Friday, August 17, 2007

Big Wheel - All That Changes

Hear The Track Here

On the outskirts of noodle-y, you'll find chillage; an area occupied on Soundclick by the one and only Big Wheel. Ahhh, but this Big Wheel has even bigger ideas and is rapidly branching away from the genre (electronica if'n ya wuz wonderin') and taking on a bit of funk. No bad thing if you can pull it off. Keep On (July 2007) was essentially his first foray into this area and it was surprisingly slick, as funk needs to be. A large part of its appeal is the way Big Wheel mixes his earlier style along with this new strand, so I was definitely looking forward to a second helping.

Only to find out there is no spoon. (Ed: eh?)

Best if you take a look at the lyrics to figure out the above statement, and while you are doing that grab a listen to this very, very likeable track and its smooth treacle-y sound will ease your way. Damn, this track is so sharp, it's almost got a street swagger. I can't say I am a fan of the Rhodes sound generally, even though I use it occasionally, but when used in music of this genre (smoky blue funk) you can't be the sound. Especially if you ally that with a suspiciously Farfisa-like sound; about as close you are going to get to the period.

It's almost five minutes absolutely whizzes by for the first few plays because it is difficult to resist the internal pull of the track.Once you become more familiar with it, though, you start to notice how detailed everything is and how clearly it is rendered. Me, I'm a sucker for a neat beat and All That Changes, has a couple of doozies happening in there. So, choice of instruments, production, arrangement and attention to detail, top marks. Seeing as it is an instrumental, it may lose some listeners but hey, they would be missing out on a sorely good thing. Seriously chilled funk indeed.

Highly Recommended blend of styles.

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