As reviewed in raw 42:  No. 909

this dam cd from the man from minneapolis sports 11 superbly mixed tracks featuring variations on breakbeats - everything from slow trip hop style to fast paced drum 'n bass. multiple layers of bass lines and melodies are stacked upon delayed pads and background effects, creating a set of songs with a rich and full sound. these aren't your average d'nb and dance tracks, but undoubtedly fruits of long labour. you just don't get songs as intricate and well balanced as these without spending a serious amount of time shaping sounds and remixing. from quiet ambient tunes to full blown dance, simulacra provides a standard for other indie bands to follow.

evident throughout the cd is a retro feel to the music, from the 60's avengers style opening of auriga to the 80's disco styled interludes in 1-2-3. the theme from spy vs. spy which opens the cd is carried right on into runningman, using the same distorted analog synth sound and reminding me of the older james bond movies ;) or maybe it's mission impossible. something that involves international espionage and exploding tape recorders... anyway, that's just the kind of sound it has - exciting and fast. a good use of effects is in evidence in the filtered beats which float in and out of earshot in quieter songs, while the tiniest bit of reverb adds air to a heavy and in your face drum track in louder ones, like stratosphunk and lifesupport. many of the big beats are made up of 'live' sounding drums, very punchy and well chosen for the breaks they form.

expertly programmed and produced, these tracks stand above a mighty crowd and rival even major label offerings. with the right budget and this amount of talent, simulacra could end up doing very well indeed. we definitely need to send some of these numbers into the top tracks listing but I'll be damned if I can decide which ones. I don't think you're gonna go wrong downloading anything created by this man.

© 1996 - 1999 raw42 music

 

 As reviewed in Gods of Music by: Darrell Wade Burgan


ARTIST: SIMULACRA
SONG: NIGHT STREET CITY
GENRE: ELECTRONIC / BIG BEAT / TWISTED TRANCE
SIMILAR: BIG BANG BOOM

Holy smokes! Was I ever surprised by this track. I went into it expecting another blasé loop-oriented techno disappointment, but was smacked right upside the head by a HUGE distorted synth line. Wow.

This is a totally new sound for me, folks. I love big beat, with its emphasis on powerful nasty drum loops, but in this track the synths are every bit as huge as the big percussion, especially that simple lead riff that permeates the song. But leave us not forget those incredible distorted arpeggio lines that are melting my brain as I listen. Very well done.

In fact, almost every aspect of this track is done extremely well. The engineering is solid, highlighting those fat synths perfectly. I wish there was a little more bottom end to balance the sound out, but this is a nit.

If there was anything to improve about this track, it might be the song structure. Simulacra does a great job of varying the piece, but when I take a step back and look at the track as a unified whole it feels just a hair disjointed, like a bunch of tightly connected phrases glued together at random. But I'm a stickler for song structure detail, and when compared to the vast majority of techno pieces, the song structure starts to look very good indeed.

I love to hear an artist take real instruments and twist them into a whole new direction, and Simulacra has done exactly that. If for no other reason than to hear something absolutely new, absolutely refreshing, you should listen to this track.

Man oh man, those synths are FAT!

back to: SIMULACRA