MusicWeek
A weekly review of Electronic Music albums in podcast format. Host Monty Luke alongside a revolving crew of reviewers give a lively round-up of the latest album releases in House, Techno, and beyond.
MusicWeek
Episode 5: Reviews of Adrian Sherwood's "The Collapse of Everything," Blawan's "Sick Elixir," Emily A. Sprague's "Cloud Time," Paul Kalkbrenner's "The Essence," and Tom Trago's "Ignorance."
MusicWeek: A Roundtable Review of the Latest Electronic Music Albums
Monty Luke and critics Ben Shider, Dan Cole and Inbal Gordon discuss and give analysis of this week’s latest Electronic Music album releases available now in most formats.
Albums:
Adrian Sherwood - The Collapse of Everything (On-U-Sound)
Blawan - Sick Elixir (XL Recordings)
Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time (Rvng Intl.)
Paul Kalkbrenner - The Essence (B1 Recordings)
Tom Trago - Ignorance (Magnetron Music)
Co-hosts:
Dan Cole, music journalist for The Berliner, Bandcamp Daily, and the Voice of the Final Futures podcast. @random_dan
Ben Shinder aka John Fick, aka John Fick, creator of Das Techno Team. @das.techno.team
Inbal Gordon, resident DJ at Refuge Worldwide. @madameshazzam
Genres: Reggae, Dub Reggae, Techno, Ambient, Experimental, Tech-House, Electro, Deep House
Monty Luke is a Berlin-based DJ, Electronic Music Producer, Radio Host and owner of record label Black Catalogue. He has remixed and released music on labels like Rekids, Hypercolour, Planet-E, Ostgut Ton and many more.
MusicWeek comes to you live and direct from Berlin, featuring reviews of the latest and best album releases from the spectrum of Electronic Music.
For more information on the MusicWeek podcast:
Monty Luke on Instagram: @monty_luke
Black Catalogue on Bandcamp.
It's music week, and after a long pause in production, we are back. I'm Monty Luke, great to have you with us. And with me this week are critics Dan Cole, music journalist for The Berliner, Bandcam Daily, and the Voice of the Final Futures podcast. Inball Gordon, resident DJ at Refuge Worldwide, and Ben Scheiter, aka John Fick, creator of Dust Techno Team. We start things off this week with Adrian Sherdwood's ninth album, The Collapse of Everything. It was released in August on the On You sound label. Dan, let's start with you.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, uh, this was definitely one of the favorite things to listen to for me this week, for sure. And uh I was quite surprised it's been um so long since he uh released anything special. Uh or released anything at all, sorry. But um Yeah, you can kind of feel um like the the emotion and passion in this record. Um and you know, I guess what makes it stand out more than anything else is it you know it feels like a record that's come through analog gear that's kind of made with uh proper instrumentation, and in an era where you know your your inbox is flooded with a bunch of records which kind of you know chopped and chained and spliced within a DAW using you know numerous plugins and you know now AI tools, like this this this feels like a breath of fresh air, and you can feel the emotion through through the tracks as well. So um big fan of this, and I've been a big fan of Adrian Sheward for a while. So um wasn't a name that I had heard of or had heard recently, so yeah. Were you aware that the album had come out? Um only by listening to your show on Refuge, to be honest.
SPEAKER_03:Right on, cool. Uh In Ball.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, I think it was like the first album I listened to, and I really did enjoy the first track the most. I I liked how the arrangement started and how slowly more and more instrumentations come in. Um and also throughout the tracks, I I really did enjoy like the horns and the flutes, and it was quite an interesting dubby reggae vibes, uh, which usually is not really my cup of tea like reggae, but I actually did enjoy listening to it. The drums were great, and there was also like this western track that was quite interesting. So I also kind of enjoyed that. It was a bit different. Um, so yeah, overall uh pretty good record, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I guess Brian Eno. I mean, there was a couple longtime collaborators on this particular album. Uh Keith LeBlanc, the late Keith LeBlanc, uh did some of the drums, and uh longtime bassist collaborator Doug Wimbish also performed on this album. But also, I think the third track is a collab with Brian Eno. So um FYI. Uh Ben, what do you think of The Collapse of Everything, Adrian Sherwood's latest album?
