Much of the free electronic music available these days is quite minimalistic, experimental or both. This album is – surprise – different. Although being produced entirely electronic, it is enjoyable also by the non-hardcore electronic listener. It features groovy rhythms, catchy melodies and harmonic, erm… harmonies.
Technically spoken this release is a best-of compilation because General Fuzz has already released several albums for free on his homepage. I will probably once come back to him when have listened through his creations.
I like this album very much; don’t be surprised by the high average (3) rating. I am critic, but this album doesn’t feature many weak songs.
Tracks
| 1 | Found Groove: A long, grooving starting track. The rhythmic bass line forms the fundament of different passages. These range from piano chords to abstract sounds accompanied by guitars. | ★★★ |
| 2 | Detached Reality: This song features a simple piano theme that is then repeated and varied by other instruments. Percussion very slowly fades in and out to give some kind of relaxed pace from time to time. | ★★★ |
| 3 | Smiling Perspective: Drippling percussion interacts with the overlaying synthesizer harmonics. Sketches of melodies form, stay and vanish. This song is more a meditation on rhythm. Nice. | ★★★ |
| 4 | Unconcious Alliance: After the intro the song surprises with an ultra-cool bass line. Then some loungy chords oscillate above, until the unexpected arrival of a hammond organ sounding instrument line. Not too spectacular, but very pleasent to hear. | ★★★ |
| 5 | Ray Squared: This song is not really worse than its predecessors, but it sounds to similar to give me the impression of something new. Layered synth harmonics fading in an out, well done percussion, but… | ★★ |
| 6 | Flow Tater: Simply wow. This song was the first I noticed when I casually listened to the album. The aggressive percussion with matched bass gives pace, contrasted by calm flute tones floating above. Marvelous. Perfect. | ★★★★★ |
| 7 | Leave No Trace: A nine minute electronic/jazz jam session. Sweet. | ★★★ |
| 8 | Stepping Stones: Nice to hear, but nothing fancy given the tracks before. | ★★ |
| 9 | Lost In The Sauce: Long, calm for the first minutes. Then it wakes up und reminds me a bit of an old, paced Mega Man soundtrack. | ★★ |
| 10 | Red Balloon: The album’s title track. It is a rather dark song with a pulsing bass under minimal synthesizer sounds. | ★★★ |
| 11 | Sliding Forward: A nice piano part can be discovered here. | ★★★ |
| 12 | Summer: I can hear the intention of a “summer theme”, but it does not convince me. | ★★ |
| 13 | Bars Of Parmar: Thanks to its distinct percussion part this track could be part of a Bollywood film soundtrack. It is an overall meditative track. | ★★★ |
| 14 | Cmr: A soft nearly solo-piano track. Nice harmonies and main theme make this track very enjoyable. | ★★★ |
Stats
| Release | Red Balloon |
|---|---|
| Artist | General Fuzz |
| Year | 2007 |
| Label | Kahvi |
| Genre | Electronic |
| Download | Link (MP3, OGG) |
