Review: David Guetta - One Love

The more popularity David Guetta gains the lower the quality of his music goes...sad, but true. "One Love" is like a super-album that gathers prominent (predominantly) American R&B singers who kindly lend their vocals for the sake of commercial dance music. Among the featured names are Kelly Rowland, will.i.am, Akon and Estelle, as well as Guetta's long-time vocal guest Chris Willis. Actually the album is so packed with famous people that one could easily miss out who really sits behind the whole production. Another thing is that despite the celebrity dance-floor-stampede "One Love" stands out as more of a filling with a few catchy tunes than an astounding mash-up of electronica and R&B (as it may had been planned).

I miss the French house influences he drew inspiration from and that served as the backbone of his older material. It's pretty obvious that "One Love" is aimed at American listeners, making it by far Guetta's most commercial release. His attempt proved to be successful as both "When Love Takes Over" and "Sexy Bitch" topped Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs and made it in the Billboard Hot 100.

Still, Guetta's fourth studio effort is a must-listen-to for every house fan and an excellent recommendation for anyone who is in it for the party. Apart from that "One Love" shows the extent of one's inflated ego after they truly start taking themselves as big shots. I personally have no idea what the title should stand for anyway as "unity" of any kind is absent. The tracks follow the same pattern - chewy beats, strong black voices and cheesy loops scattered here and there. However, most of the songs hardly make a connection between each other and the track-listing looks like a symposium of "singles" rather than an album with a creative idea. Unlike his previous albums this time Guetta focuses on the vocals and lets his crony buddies to take the lead.

Songs to hear: "One Love", "When Love Takes Over", "Sound of Letting Go" and "Sexy Bitch"

Rating:5/10

Review: Basement Jaxx - Scars

Three years ago I thought that "Crazy Itch Radio" was my biggest Basement Jaxx disappointment, set myself ready for a better album next time. The only thing that came after so much waiting was a bigger disappointment, more dissatisfying than ever. Not that "Scars" is a poor product of contemporary electronic music, but it just misses out a few fundamentals for a successful dance album. Obviously Basement Jaxx have been walking along the wrong path for several years already and with this pace of weak production a major flop is on its way.

"Scars" contains everything that you ought to expect from a Basement Jaxx album: plenty of guest vocalists, danceable house tunes and witty lyrics with a certain touch of exotica. Apart from everything listed the album has nothing more to offer, it sounds so painfully familiar that you might mistake it for a re-release of "Kish Kash" with some additional b-side tracks. The whole album lacks the disco thrill that Basement Jaxx were so fond of. "Scars" is somewhere in between mediocre and satisfactory, failing to create originality of its own.

Despite the guest appearances of hyped performers like Santigold, Sam Sparro and Paloma Faith, the majority of songs easily pass the ear by without causing any specific attention. It seems as if the duo Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton has run out of genuinely good ideas and desperately needs a push forward to a more comprehensive and intriguing dance reality. If no visible stylistic change is to come and another Kish Kash-alike is to be released they'd better have the decency to break up. Please!

Songs to hear: "Scars", "Saga", "What's a Girl Got to Do?" and "Feelings Gone"

Personal rating: 5/10

Review: Felix da Housecat - He Was King

Who was king and does this mean he is not alive? Probably the two crucial answers in Felix da Housecat's new album that have no clarity. I guess it's just not my year, especially when it comes to favourite musicians and my dear Felix proves me no wrong. Sadly, we could all easily go without "He Was King" and now that is what I call a bummer, although I am not surprised at all.

Felix had his best years back when the electroclash scene was still vibrant, producing and meaningful. But after it's natural downfall and his dubious return to the house family, the picture got all smothered and some people obviously lost themselves in the vast fields of electronica. "He Was King" is somewhere in between house, electro, electropop and dance, without leaving any impression of being a whole product, but rather a compilation of various works under the electronic shield. I have always thought of Felix as a wise producer knowing "da" real good stuff, but as it seems things change and in this instance not for good. Honestly...I was bored! Yes, "He Was King" was just a few ideas away from absolute boredom and I could almost fall asleep while listening.

No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't come up with any praise and for what's worth this album just doesn't deserve it. Total lack of originality, songs that sound old as my grandma and brutally blunt tunes knocked out the few positive words I was planning to write down, but all went to oblivion as soon as I reached the end of the tracklist. With a few exceptions "He Was King" is a major filler either in your CD collection or on your hard disk. Actually even the exceptions are nothing special, they just sound OK compared to the rest of the material.

Songs to hear: "Machine", "Spank U Very Much" and "Do We Move Your World"

Rating: 5/10

First single:

Review: Tiga - Ciao!

Does anyone know what was Tiga doing the last few years? I am starting to think that he was in deep coma for the last couple of years and some months ago he miraculously came out of it and decided to record an album. Due to this coma obviously he forgot how good music was made and really didn't care as a deal had to be fulfilled and thus "Ciao" was recorded.