SPEAKER_01:I really want to agree with Inba and uh with their choice of uh words. Uh for me, dub is always like a parallel uh world that I didn't actually participate in, but I would once in a while jump in. We all grew up in Bob Marley, and I was just following up this whole movement of dub and these huge sound systems, and um had a conversation about that recently that dub must come back and must come back into Pano, even because the physics of the sound system are not being totally used, and in Dub they can be. So I really enjoyed that. Um, also the remark about the Western uh track, I like that as well. Uh, it also shows how um rangeful it could be. So it's not only reggae, it could be something as drum and bass, it could be something very fast, it could be something very slow and very fun to move to. So yeah, definitely like that album.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, there is a lot, to be fair, going back to what you're saying about um dub in uh particular venues. You know, there is already a monthly that happens. Um, I think it's I think her name is Darwin. She does a she does a monthly called Reef.
SPEAKER_01:I saw her closing in Birkhein a month ago. It was amazing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So she she's she's pushing that sound, her and people like Fiedle and everything like that. They're definitely uh there's lots of dubby vibes going on. And uh I think more so downstairs than upstairs, to be fair. Uh the sound system is more full range downstairs, but um yeah, just an FYI. Um our next album, Blah Wan's brand new album entitled Sick Elixir on the XL Recordings label. Ben, why don't we start with you?
SPEAKER_01:So, first of all, sick album. I cannot say that I follow Blavan's creation all the time, but every time I do look into his work, it's just uh let's say our resident producers are. I sent one of our guys today, Molly, maybe you know him, and I sent him uh the album just to listen. He's like, I don't want to listen to it because I don't need suicidal thoughts today. Because every time he listens to he not not in terms of depression, but every time that he listens to Blavan, he just loses confidence in his production. He says Blavan's just so good that he loses any kind of confidence in his own work. And I did some comments about that. I it was a very long time ago that I got homework, and this the this time I was really happy to do them. So all in general, it's raw, it's industrial, but still primal. It's rough, but it's structured. Uh, like the first track is like diabolically distorted, super inspired inspiration. Like for me, I'm gonna use it also into our content now uh to present one of our events. Now then you have like EBME vibes, the second track is almost kind of Michael Jackson-y kind of kind of kind of beat that is going on there. Then it gets uh this to this uh kind of dark military march uh percussions on the third track, fourth track uh sounded to me like Rihanna on an acid trip, uh, fifth track, fifth track uh was very similar somehow to uh I got the power by snap, but also everything distorted, diabolical, kind of uh broken drum and bass beats. Uh the seventh track reminded me of Sophie, Rest in Peace, uh in the darker version, somehow. Um the the eighth one was again devilish. The ninth was alien-y. I heard these kind of small chipmunks singing an anthem in an alien language. Uh the tenth track, very shifted in the chords, again, drum and bassy somehow in the beats, and repetitive, minimal, uh primal beats. Um, yeah, very, very trippy. Um I think the last one was also very the 13th and the 14th tracks were very special. The 13th was almost kind of balcony, uh, very dreamy and balcony in the way it moves. And the last one was even further, like in the east, almost kind of uh, I don't know, Asian with some Eurotrance uh sounds that popped off, some arcade VHS uh uh uh um samples that that were there. So, all in all, like a huge range of stuff, but you can still feel his uh diabolical style uh all over it. So I like it at all.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, have a bit of a mixed review, I have to say. I well, when I first hit play, I stopped within five seconds because like there's no way the audio file is corrupted, something is wrong. And I had to go in bed camp to like double check and it's like, oh shit, it's supposed to be like that. It's like distorted as fuck. And my brain was like, it's not possible, like really, but I had to go back to it this morning when I was like emotionally prepared to listen to this kind of music because I literally listened to everything else and kept this one to the end. I was like, I need to be in a different mental state, I need to like emotionally prepare to listen to some you know disastrous music. Um, yeah, so the first three tracks, I really did not like the vocals at all. I felt like he might have put too much distorted distortion on the main channel, and I don't know. To me, it wasn't my vibe. But then there was like the fourth track, the Rihanna on Acid or whatever that Ben said, like rabbit hole, I think it's called. And then I was like, oh, finally. Like now we're getting somewhere. And then after that, it was actually quite of a better ride. I don't know if it's like your brain, when you hear a mistake too many times, it doesn't sound as bad. Maybe my brain got used to the distortion. It's kind of like, you know, it's it is a mix-in technique, actually. Like, it's kind of like I mean, even the Beatles used it when John Lennon couldn't hit a note, they would just like layer the vocals so you wouldn't hear that he's not hitting the right note. So it's like maybe my brain got used to the distortion by now. But yeah, towards the end, I was already like kind of grew into it. Like the last three tracks, I was like in the destruction mode, industrial mode, but definitely the first three tracks. I'm like, yeah, you can cut them out of the album. But I mean, that's my opinion. But yeah, it was it was uh it was a ride, it was an emotional ride. I did get a bit uh anxiety toward the end too. I remember I had a coffee and I was like, I I should stop drinking the coffee. Like my heart rate cannot handle all of this. So yeah, it's uh it's a ride, some kind of a ride.
