The Midas Touch - Motown Showdown

Hear The Track Here

The name might indeed be new, but the man behind it isn't. I've already reviewed Nick Laroche in another disguise and very much liked his brand of electronica. So much so that Winter Warmth (December 2008) got a Must Have and an honorable mention in my Tracks Of The Year 2008. The Midas Touch seems to have the man turning his hand to manufacturing beats (ie music/rhythm backing tracks) for others to use as the base for their raps. Tough market for sure, but there again Nick definitely knows what he's doing with his other material so I doubted he would make a hash of it.

Indeed, the end result of this took me so by surprise the first time I heard it I had to physically check that it really was the same track. It might be billed as hiphop and it might well BE hiphop, but not as we know it Captain. In fact, Motown Showdown shows a surprising amount of inventiveness, literally playing the genre for all its worth but with a decided rock influence that sounds very, very strange but works so well it will bring an instant smile to your face.

The overriding impression I got from the first play of this persisted right through the couple of days I allocate to each track. There's a freshness and liveliness about this track is tremendously appealing to me, not to mention an absolute rottweiler of a beat. Much more to the point, the real strength in the track comes from the many uses Nick puts his guitar playing skills to, it's those insane little licks he works into the musical conversation that are the star attraction. I wouldn't have thought hiphop and rock would have made easy bedfellows but - to my amazement - I stand corrected. Awesome track, absolute blinder.

MUST HAVE blend of hiphop and rock.