Although many define Tiga as a typical electroclash musician "Ciao" is more of an expedition in the realms of house music, mainly acid and electro. You have your usual coherence between the tracks, creating a set-alike list. I assume this is the main reason why "Ciao" sounds like an-hour long song, changing rhythm, pace and , of course, lyrics from time to time. The spirit of house music throughout the album is so strong that some of the songs are almost indistinguishable from one another. Originality was definitely not present while recording "Ciao" and the new ideas were at least several years old, everything ending up as a belated celebration of acid house. "Ciao" is strikingly boring, old-fashioned and disturbingly distasteful, it sounds as if Tiga was so bored that he decided to fill up some spare time composing a few house tracks.

As far as hobbies are concerned it is admirable to make music for fun with the sole condition it remains only on your computer. The moral from the story is that you should never leave the work that wins your bread for the last moment as it probably happened with Tiga, who decided to see for himself how would people appreciate his hobby. Let's say that better house albums have been released in the short history of this genre and Tiga has only discovered that the daylight comes from the sun. I wish I could say there were a few gems to be discovered, but the more I listen to "Ciao" the more I realize they are left outside.

"Sexor" (his previous album) may not be the creme de la creme of electronic music, but it was at least eclectic, ranging from electroclash dance songs to house ballads. "Ciao" on the other hand sounds as a farewell album after many years of recording and producing plenty of material, and Tiga was finally dry on new ideas. Unfortunately this is not the case as this is his sophomore effort and it is way too soon for him to be tired of the music bizz. If music is just an aside hobby for Tiga I advise him to stop releasing his spare-time-fillers and come to terms with his career as a musician. If not, please, do not release anything new until you are pretty sure it's worth showing it to the world.

Songs to hear: "Beep Beep Beep", "Shoes", "Sex O'clock" and "Speak, Memory"

Personal rating: 4 out of 10

Review: MSTRKRFT - Fist of God

MSTRKRFT (pronounced Master Craft) is the dance project of Jesse F. Keeler (ex-Death From Above 1979) and Al-P, which came to surface after the official break up of Keeler's previous band. Stylistically the band is somewhere between electro and house, having both vocal and instrumental tracks. MSTRKRFT draw influence from hip-hop, big beat, indietronica and electro-rock, creating a unique combination of dance. I cannot say that "Fist of God" is a long-expected album, but it definitely surprised me. For just a couple of years MSTRKRF have matured and become more of just an experimental electro band.

"Fist of God" may not be the dance album of the years, but it contains plenty of excellent club tracks as well as quality disco sound. I was quite disappointed with their debut "The Looks", which was way too house for me, and I had doubts about the quality of the new material as well. Luckily, MSTRKRFT didn't repeat the same mistake (at least for me) and had outdone themselves. The songs are not annoyingly long and do not exceed the bearable dance length. Of course, the album has a few low points, which is quite normal and the good news is that they are less than half of the tracklist (consisting of 10 songs).

Stylistically the album can be defined as a fusion between electro, hip-hop and house. Most of the collaborations are with rappers, which could be a flaw to some and a big plus to others, but it proves that Keeler and P are still on the search for their music niche.

Songs to hear: "Bounce", "Heartbreaker", "It Ain't Love" and "Word Up"

Personal rating: 6 out of 10

David Guetta with a new song

David Guetta is one of the few house Djs that I can still listen to and to be quite frank I like most of his stuff quite a lot. Not really looking forward to seeing him live, but I keep up with the material he releases. Today I came upon Guetta's NEW song, which is probably going to be included in a possible future album. "Love Takes Over" is the title of the new track and vocals are provided by Kelly Rowland (ex-Destiny's Child), who came back to business with the Freemasons remix of her song "Work". I am a bit surprised of such a collaboration, but I guess both parties could use some extra fan-base or at least more media attention. "Love Takes Over" is not utterly impressive or ground-breaking, although I am pretty sure it is going to be quite a hit in the next few months...IF Guetta/Rowland play their cards well. Plus it is always nice when artists from different music scene work together...well, it is even better when they come up with something amazing and still have to be thankful that this song is not a total disaster (at least to most of us).

Recommendation Weekly: Adrian Lux

Adrian Lux is another fine example that Swedes know how to make music...even when it comes to house. I have never hidden my despise towards house music, but now it's the moment to admit that from time to time the house scene has something interesting for me as well. By some Lux has been hailed as the successor of Eric Prydz, another Swedish house DJ, and as one of the fresh names to emerge in the past few months. Honestly, I have never heard of Adrian Lux...not until yesterday when I was told about him and had the chance to watch the video to the song "Can't Sleep". I cannot say that I was extremely fascinated by the track, although I actually liked the whole concept of the video, which shows that love is boundless and anyone deserves to love and to be loved no matter what.

Enough with the blabber...here is the video and if you like what you hear check out the rest of his songs.