SPEAKER_03:The name of the album is Sick Elixir by Blauwan. Dan, your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02:Um, yeah, I kind of didn't like this, which was quite a surprise. You know, uh I've loved everything that Blauwan has done, and I think he's a singular artist in the modern era. Like if you see him live, he's able to execute um phenomenal electronics in a way that no one else is really doing, and he performs in a way that adds gravity to to any kind of environments. And whether he's released songs uh by himself or you know, the the several um production duos that he's he's got going on, he's able to kind of push the envelope and just you know make you think about things in a different way. But like this made me feel uncomfortable, and I think that was the intention of the record. So maybe that the fact that I didn't like it was actually what was he was set out to do. Like the the making of this record was during a period where I read that he was dealing with uh drug addiction issues and um he'd lost some people in his life and was going through grief as well. And you can you can feel that in a way, but like what I get from this record is like is it is a man who uh is in a juxtaposition of fighting between creating organic and almost digital um like music in a way. There's a sort of a voice trapped and lost within a machine that's screaming to get out in a way that makes ugly distorted sounds and really like vocals that are almost like you know, video drome-esque and um, you know, not not all records are you're are are they you're supposed to like. You know, there's even quite a few Aphex records which were so jugular that made you feel like, okay, I don't want to listen to this. But you know, in six months' time you'll go back and you listen to it again, and maybe you'll appreciate different parts of it. But I need a little bit of time to maybe have a cup of tea and and rest a little bit before I even pick this one up again.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, personally, I I'm I'm in between what what you're saying, Dan, and um what Imbal and Ben are saying. I I found it first of all, I did when listening to it as a whole, I found it to be quite cohesive, which a lot of albums these days are not. It did have a very sort of unified sound to it. Every single track seemed to fit with the track before it or after it. You know what I'm saying? It also had the feel to me of a of a of a live set, meaning that it had the feeling and flow almost of this is something he's gonna take on the road specifically. Um, I don't think it 100% worked in that way because I think like I really enjoyed like the first third of it, and then the middle third I thought was actually kind of like the energy kind of kind of changed for me. Um, but then I felt like the album finished very strong. The last two tracks or so I thought were also very strong and energetic. Um, so I'm like it's for me, it was a mixed bag, but I do appreciate what you're saying, Dan, about like this guy and his ability to sort of like um he has a very unique energy in his music. Um, and I can remember there was this record that uh an EP he put out um a couple years ago, and I remember distinctly listening to this. I can't remember the name of it now, but I played many the several tracks from this uh EP. And at the time, when I listened to it, I'm like, this is so fast. Like these tracks are so fast, and then like three or four years later, I'm I listen to these tracks now, and it's like they don't even sound that fast anymore. So, you know, obviously, like he um is able to sort of have his finger on something um very unique, and he brings something very unique to electronic music. Um, I'm just not sure that this album was 100%, I don't know, like like like others are saying, like not 100% my cup of tea. So uh so the name of the album is uh Sick Elixir by Blah One. It is out now on all formats. Um, next we are going to talk about Emily A. Sprague's full-length album, Cloud Time. Uh was released on Revenge International and Inball. Let's start off with you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean it was a really nice ambient record. I think uh for me, Osaka is where like things kind of picked up uh in the ambient realm. It got a little bit more interesting for me, arrangement-wise, and instrumentation usement. Um I think it's a great record to meditate to um and things like chill, very chill. I enjoyed it. Was it at anything groundbreaking? Probably not, but it was a nice, easy listening session for me. I would probably listen to it again whenever I want to chill.
