Artist: Various Artists
Album: Abracadabra
Record Label: Horns and Hoofs
Label Website: hornsandhoofs.com
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Review:
Tuba Trance.
I have just learned about this title. I feel it is fitting. In fact, it is eerily fitting in some manners of thinking. The new Horns and Hoofs compilation, ABRACADABRA, is very much a Tuba Trance CeeDee. Those who dig the Tuba will dig this disk.
As with any genre/sub-genre of music, there are those who excel at it and write awesome tunes which make you forget about the rest of a sub-standard form of music, and then there are those who remind you of why you never listen to that music. It is a way of life.
Within the Tuba Trance family, artists like Fuzzion, XV Kilist and Ticon kick much ass. Their albums have enough of what I like to make me happy. They are slick, funky, crunchy and make me shake my ass like a ho in a rap video. This is good, for this is why I listen to dance music. I like shaking my ass like a ho. It is enjoyable. I am not the most well versed in the Tuba Trance scene though, I listen to some here and there, but overall I find it to be rarely engaging. More like filler music. Which is fine if you like filler music. In fact, the last XV Kilist album Alfa Aroma was one huge filler album, but yet I listen to that constantly. Sometimes things just click with me, other times they don’t.
ABRACADABRA has yet to fully grow on me. Of course I have only listened to it a hand full of times, but after the Kino Oko and Fuzzion albums of the past year, I decided that I needed to reach out and learn more about the Tuba. So far I have learned that Kino Oko and Fuzzion are the best in their field. Midi Miliz is also quite awesome. Most of the rest haven’t gotten under my skin or infested my brain yet, which isn’t to say that it won’t happen with time.
While listening to this comp, certain tracks definitely stood out more than others. Tracks such as Kino Oko “Beats, Rhythm and Harmony”, The Rockitmen “Elephant’s Boogie”, Fuzzion “Black Magic (Live Remix)” and Metalogic vs Michael Lawrence “Fabricated” were the most notable. After listening to the CeeDee I looked at the artists and noticed that Frederik Hatsav worked on those killer tracks which I was not already familiar with artist wise. This made me happy. I hope his other stuff is of the same caliber.
I am thinking that one reason why this disk isn’t catching me as well as the Fuzzion, XV Kilist or Kino Oko albums is because it is a compilation CeeDee and not a single work put out by a single artist. Being an old vinyl DeeJay, I listen to two types of music. 12″ singles which are made to be listened to as a single track at a specific time or full albums by bands like Ween, Pulp and Pink Floyd who make albums. Not bunches-of-tracks-put-together-on-one-disk. They are completely independent ways of listening to and digesting music. Since I am not a hardcore Tuba junky yet, this compilation, overall, is not really something I would put on and listen to straight through. It is more of a pick and choose random tracks sort of album. Great for DeeJaying with, not as good for home listening.
I don’t really rate albums, but I’d say that if you like the Tuba, pick it up. If you are new to the Tuba, grab one of the other disks I mentioned first and familiarize yourself with it. Then move forward and expand your horizons. The tracks that kickass on here are strong enough to warrant the grabbing of this comp, the others may very well grow on me with time as I learn more about the Tuba. Perhaps in a few weeks I will come in here and revise my review, but for now I will simply say that this album will slay any 20k watt Turbo Sound System.
xoxox
-A’damn