British afterhours venues. Just so happened that promoter was Mike Barnett, responsible for the seminal Beyond print, who already had a string of successful releases via the original Ambient Dub series. Sensing Tuu's style could add to Beyond's already broad downtempo pallete, they were brought on for a second album, All Our Ancestors. Then Waveform Records made it their second artist album release (after HIA's Colourform), and fourth overall. Man, talk about taking a gamble. Like, Tuu were well respected and all, but not exactly an act to sell a fledgling label with. Ah well, Loop Guru's Duniya was just around the corner anyway.

If you've forgotten exactly what Tuu sounds like (understandable, as I've only reviewed One Thousand Years many moons ago), they're a trio consisting of tribal drumming (bowls, pots), a single woodwind (typically flute), and some synthy pads and treatments. It's all very minimalist and haunting, as though you're listening to ritualistic meditative music from primitive cultures long since passed. All Our Ancestors doesn't do much to shake the formula, though when dealing with such a simple formula to start with, not much shaking can be done regardless. Compared to One Thousand Years, this album does see a little more involved songcraft, less about the lengthy hypnotic journeys compared to their debut.

Oddly, I find their music less engaging as a result. For sure all the familiar sounds and vibes are in All Our Ancestors, but the greater attention to musicianship doesn't draw me into the same hypnotic trance as compositions like Body Of Light and Pan America do. Those works, they instantly lodged in my headspace, and have remained there ever since. I sadly can't say the same for tracks like House Of The Waters or Rainfall here. My brain tells me these are technically better crafted pieces of music, with more intuitive sounds utilized. There's just something irresistible about the simplicity of their older works though. It's like, as a method of music that celebrates the most primitive of humanity's sonic artistry, it truly excels in its most uncomplicated form. And really, hasn't that always been ambient music at its best?

Chris Witoski - All In Line

nizmusic: 2006

I hummed and hawed a little over whether I should review this. I'm under no real obligation to, see, as this feels more like a glorified demo, or a high-profile localized release if I'm being generous. And while I've reviewed a couple such items here and there, they remain on the 'electronic' side of things, music that I at least advertise as being covered on this blog. This is a rock release though – or a heavy, electric-folk one – Chris Witoski a guitarist who's made a tidy career touring Vancouver pubs and bars performing solo material. He's also part of a band called SplitTRACT, but more often than not, I see his name as a solo gig, and have for nearly a decade now. What I find so surprising about this is he performs at just about any location, from big venues like the River Rock Casino, to little hole-in-the-wall joints in my neighbourhood. That's dedication to one's art, leaving no gig turned down, just for the chance to always be playing for an audience, even ones in the ass-end of Vancouver's suburbs (Marpole still better than Killarney!).

As should be obvious, I have this CD because I happened to see Mr. Witoski one time at a bar downtown. Didn't know who he was but I'm pretty sure I liked the covers he was playing. What happened next is a blur, maybe I drunkenly sauntered up to him between sets to ask if he knew any Neil Young (as I always do to dudes with guitars), and somehow ended up with one of his CDs in my hand. The rest of that night... ooh, God, memorable for all the wrong reasons. The sort of events that have you wondering what you're doing with your life, whether the people you live with are doing you wrong, if there's any escape or solution to the insanity that has been thrust upon you, if you should 'man up' and not sleep in the bed while she stubbornly continues to sleep on the couch... where was I again? Darn associative flashbacks.

My background in acoustic-rock of this nature remains very limited, but if I was to give a musical comparison to what I hear from Chris Witoski's All In Line, I'd have to go with Our Lady Peace or The Tea Party. No, I can't be less Canadian about those comparisons. Mind you, Mr. Witoski doesn't have the nasally pitch of Raine Maida or the baritone of Jeff Martin, Chris' voice a pleasant crooning mid-range with multi-tracking flourishes. I'm just going by the musical comparison there. And save some drumming from Bobby James, all the instrumentation (mostly acoustic guitar) is done by Witoski as well. Production is a little stiff, but it's not like we're dealing with a CBC studio release here. Just some tunes by a local guy, committing his passion to a physical format to share with other. Bro, you should take it to Bandcamp, get some chedda' for your efforts!

Daft Punk - Alive 2007 (Original TC Review)

Virgin: 2007

(2018 Update:
Might this have been the Most Important tour in electronic music history? It certainly kicked off an arms race of spectacle concerts within the scene, where having the biggest, boldest, flashiest, gargantuan light show was a necessary evil in one's career arsenal. Good tunes and loyal fanbase just wasn't enough, you had to get them buzzing online, sharing phone videos on YouTube and Facebook of The Experience of seeing your act live. Heck, with so much visual stimuli, having 'good tunes' wasn't even a requirement any longer, any ol' 'thumpity thump-thump' rubbish being enough so long as 20 billion watts of LEDs and laser power is going down. And when that is no longer enough, throw in a dinosaur or two.