SPEAKER_03:So, Dan, what did you think of the uh the album by Emily A. Sprigg, Cloud Time?
SPEAKER_02:I love this. I absolutely adored this. This is probably going in my uh album of the uh year list. And um, you know, it's I think it's challenging nowadays to make an ambient record that really stands out. Um, I just think like the production processes just have lowered the barriers to entry to make something that's kind of you know moody and wistful. But um I this feels like a postcard from you know, it was recorded whilst traveling with uh uh through Japan, and you kind of get the feeling of background noises and elements, and you kind of feel like she's able to paint the like the textural landscapes that that that surrounded her through these kind of audio uh pieces of work, and there's you know, the soft instrumentation there, and there's this kind of there's this wave of coming up and going, as if she's kind of played with the frequencies in a way that kind of bring them up and back down again, so that there's even if you lose attention a little bit, it it brings you back in. And um I'd I'd heard her work before, but what I didn't realise is that she's also playing in um in an indie trio band, a folk band from New York or Florist, who also also released a record uh this um this year as well. So I that sent me into a rabbit hole to to go down into more of her work, and I think it's phenomenal that you know someone like writing these, you know, these beautiful folk ballads also found time to uh embody another part of her musical um persona as well, and did so in a way that but there's no quality loss, there's no storytelling or character that's disappeared. And um I really I really feel so much personality in this records, and um yeah, I'm gonna be playing it again for sure.
SPEAKER_03:Do you think, and uh maybe the other two, you guys can also uh ponder this. Do you think that in this day and age in 2025, do you think we have the attention span by and large for an album like this?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. And uh I'll give an example. Uh, if you go to YouTube and uh watch some of those uh lo-fi study session uh recordings, you see how popular they are. And I think for many Gen Z kids who have exactly that problem of an of the attention span, they need something to just go in the background and keep them going, you know, these one-two tabs that are playing there. So maybe not in the traditional sense of putting only the record and being in one moment with the record, but definitely using it as a frequency that there's just constantly there. I see definitely Gen Z uh using uh ambient music that way. For me personally, it's not exactly my uh niche of digging, and I wouldn't listen to this album in terms of analyzing or trying to compartmentalize, but I would definitely put it when I'm chilling, uh meditating, cooking. I would definitely, it's a pleasant painting, and it's always nice to look at a pleasant painting, even if it's not your style, you know?
SPEAKER_03:Nice. And by the way, you sound great with the mic closer to you. So I don't know why I missed that.
SPEAKER_01:Like Mark, my partner, he put the microphone here and I completely ignored I ignored that he was here the whole time. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. No, you sound you sound really great. Actually, move it move it up a little bit too closer to your mouth, it'd be great. Great, perfect, fantastic.
SPEAKER_02:Just also what what what you say there about, you know, do we have the attention span for this? Um I I mean, totally. Maybe I mean maybe that's a question for younger people, but you know, I I I remember when I first you know heard something like music for airports or whatever, you know, it's just it's so minimal and almost background y. It's so it's it lives so much in the background that it comes to the forefront through doing so. And um sometimes you can create more with less. And I think that's definitely what's been done here. Inbal, what are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00:I disagree. I'm sorry. I have to, I have to say we do not have the attention spam because I did. Usually I try to be like very like, you know, sitting on my sofa and listen to an album from beginning till end, especially for these uh podcasts. But I have to say that I couldn't do it. I had to get up and I had to start cooking, and I like tried again to sit down and I couldn't. So, and I'm not Gen Z, I'm millennium. So I don't have the attention spam unless I'm like on purpose falling asleep to this music or meditating to it, but then I'm not really listening to it. So I think if you need to just like 100% tune in and listen to this kind of album, I would find it really hard after like the fifth or fourth track just because it's almost like going to sleep. Like I might fall asleep. It's not necessarily a bad thing, you know. It's better than anxiety over a balouance record, so you know, but yeah, I disagree. I I I had a hard time concentrating and just trying to listen to the album. It was pretty, but I had to I had to start doing something.
