A Lo-Fi, yet Accomplished, Exploration of these Trying Times
BEWARE, former writer for the legendary blog The Smoking Section meditates on living in the anxiety age with his instrumental, cross-genre ‘Loosen Up’ project.
The first two cuts show off a dance influence, ‘Our Exes’ kicks off with a morose meltdown from a sitcom character; the desperate yet optimistic ‘Make it Work’ sounds like early Cassius track played on a busted tape deck.
Tracks three and four have a mid to downtempo hip hop flavour. The twisted-yet- beautiful ‘Duck Duck Goose’ evokes The New Beatmaker favourite Evil Alex; whilst ‘Salty’ could be a perfect instrumental for an introspective Beanie Sigel.
‘Victor Red’ has a gorgeous hip hop / RnB vibe evoking images of an idyllic paradise…The strings and female vocal samples are especially poignant touches.
The melancholic and meditative ‘Good Tipper’ brings to mind ‘Play’ era Moby; whilst the old school beat and evocative strings of ‘BoFIII’ are a nice way to begin winding down the project.
The final track ‘Up & Atom’ Bomber’ has an early noughties indie rock feel and ends the project nicely.
Where the project could falter is in mixing. Sadly, the bass lines are lost on high street earbuds; at times the key elements of the track could do with a bit more mid-range presence; and throughout the project high end info is sacrificed in the name of the projects' dark concepts of stress and anxiety a tad too much.
Even with these subjective critiques, ‘Loosen Up’ is an accomplished exploration of trying to survive in these trying times.
Beats: 4/5
Mixing and Mastering: 3/5
Track Sequencing: 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
BEWARE, former writer for the legendary blog The Smoking Section meditates on living in the anxiety age with his instrumental, cross-genre ‘Loosen Up’ project.
The first two cuts show off a dance influence, ‘Our Exes’ kicks off with a morose meltdown from a sitcom character; the desperate yet optimistic ‘Make it Work’ sounds like early Cassius track played on a busted tape deck.
Tracks three and four have a mid to downtempo hip hop flavour. The twisted-yet- beautiful ‘Duck Duck Goose’ evokes The New Beatmaker favourite Evil Alex; whilst ‘Salty’ could be a perfect instrumental for an introspective Beanie Sigel.
‘Victor Red’ has a gorgeous hip hop / RnB vibe evoking images of an idyllic paradise…The strings and female vocal samples are especially poignant touches.
The melancholic and meditative ‘Good Tipper’ brings to mind ‘Play’ era Moby; whilst the old school beat and evocative strings of ‘BoFIII’ are a nice way to begin winding down the project.
The final track ‘Up & Atom’ Bomber’ has an early noughties indie rock feel and ends the project nicely.
Even with these subjective critiques, ‘Loosen Up’ is an accomplished exploration of trying to survive in these trying times.
Beats: 4/5
Mixing and Mastering: 3/5
Track Sequencing: 4.5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
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