Charlie A - Fading Away Demo

Hear The Track Here

The names Charlie A and Nuff-X are well known to long-term members of Soundclick, Charlie for his film soundtrackery whizcrackery and Nuff-X for his own inimitable take on messed up electronica enticingly known as 'nuffcore'. Now, as it happens, I have a lot of time and respect for both these musicians 1) for sticking it out and 2) for sticking to their guns musically and I've said so many times. It isn't, however, that often that I get to review them as a single (of collaborative) entity and I am grateful for the opportunity. The reason for this enthusiasm is because when I reviewed their last adventure together - Cracks In The Wall (March 2009) - I absolutely loved the blend between Charlie's innate melodic nous and Nuff's decimating sonic destruction which sounds a lot odder on paper (Ed: eh?) than it does pouring into your earholes. An absolutely awesome blend of orchestral and DnB that deserves listening to right now :)

Not sure exactly what the demo in the title signifies, whether this is a work in progress or just an idea for something, but it certainly can't be taken to mean something lo-fi and home produced - something neither musician could ever be accused of. It's knowing their work as well as I do, that makes me question this track. For sure, even though it's billed as experimental, pitch and timing still have a part to play and as 'experimental' as Fading Away is, it still mars the listening experience - at least for me. On the other hand, the music is absolutely spot on in all other respects.

It's whether that mismatch between the bass and vocals is intentional or not, that I find a stumbling block. It doesn't detract from the overall impact of the track and I know there will be plenty of takers for this piece of aural oddity, and I think they also a victim of past success. Where Cracks In The Wall was an exact match between to their individual talents, the same tightness isn't that evident here. Mind you, if I look at it another way and say that the track is more Nuff than Charlie this time around, it would make perfect sense. Not because Nuff is musically sloppy - far from it - but because he has a wicked sense of exactly how much wtf potion to use in a particular situation. Different, that's for sure.

Recommended experimental electronica.