SPEAKER_03:Fair enough. The album is called Cloud Time by Emily A. Sprague. It is on the Revenge International label and it is out now on all formats. Next up, Paul Kultbrenner's The Essence, brand new, his ninth album released on the Sony Records subsidiary B1 recordings. We will start off uh with Dan on this one.
SPEAKER_02:Um I love how we have so many individual different takes on things, and I'm I'm really interested to hear what everyone else has to say. But um, like I'll I'll I'll be I'll be up front. I wasn't I've never been a big fan of the Kalk Bunners. Um but I have to say, um, I didn't immediately dislike this record. Um it's it's raw, it's melodic, it's got groove, uh, things that I didn't expect.
SPEAKER_03:Um it also has it also has the best mode.
SPEAKER_02:That track is a standout one. I mean, uh to the you know, to the benefit and to the negative of the record, because if you're relying on Dave Gehan to make your record stand out, then you know what does it say about you as a producer? But still, like it worked. It's the sample's well worked, like it's it's melt it's melded well together. And um, you know, I listened to this record and you know I thought it was fine. It you know, it reminds me of uh it reminds me of being in Berlin here like 10 to 15 years ago, of this very um specific, loopy-bass kind of tech house sound that you would hear every night in weekend club and and watergate and stuff. And you know, it's very matrix, matrix. It's very I never went there. But it's um you know it's more hip hop and matrix, it's more radio hits and it's very inoffensive and um you know it's a well put together record. And um for for me, as as as Inbal would say about the last record, it's the kind of thing I could put on in the background whilst cooking, you know, or fall asleep to. And um, but it's nice to see that Paul's doing stuff and um like he hasn't lost it. So um yeah. Inbal, what your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00:I I don't think I like it. I really disliked it actually. I was not having a fun time listening to it. It was too poppy for me. I felt I was at some lame Ibiza party, but I've never been to Ibiza. I just imagine that's what a really lame Ibiza party would be. I've never been there. Why would I think I'm there? But the entire time I was like, can this end? Like I it was my least favorite. I'm sorry. I I I can really appreciate the production. The production is well done, it's clean sand. I was trying to like grasp into elements that I liked in the production, but yeah, there was some nice keys there, there was some nice bass line over there, but overall that was yeah, that was my least favorite. Even Balawan Anxiety Attack album I enjoyed a little bit more.
SPEAKER_03:Um his name is Blah, it's Blawan.
SPEAKER_00:Blauwon? Ballow? I always said Balawan. Yeah. Blauwan?
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:All right. Thanks. I learned today.
SPEAKER_01:Ben, your thoughts. Um, so Powell is a Berlin uh OG. Uh he recently started uh releasing some videos about uh Berlin's history, and uh he was talking exactly about the period of time when I moved uh to Berlin in 2008, and he was saying uh lovely stuff about the spaces that were there at the time and the sound of Berlin at that time. Berlin was very minimal, uh kind of um on the verge of tech house, but not really tech house. It was really like pickup music, I would say. It wasn't really hard techno at that time. And I think that's Paul's strength and weakness because he's a little bit stuck there, uh, and he's a little bit uh in a struggle to bring that back. You gotta bring something super, super deep in quality in order to bring that kind of sound back nowadays. And I want to connect uh to both Dan and Ingbal and say, first of all, Ingbal, yes, it's my least favorite album of these. I totally agree. And Dan, I totally agree that he is good in what he's doing, but production-wise, I think in at least two, three tracks, it was a failure. I listened to it in a big system today, and I think a lot of it was not even raw, but just like not mixed right. It didn't feel pleasant to me because these this kind of music is built to be pleasant. Invial said it brings her to Ibiza without being on Ibiza, so probably a pleasant picture, a terrace, the sea, whatever. And I I I was almost there because it fits in the frame, but I didn't feel the pleasantness completely. Yeah, nice remix with Wonderful Life at the end of the album and Cronities Boy, the 10th track, the track before that was pretty nice. It was on the border to being proper uh Italo or being proper uh I couldn't give it a genre, but it was almost uh this uh melodic minimal house that that you would expect. But uh, all in all, I think what disturbs me most about uh this album is the same thing that disturbs me about big uh artists that are like OGs, they lose their touch. And uh because they're somehow with time, I don't know the exact reasons, but um they get a little bit disconnected uh from the ground due to success and through I don't know. I listened to recently to the set of uh Laurent Garnier, he was playing before you, Monty, and I was I was giving him all the hope that I had, you know, and I couldn't connect to any track. Same with Hani Dijon, same with uh a lot of big artists that are just great artists, but as soon as they become very, very big, you feel the disconnection.
