MG vs XXXX - Silence

Hear The Track Here

MG vs XXXX is a relatively new name to Soundclick and one I haven't reviewed before, so that's nice... God, what a positive dog of an opening line, can't I do better than that? (Ed: no...EVER). He (despite the massed hordes suggested in the band name) is an electronic musician from the UK and note my use of the word electronic, as opposed to the more common form: electronica. To me, they are different things, electronic being the early form of electronica if you like. MG (and his assembled hordes) are influenced more by 1980's electropop than anything - at least as far as I can tell. In common with all us single producers though, MG is constantly searching for vocals and vocalists. Judging by some of the other tracks on his Soundclick page, the man has a sure touch at finding good female vocalists and them being gorgeous doesn't harm the case any.

'So I found an acapella on t'web and made this track from it' he says in the song comments, and that's a familiar refrain to me. Depeche, Yazoo, Erasure, Human League, Vince Clarke, Martin Gore are the names he mentions concerning specific influences and those are exactly the same names I would have used to describe them to you. I loved the combination of Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet more than anything else from the period and although no one else could 'do an Alison Moyet' but MG certainly does a more than capable Vince Clarke - except with added bite. Damn thing spat my speaker cones into my face when I first played it; not because of a technical fault but by music that - instantly - pins you to the wall.

Funny then, that it should be billed as trance because its about as far removed from that as it can get. If you peer closely, rather than the trance induced sneer, I am actually smiling and the reason is because this is nowhere near trance. Sure, it has that punch and drive, and even some of the musical element but down deep, this is a respectful nod to the past. MG's sound is tough, but not the usually untaxing four-to-the-floor rubbish that litters the trance genre, the arrangement and attention to detail shows that this is a musician who thinks about keeping our interest all the way through. Moreover, think about what he said. Found an accapella and was able to do this with it. 'This' being an awesome meaty slice of 1980's electro-pop that is both modern and retro...

Highly Recommended Electro-pop.