dcallen - Is This a Problem?

Hear The Track Here

It is nice to end up this month reviewing an artist I have known for many years, and its even better to note his return to Soundclick after a lengthy hiatus. For those who remember him from a couple of years ago young Dave (for it is he) made his particular mark on this community with an absolute string of wonderful (yes I did say that) electronic viginettes making it into my very first Stevies as a known Soundclick talent (this was 2003 in case ya wuz wondering) and again at the end of 2004. Since then mind, things have been very quiet and dcallen has spent a lot of time on other sites although I came across a couple of new tracks during 2005 and 2006. One such was, I hoped at the time, an indication of just how far dcallen had changed as a musician, this was a collaborative (rock) effort Bad Karma Gonna Get Ya (July 2005) that was - what do they say these days? - slammin'.

Safe.

So here the man is again again and he wants to know 'is this a problem?' I should coco. I've missed the smoothness and quality that this artist manages to bring to the feast of fools, and I for one heartily welcome his return. I've got some rope and I'm gonna tie him down so he can't be straying off to garageband.com and winning all kinds of kudos. Can't allow it doncha see? Since those heady days when the electronica field on this site was full to bursting with extraordinary talent (Bonamici, Adam Fielding, Stompp, Fahrenheit 451 et al) Dave Allen still managed to single himself out by his music and by the titles, some of which are the wittiest and best I have ever seen. Still, it was the music that kept it all afloat so does this older, wiser, dave still have the chops he had back in the day?

From small acorns, as the saying goes. Tell you what. Have a listen to the first thirty seconds of Is This a Problem and it's blindingly obvious that here is a musician who knows what he wants. His music has always been more tuneful (nay melodious) than most of the four-to-the-floor sheep, and that talent seems to have grown in leaps and bounds because what you here from this track shouts quality work in any language. The great thing about all of the artists I have mentioned in this review is that stretched the (then) electronica genre to encompass almost anything, and dcallen has always been at the leading edge of that. So what would you, who may never have heard of this artist, expect from Is This a Problem? Some of the classiest, freshest music you are ever likely to hear - in any genre, let alone electronica.

MUST HAVE.