SPEAKER_03:And have have have we all seen uh Berlin Calling? Sadly.
SPEAKER_01:I haven't yet, but I got a lot of recommendations to watch it all the time.
SPEAKER_03:Well, but I mean this guy, this guy, you know, was the absolute toast of this town for for a minute. And I feel like you know, him and his brother, I mean, we're absolute toasts of this town, uh, an era of the history of this dance music uh in Berlin, you know. So I you know, it's kind of like can you blame him for for for sticking with with what has worked?
SPEAKER_02:I think to put it into concept though, they became the toast of the town because of the movie, but not necessarily because of the music. I mean, the before before the the movie, he was, you know, I think he was on B-pitch and he was you know doing quite well for Burden Arist, like DJing, and his records were fine. They you know they sounded like this, but the the movie propelled him into a status that was perhaps beyond perhaps who he was as a musician or or a producer. So I think the expectations for Paul are always going to be higher than than what he's able to achieve. But you know, uh this record just reminds me of uh 2010 B Pitch, of 2010 get physical, of of all these things. And I'm sure I'm sure there's an audience about it. I'm sure I'm sure there's there's a bunch of people now in their 40s and 50s who uh are so nostalgic for the sound of Watergate that that will really like this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Maybe no, no, they don't go out.
SPEAKER_01:It's a listening album now. It's a listening album as a homage for a minimal dance music somewhere in the past.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, maybe yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I think I think then you nailed it there. Um I'm just sort of, you know, I was just sort of a little bit of a devil's advocate thing, but I mean, you know, it is, you know, and to what you're saying, Ben, about some of these other big name DJs, once they make it, they kind of lose their edge. I mean, that's I mean, let's let's face it. I mean, this is this is the nature of creativity, isn't it? I mean, it's not just a music thing, you know, it's not just a dance music thing. I mean, it's a, you know, how many times has your favorite artist started out in a certain way and ended up horrible for whatever reason. You know, it's it's happened time and time again. Your favorite actors, your favorite filmmakers, you know. Um I think, you know, creatives can sometimes paint themselves into a corner uh for whatever reason, or they feel the need to um they feel the need to maintain a certain level of success, and they feel like the way the way that got them there is the way forward, and they just stick with it. Um, you know, um there's many, many different ways to skin a cat in that regard. Um so I it's my semi-defense of uh of of the Paul Kolkbrenner album. Uh the problem is called The Essence. It is off the B1 recordings label. It is out now in all formats. Our final album for discussion this week, Tom Trago's full length album, Ignorance. It is on the Dutch based Magnetron music label. Let's start off with you, Dan.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, I so um I I put my cards on the table. I used to work for Deck Mantle a few years back, so I was I was I was heavily involved and linked with these artists, and I've always been a big fan of Tom. He kind of really embodies this like 80s house sounds, and um what the Dutch kids do, uh you know, especially those ones that were attached to the Deck Mantle circle, they were more able to embody like uh a funk sound. You know, it wasn't strict 4-4. Uh there uh you know, like there's there's almost like bootsy feel, damp funks uh uh element to it. Um and this more than any other record that he's done really embodies that. There's like it feels almost like a synth pop um or synth funk feel to it. And um, you know, I think it must be challenging as a producer and a DJ to you know to uh vibe it up uh you know after every after after every record. And I I get a real soulful um energetic vibe from this. And um you know, having followed followed his work for so long, um for me this is my favorite Tom Trago record.