Sunday, February 12, 2006

Steve Gilmore Reviews: Ricky Mancini - Area 39

Artist: Ricky Mancini

Title: Area 39

More commonly known as the man with a thousand names. Not sure what is going on with this artist; it could be that he is called Jesterfell or MD-1 Project or even just plain ol' Ricky Mancini. No doubt he'll be along at some point to put us straight on this. I first came across this MP3 Unsigned artist when I reviewed Use Your Noodle (January 2006) which I liked a great deal. It showed great promise and it's mix of dub bass, rocky guitar lines and vocal cut ups made it something a bit more special than the 'experimental' tag it laboured under. I have heard a great deal of experimental artists (they seem to pick me out especially) and in no way would I call this artist that. Mind you, he mixes so much together that I'd be hard pressed to place the genre anyway so I guess any genre will do in a pinch.

One of the things that struck me most about Noodle was the tightness of the production and the same could be said for Area 39, as is evident from the first few kick beats that introduce the track. Much more of a dance style (almost techno even) than his previous track, Area 39 definitely isn't - to my mind anyway - anything even remotely close to experimental and IMHO should be reclassified as such. People have a massive aversion to the experimental tag and I feel this track would be better served under either techno or trance and would definitely get more listeners because - like Use Your Noodle - it is a very decent track indeed both in terms of production and content.

Personally, I don't have a lot of time for either techno or trance but I know a good track in that genre when I hear it and this is such a track. Even an old fart such as Greybrow commented on what a great dance track it was, and being an old fart myself, I can only nod my greying head in acknowledgement. Again the sounds this artist chose, and the classy way he uses them shows that here is someone that definitely needs watching - big things are going to come from this artist, mark my words. As much as I dislike the whole electronic dance thing, there is no denying its power when used correctly and Ricky Mancini (no matter what his name is today) corrals that power as if to the manner born. So much so that I have to give this track one of the best recommendations I can give - as much as it shames me to admit it. Excellent and soooo worthy of a listen or six....

Highly recommended, high energy dance track.

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