Bassil Taleb - Heavenly

Hear The Track Here

The one thing I have learned beyond doubt over a long musical life is that - no matter what - not everyone is going to like your music. In the past, it was immensely difficult to make your own music - you had to play your own instruments for a start. Not to mention extremely expensive in terms of equipment, transport and recording studios. Nowadays its a peice of piss, the whole world and his brother are out there making music and most of it is - surprisingly enough - really quite good. Much more to the point, there is room aplenty for niche music from the terrors of prog rock to all kinds of esoteric stuff. Admittedly these are small audiences but hey, and audience is an audience right? And therein lies my tale for today...

Why do you make music? Some of us do it because we want to be famous, some of us do it so that we can score chicks and have our mates look up to us, and some of us do it because we don't know anything else and couldn't do anything else if we tried. Personally music is my air and water and I don't care much whether I have an audience or not for it. The reason I mention now is because I haven't always been kind to Bassil Taleb and his music and I'd like him to know that its just my opinion. Heavenly is the third track he has thrown to me so hopefully he will know what the deal is by now. I automatically asssume that any artist who puts music online so that others can hear it and - presumably - get an audience for further tracks. Therefore my reviews are - I hope - a pointer in how to get your music through to more people and what people want more than anything is an artist who is consistent. That inconsistency has dogged both of Bassil's past tracks, musically and technically but we all have to start somewhere and every track is a learning experience and hopefully things do get better in time. I have seen this happen time and time again online...

Heavenly slides itself into the Drums and Bass genre but the resemblence ends there, DnB it most assuredly is not unless you think that drums and bass are superfast drums with no rhyme or reason. The overriding sense I came away with from an extended session with this track is that it doesn't seem to have any formal structure at all. Not that this is much of a problem in this avant garde world but even the experimentalists have to abide by the musical rules - despite what they say. What comes across from this track more than anything else is an 'ooh that sounds good' routine where anything (and everything) is added to the mix. To give Bassil his due, it just about hangs together but it is by the merest of threads. Therefore it would be best if you liked edge-of-chaos electronica thown out a dizzying speed before you decided to check out Heavenly.

Don't say I didn't warn you.