RAF21 - On The Styx

Hear The Track Here

Raf Beaudon (aka RAF21) is a French electronica artist with a difference; he may well be making his music electronically but the sound that comes out the other end is more influenced by the classical world than any other. This is a musical style fraught with danger, especially around me. I have been known to pour battery acid into the faces of some of these tracks and I've met very few exponents of this style that have survived unscathed. Obviously RAF21 knows a little better than most because this is the fourth RAF21 track I have reviewed so far, and neither of us have much a problem with whats going on.

A huge part of that is down to the way this artist chooses sounds and uses them; always a key part of getting that whole classical thing down. Most of us have the kind of hearing that can easily tell the difference between a synth sample and the real thing; especially when it comes to the stringed instruments which are notoriously difficult to render digitally. Great strides have been made over the past few years though, and its artists like RAF21 who are truly exploring that potential. On The Styx is yet another in the Orphee et Eurydice song cycle that Nuptial Danse (September 2008) came from and I liked that track immensely.

On The Styx (nothing to do with the prog-rock band, its a legendary mythical river) is track four of this six song peice and like Nuptial Danse, the instrumentaton is faultless; the attention to sound fideility is spot on. Although I've now heard two of the tracks from this series, I've found it so good that I am now keen enough to want to hear the whole peice, in order. You may not realise the significance of that statement but people who know me and my taste would be scratching their heads right now. I don't know very much about the story of Orpheus and the underworld but I'm sure that RAF21 has faithfully caught the musical taste of it.

Modern classical anyone? Highly Recommended.