Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Big Wheel - Fuse

Hear The Track Here

Catherine?? What Catherine?? Wtf are you chattering about? Oh hi readers, sorry, you've just joined us in the middle of an argument, the brain and I. As you know, my brain has mystical properties, but it will insist on giving me images which are about as useful as a dick on a desert island. Take, for instance, the visual trigger for this track? Yep, you guessed it; a firework. I mean wtf is that about?? Other people get brains with ideas and income inducing patents, all I get is a brain with a visual glitch. So, in case you've just arrived on Soundclick, Big Wheel is 'a keyboardist and sometime sessionist' who has clocked up a good many years at the Soundclick Electronica/IDM coalface with, I might add, some considerable success. I'm not too fond of out and out dance music generally but whenever I've been around on of this guy's tracks, I've usually appreciated the experience,

My last encounter with him was a remix of a Bikini Black Special track, which then led to a listen to the new CD from the band - The Grim Mathematics Of Intercourse CD (November 2009) - which I really liked so everyone wins out. Good band, well worth checking out. Fuse, though, is the first new Big Wheel track since Love Is In The Air (July 2009) and considering he doesn't release too many this has to be checked out. Billed as Jazz/Jazz Fusion, not a genre I've known to Wheel to roll into, the liquid sound flows into your brains like fragrant smoke (Ed: so that's what he was doing outside) in the time honoured funky fashion. Big Wheel says 'I'm a big fan of soul music, 80s groove RnB, and jazz guitar, so I wanted to do something in that vein'. Did that, and then some.

Not that I am surprised by the quality on display here, especially if - like me - you appreciate this genre. Truth is, Big Wheel's tastes automatically veer towards the smooth and tasteful and Fuse is no exception. One of the Wheels major strengths IMHO has been his ability to weave great sounding melodic lines, and Fuse has lots of them to savour (I absolutely LOVE the nylon guitar bit) and I am not counting the pure audio orgasm you get from the main structural components of the track; piano, clavinet. From a purely production standpoint this is a lovely piece of work, but when you factor the music quality into it, the Wheel has no competition worth a spit (Ed: for all his Kenny G mannerisms eh?)

The groove is the thang. Highly Recommended roundness.

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