Alchemystic - Gold and Jade

Hear The Track Here

It's funny what will trigger people to put electrons to eyeball and send me an email about a review I've written. Admittedly I don't get too many of them and when I do they usually follow a certain line - especially if I've bad mouthed a track considerably. Sometimes though, I get the odd disgruntled 'wtf are you on!?!?' email pinning my ears back because I directed them to something they considered worse than clubbing baby seals. Such was the case with Alchemystic's Machines Of Madness (May 2008) in which Our Hero successfully constructed a working, very lively industrial site to deafen us with. I got a few emails about that review and - reading it back - thought I had made it quite clear that this was a track that had - how can I put this? - scrotum tightening properties.

Some people can't take a lead lined hint, can they?

It's nice to see that Alchemystic has abandoned his hard hat and iron toed workboots and clambered into some extremely fetching gauzy Oriental floaty thing with Gold and Jade. Much more the Alchemystic we have come to know so well. 'A journey to the Far East' he says which, as you know, is my own particular route. Given the quality and style of past Alchemystic tracks, it didn't take me but a minute to settle down into the track. See, the one thing you can guarantee about this artist - even his more out-there stuff - is that it will be as sonically detailed as you have come to expect from him.

Gold and Jade goes a way beyond that in my estimation because, bless him, he has at least made the effort to use the correct sounds to achieve his objective. If you are aware of how rich a field World music is, then you will already know how difficult it is to pull off authentically or originally. Admittedly, Gold and Jade have a much more 'soundtrack' base than some of the more purer strains of the genre, but it still carries enough of the essential elements to be correctly labelled as world music. At just over three and a half minutes, the track seems considerably shorter which shows just how engrossing it can be. However, I am fascinated by the genre so I am bound to like a track as well presented as this, but you may find it stirring too.

Excellent world music soundtrack. Highly Recommended.