Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Talen - The Comic Book Ep



Talen is kinda borderline electro/breaks leaning heavy towards the dance-hall side of the electronica spectrum with some pop-influences. According to the one sheet:"The EP features the vocal talent of Lady Saw,Turbulence and Ward 21. Remix duty is handled by the Bass mafia international: Stereotyp, Kalbata, Robot Koch, Reverse Engineering, Son Of Kick, Filewile, I-Wolf and King Aron." The only tune that really stands out of Talen's original production with any kind of teeth is Batgirl and that's mostly because of Lady Saw's absolutely aggy flow (which reminds me a bit of Warrior Queen to be honest). But I admit the beats are cracking and club hot. His other productions sound like a polished tutorial out of Computer Music Magazine or XLR8R, often relying on conventional tricks, and rather obvious pop devices. Whiles it's not the worst music, I was cringing at few spots during Johnny Blaze feat. Turbulence... some of the melodies were far too sweet for my palette, and the choruses just grating.

The remixes fair much better than originals and are worthy of your time. Kalbata killed it on the Batgirl Remix. It's just a growling beast of a track, very fitting of the "future dancehall" label that their marketing department boasts. Absolutely murky. Son of Kick delivers an appropriately moody and grinding bass heavy version of Green Lantern, translating it nicely into a dubstep pattern. I can see this going off big in a deeper kind of set. It's not the filthiest nasty thing ever, but with the grimey spits of Ward 21 it doesn't have to be, and remains sufficiently thug. I'm kind of in awe of the Reverse Engineering flip of the script on their version of the remix, taking it to a dark Knightrider 80's vibe. Robot Koch cranks out a minimal tech-house post-step version of Johnny Blaze, that is bit easier to digest, although I'm still not feeling all of the vocal work of Turbulence. They can get kind of reggae r-n-b-ish at times, and really who want's that. I give him credit for toning down the cheesier elements as much he can. All in all this Ep is a bit of mixed bagged, with a few brilliant moments. I'm not so sure Batgirl, Green Lantern, and Johnny Blaze( aka Ghost Rider) have all that much in common other than they are comic book characters and Batgirl and Green Lantern are both owned by DC, so conceptually it could be more unified, but a fun idea none the less.

http://www.myspace.com/talenmusic
http://www.talen.ch/
http://www.mouthwateringrecords.com/

preview of the Kalbata remix http://soundcloud.com/mouthwateringrecords/batgirl-feat-lady-saw-kalbata-remix

Tracklist:
A1 Batgirl feat. Lady Saw
A2 Green Lantern feat. Ward 21
A3 Johnny Blaze feat. Turbulence
B1 Batgirl feat. Lady Saw (Kalbata Remix)
B2 Green Lantern feat. Ward 21 (Son of Kick Remix)
B3 Johnny Blaze feat. Turbulence (Robot Koch Remix)

Digital only (included with Vinyl 12”)
7. Batgirl feat. Lady Saw (I-Wolf Remix)
8. Batgirl feat. Lady Saw (Stereotyp Version 1)
9. Batgirl feat. Lady Saw (Stereotyp Version 2)
10. Green Lantern feat. Ward 21 (Reverse Engineering Remix)
11. Johnny Blaze feat. Turbulence (Filewile Remix)
12. Johnny Blaze feat. Turbulence (King Aron Remix)

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