Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Peach Tree With Pixieguts - Confuse Me

Hear The Track Here

From the three tracks I have already reviewed from The Peach Tree it has become obvious that here is a musician not short of a few ideas, in fact he's got loads. That's doesn't mean to say they all work though. As much as I've liked things from this Australian electronica artist, I've also found things that I can piss and moan about. 'Well, **** you Gilmore,' you may shout, 'give him a break at least he's trying' and you'd be right. The problem is that I get asked to review it, and that means I have to say what I think. Don't get me wrong, I think The Peach Tree is an excellent musician who is developing his style, but it isn't there yet.

Confuse Me, as you can see, is a collaboration between The Tree and Pixieguts (aka vocalist Marie Craven). I have seen her name around in my travels but this is the first time I have ever heard anything from her. The vocal on Confuse Me consists of just four phrases; mental extensions, where are we, confuse me, excuse me repeated at varying levels and speeds. Why that's fine, it IS techno after all; a genre not noted for its lyrical skill - and taken on that level it does exactly what it should do. Be an element of the music. I don't think the flat vocal mix helped to bring out any of the nuances of Pixieguts' vocal though, which can play a large part in the proceedings - even in techno.

The Peach Tree obviously supplies the musical feast and he keeps the lid nailed down on this track pretty well with a solid bass sequence stitching the beat into place. Mind you, you would have to be mental about techno to get much more from this track than a monster headache. That isn't to say it isn't worthy of a listen or two, it is. Taken as a straightforward techno track, I've heard a lot worse. Where it falls down is in the general lo-fi sounds (raw even) and the kinda slapdash way sound levels are dealt with. I liked the whole chop-everything-up approach and thought if that had been developed more, this track would have had longer legs.

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