Title: Movement
Artist: Pobedia
Release Date: 2012-04-21
Genre: Dub Techno
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Label: Sonux Otium
[Note: This is another release that was folded into the Otium catalog.]
This release has started me thinking that I need to add a grading scale for these releases. This release has brought a problem to the foreground of my thinking. There are a lot of releases I am not particularly excited by, however reading my reviews might give the appearance that I like them more than I really do. Hopefully this will become more clear as I talk a bit about this release.
I’ve said before that I am not typically into house and techno styles of music. However, there are some hybrid genres that can be acceptable, like some of the Dub styles. This is a release that falls into one of those hybrid categories, so I decided to give it a listen.
At first I was thinking that it was going to be one of the better releases I had listened to. The first track is particularly engaging because of the use of complex layers of drum tracks that make the repetitive techno style beat almost irrelevant to my ears.
But then, there were four tracks in a row that, while still following the concepts of dub music, didn’t seem to elevate themselves to another level. And that was where I became disappointed with this release. It’s a really solid techno release, that borrows some of the bass ideas from Dub. And that’s about it.
There were three or four tracks that I liked on this release. But, the rest of the release didn’t really engage me.
The overall sound of the release is pretty solid. Deep echoing swashes of sustained keyboard sounds in the background give a hazy / misty impression of the landscape around you. Occasional additional sounds help to solidify the setting, like on ‘Skyline’ with the voices of people talking on either airplane or space craft radios. Each track takes an idea, concept, or setting in an abstract form and weaves a mesmerizing sound tapestry.
Overall I can’t fault the sound of this release, it is impeccably produced and engineered. Producing a Techno relase is, to me, something more of a science, than an art form. However, translating musical concepts into the precise techno framework does take some skill and ability. Pobedia has an excellent set of skills and abilities that allow him / her to produce recordings that are quite exacting, and precise.
Taking this release as a Techno release, there is probably a lot that people would like. It has a consistency of beats. It doesn’t sound like the majority of other Techno releases (due to the infusion of Dub concepts). It is quite a dance-able album. It is even somewhat hypnotic in a way that might be good for some settings. Taken as a fusion of Dub and Techno, it kind of fails. It’s kind of like a zombie version of dub, staggering around to a techno beat.
I’m rather not enamored of this release. I honestly hoped for better, a new forging of ground between Dub and Techno styles instead of techno with a touch of dub. It seems to me that this recording is more likely to appeal to people who like Techno music, and are looking for that touch of dub to add some variation to their techno collection.
Pobedia: Movement
Free
7.5
