Steve Gilmore Reviews: Wushuman - Digit@l Fr3ak

Hear The Track Here

Artist: Wushuman
Title: Digit@l Fr3ak

About the only interactions I have had with Wushuman are the endless laffs he has given me - and a lot of other forums regulars - with his erudite comments to the endless streams of peep my poopers... A rottweiler of a poster, once his teeth sink into a tender newbies flesh there is no quarter. It's no surprise then that he's from the UK - land of the aserbic wit. Mind you, I got a heart murmer when I noticed that he was a fully paid up member of the Electronica: Techno genre - a land I am all too familiar with and not particularly fond of at that. Mind you, Wushuman knows well enough that my tastes don't run that way so I just think he's a complete fekking madman for giving me the ammunition....

If you would all please stand back a bit, the blowback may be a bit fierce...

There are actually two versions of this on his page, the download link above is to the latest version. However, being a well known busybody I just had to download the older version before finishing this review so I could see what - if anything had changed from one to the other. Whatever you do, don't judge this track by the first 30 seconds or so because nothing very much happens other than a fairly pedestrian beat. The track doesn't kick in for about a minute or so into this almost six minute track. About the only difference I can spot between the two is that the later mix is mastered to a much better degree and that's never a bad thing. The biggest surprise to me is that - as techno as it might be - it's also a pretty decent song, complete with lyrics that actually make sense!!

I know, I know. Not the done thing but hey, it works...

I had to play this a few times before it started to really make me pay attention but I put that down to my own ambivalence to the genre than anything Wushuman is doing wrong. Matter of fact, although I wasn't expecting much, I ended up being reasonably impressed with Digital Freak - particularly lyrically - and the half spoken, half sung delivery helps the overall idea to come across. For my money, it's nothing spectactular, but it is a lot more workmanlike than I was expecting - given the genre it's working in. To be honest, I didn't think it was that techno really, more like straightforward electronica a la Europop but what's in a name right? I'd go for the song, even if the music it's couched in isn't that interesting.