Sunday, February 12, 2006

Steve Gilmore Reviews: Jono - Imperfect

Artist: Jono
Title: Imperfect

This is my third Jono track in as many months and although I didn't particularly go for his last effort Sunrise In Dystopia (January 2006) I really enjoyed the track before that Spread The Sickness (December 2005). That's pretty much been the story for Jono and me really; sometimes yes, sometimes no. However, seeing as Jono (real name Johnathon Cruz) is just 15 or so, I don't think he has anything to worry about just yet. Even electronica musicians have to learn sometime - despite what some people might say. Again, though, I stipulate that this isn't my favourite genre by a good way, but as always, I'll try my best...

Imperfect is, I believe, Jono's entry into the recent Christmas competition over at MP3 Unsigned, at least it is judging by the blurb on his webpage. From the first couple of plays I found myself liking the melody that is really the bedrock of the track, if not the whole track itself, because it does seem to all revolve around the central piano peice that it starts with. Mind you, it's a very good melody, but to my ears it kinda gets a bit too much in your face after about the third play because almost five minutes of the same riff - no matter what the genre - is usually more than enough thank you. For my money, I would have preferred a slightly more nuanced version of it a bit later in the track. For sure, it would have helped lift it up a bit after the three minute mark.

Again, I can cut younger artists a break when dealing with the material side of things (track construction, arrangement etc) because that takes a long time to learn how to do well but when it comes to the presentation (instrumentation, sounds, mix) I find it much harder to do. The reason for this is that in this high speed world of ours downloads are impulse moves. A case of 'oooh, that's cool hit download' that the production on this track (no matter how good the melody) throws away. There is - to my ears - a fair bit sonically wrong with this track, some of which I believe is intentional (the distortion on the piano for example). As good as that may sound when the track is red hot off the press, it will STILL sound like a mistake to the person who has no idea what was going through the composers mind while creating it. Still, it IS a very decent melody...

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