I'll contend this remains the 'definitive Daft' collection of music though. Yes, it's missing their Random Access Memories material, but really, what are we missing from that? Get Lucky, and maybe one other song you like from that album. No big loss when you have so much other dope material here. Besides, the live nature of those songs really wouldn't jive with all the boom-boom stuff here. Would work as a nice pre-show opener though.)


IN BRIEF: Definitive Daft.

Maybe Kanye West had something to do with it. It’s certainly possible the hip-hop star whispered just the right words to Thomas and Guy-Manuel about such things as ‘legacy’, as Mr. West is quite obsessed with his own. If so, the electronic community may owe him some thanks, lest Daft Punk might have still been in the collective “fallen off” category of many as we enter 2008. Because let’s face it: after the mediocre Human After All and an all-too perfunctory greatest hits package, the general assumption was Daft Punk were past their prime. That they would have the most successful dance-act tour a couple years later was the furthest from everyone’s mind.

Yet that’s exactly what they did. By combining both the simplest yet most visceral of what the genre offers, Alive 2007 earned plaudits and accolades and kudos and whatever else you may have from across the board. And most importantly, it reminded us just why we enjoyed these daffy punkers to begin with.

Naturally, an album release of the show was inevitable. As with any live recording though, the same ol’ question marks regarding the outcome still cropped up. How would the sound quality be? Will crowd noise enhance or hinder the atmosphere? How effectively does it make you feel like you are actually there? And most importantly, does it make you wish you were there at that moment? Screw-ups in any of these factors can make for a lackluster live album (see Vitalic’s recently released one for a perfect example) but when nailed, the home listening experience can be almost as exciting as being there in concert.

Since Alive 2007 is a couple months old now and several of you have already undoubtedly listened to this, I’ll save you the suspense: they nailed it. Everything.

Most prominent of all the awesome on this CD is the bass. Whether they placed their recording source in a perfect sweet-spot or relied on post-production trickery to get the maximum results, every track literally pounds and resonates with amazing arena realism. If you ever wanted to show off to your non-‘techno’ friends what beats sound like a rave, this is as good a demo as any. From thunder-like rumbles (Touch It) to cannonball gut-punches (Da Funk), the bass is a marvel to hear (and feel, should you be fortunate and rich enough to own a sound system of such quality).

But that’s more of a technical gush than anything, and could be found on any home-theater showcase. No, the reason you’re after this disc is for la musique, and Alive 2007 delivers in such a way I’m sure few could have expected.

Despite their singles being bona-fide classics in EDM canon, the general consensus here at TranceCritic is much of Daft Punk’s discography is littered with tracks of questionable quality. The duo’s hype has often helped elevate annoying go-nowhere tosh like Rock ‘n’ Roll to levels of acceptance among their fanbase. And while such tracks sometimes make sense when used as quick sound-bites, they do not for the lengths Daft Punk presented them on their albums.

Perhaps Thomas and Guy-Man eventually realized this too, as all these problems with their ‘filler’ tunes are abolished here. The best parts are cannibalized to complement the bigger hits, and it works fantastically! Take the Prime Time/Alive mash-up for instance: Prime Time Of Your Life is rather listless on its own, but with the vocal complementing the cascading synths of Alive, the joint venture soars with excitement.

Their set is filled with such wonderful moments. The ripping fusing of Rollin’ And Scratchin’s sledgehammer beats supporting The Brainwasher’s techy rhythms. Crescendolls giving Television Rules The Nation extra vitality at its peak (lord knows Television could have used it). And, perhaps the most cheeky and exhilarating example of them all, the killer combination of the number two hits off their first two albums: Around The World and Harder Better Faster Stronger. I have to wonder if even the most dedicated Daft Punk fan would have been able to cobble together a set of Daft tunes and made it work as excellently as Thomas and Guy-Man have here.

And then there’s just how immersive this release is. Live recordings can be hit or miss in making you feel like you’re actually there at the event, but this one is definitely a hit. Just watch a couple bootleg videos of the event or flip through the fifty-page-plus booklet that comes included in this two-discer to get a feel for how it looks, then close your eyes as it plays through. Okay, so those sorry sacks out there without an imagination probably won’t vibe on that, but indulge me on this. Ooh... pretty, that pyramid...

I honestly can’t recommend this album enough, for Daft Punk fans and for casual fans of EDM period. Every single one of their best tunes are here, all of the questionable tunes are given new life, it is all presented in an atmosphere that draws upon dance music’s strengths, and it comes in a package that makes it worth shelling out that extra couple bucks for. Throw in a great encore featuring some of Bangalter’s side projects on the second disc, and you have about as definitive a Daft Punk release as you’ve ever seen. Whether they’ll be able to ride their new-found popularity to larger heights in the coming years remains to be seen but unlike the fall-out from their last album, you can be rest assured their next project will be waited upon with bated breath by fan and foe alike.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2008. © All rights reserved