Rating: 5/10
I’ve been really impressed with and.id in the past, but this album didn’t quite do it for me. You can’t miss the fact that the first track, “Svoura”, is designed to be super DJ-friendly and mellow on the brain, and ultimately it was the tune I enjoyed the most.
With the standard techno intro and outro, the flow is steady but lacks any real central push, but early on in an album, there’s no expectation for that. From there on, it really maintains that same feeling of not-quite-reached potential.
Overall, the album is gently disco-funky, synthy, and chopped-sample heavy. Some nods to Chicago and Detroit house beats are in there, but sometimes the elements feel a little misplaced. The ups and downs aren’t particularly drastic or attention catching, so the focus tends to be mainly on the mid-range melodies and the kick drum, which is to say it feels very familiar without being too exciting. Any of the tracks, dropped in an appropriate set, would keep dancers and head-bobbers going, but aren’t going to create much new energy in the mix.
Overall, the production quality doesn’t seem nearly as good as in his earlier efforts (“Dirty Thirty” is phenomenal), and there is lack of attention to detail that leaves some of the drums sounding really floppy on some tracks. It may be that he is focusing more on touring or other efforts right now, but I’ll continue to listen to his older stuff while looking forward to his next release when he has time to concentrate on the music.