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean I really enjoyed this record, and um I've I was surprised that um I was surprised in some sense, but then I wasn't surprised because what he's doing in a lot of this album is he's sort of carrying on this tradition of of Dutch electro, like artists like Dexter, etc. etc. There's this whole sort of like thing in the Netherlands, like a lot of these cats are um a lot of electro cats. Lego Welt has done his share of electro as well in in back in the day or whatever. And I I was actually quite surprised by that. Even I think the second to last track on this release is uh is a collab with Dexter himself, so it carries that vibe. Um, so I really appreciated that. I felt I felt like um as far as like um the the the the the the records we have this week on offer, this one is the one that I feel like I would actually play tracks from personally as a DJ. Um but yeah, I I thought it was very, very solid. Uh Nball, your thoughts?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this one was uh my favorite this week, I have to say. I was um kind of surprised in the beginning. I was like, oh nice little synth poppy tunes. And then the second track, I think it was called like Champagne, it had like a little vocal samples which really reminded me of like Window Liquor from Fixed Win. It kind of felt like similar, like porn sample vocals chopped up. I don't know if it was porn samples in this case, but it kind of felt like it should be or is. Um, and then the Star Trek had really nice bass line, and yeah, I was I was grooving to the entire record. Like, yeah, a bit funky, housey, synthy, um, still fresh in a way. Like, I would definitely listen to this one again. Um, and um would recommend to anyone to listen to it, to be honest. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The name of the album is Ignorance by Tom Trago. It's actually his seventh album, which actually surprised me when I looked this up. But uh yeah, his seventh album, it's on Magnetron Music. Ben, your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER_01:I gotta agree with everybody. Um the album's great, and I was chronologically listening to all the albums you listed. And this album of Tom Trago, who I didn't even know before that, uh, came just right after Paul Kark's Brennan Kark Brenner's uh album. And it was the album that sealed for me Paul Karl's Brennan, uh my judgment of Paul's uh album. Because when I finished listening to Paul, I was sorry for coming back to that topic. I was like, maybe it has something, maybe it's like it's positive. It's but then I started listening to Tom Trago, and it was that this is how it's supposed to be done. I mean, I saw some parallels between them, of course, totally different genre, it's more electro, but it was also kind of disco-ish, it was also kind of italo almost. So I thought this has edge, this has the sounds that I'm like, this has more groove. I was missing a lot of groove like at uh Paul's album. So, Tom, for the like I'm listening to him for the first time, I would definitely listen to it again. As you said, I would love to play one or two of the tracks on that uh album. And yeah, clean and fun. We'll definitely dance to it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I think um for sort of like the scene that we uh I'm not so sure about you, Dan, but I know the other two people on this panel, uh, sort of the scene that we sort of like kind of fit into. I think that this Tom Trago thing is like, you know, it's like our wheelhouse, basically, you know, sort of finely crafted dance music that could sound good at a dinner party or also, you know, on the dance floor. You know what I mean? And that's that's what I really appreciate about this album. I did think it suffered a little bit also from the same thing that I was describing about the Blah One album. It's like it kind of lost a little bit of energy for me in the middle-ish uh tracks, but then it finished very strong. Um, so maybe, you know, um, you know, there's this whole science to like, you know, putting an album together and like the the sequencing and all that kind of thing. Maybe it could have, maybe it could have done it with a little bit more fine-tuning in that regard. But um, I did I did enjoy this one the most out of uh out of the the the the five that we are talking about this week. So all right. Well, we did it. We did it, people. We got through the tech the technical difficulties. We beat the machine. We we did beat the machine. I would say that um thank you very much for joining me. And be sure to join us uh next time for Music Week for um more discussions, more albums, and more salacious gossip about music producers. I'll thank you very much.