Reflexion X - Night Ride

Hear The Track Here

I spent a large part of the review of Reflexion X's I Got An Error (March 2010) explaining why it had seemingly taken me from 2003 to 2010 to actually get around to reviewing this long term Soundclick resident. If it really interests you to read my craven apologies (or shabby excuses depending how you look at it), that review should suffice and I don't want to tread the same ground again. Suffice to say that I really liked I Got An Error, a masterly piece of electronica that reminded me of a poppy Kraftwerk, and that's never a bad thing. More to the point, it rubbed my nose in the fact that I really should have been checking out his work a whole lot sooner so I am glad to get another shot at his stuff. Mind you, he may be testing my tolerance levels because Night Ride (as I noticed while downloading it) is a (gulp) Trance track and boy o boy o boy o boy, I don't like that too much as you well know.

There again, the one thing that Hiekki Roots (aka Reflexion X) did prove on the previous track is that he is a serious musician, who takes care to make the very best of what he has - and it shows. Quality will out as they say, even if IMHO the genre is God-awful. Now that I've had time to listen to it, and got rid of the strange ringing in my ears, I would be hard pressed to call this trance, or at least what I think of as trance. What it comes across to me is a weird blend of 1980's electro-pop with an edge of electronica supplied by either Kraftwerk or Yello - take your choice. It's actually a kinda/sorta song too, and I have to say I ended up liking it enormously.

I wouldn't buy it chocolates and take it home to meet Mum though, as much as it charmed me. As a song, and as an instrumental, Night Ride stands up to scrutiny in all respects; it sounds full and meaty, clear and precise where it needs to be and the rhythmic backline push it all along with great style. The reason it didn't steal my heart is entirely personal, as good as the track is, it just isn't good enough to last more than a few more plays before wearing out its welcome. That, however, is down to my own pitiful tolerance levels for this kind of material. While was was listening to it though, a good many times I might add, I kept thinking it reminded me of something and I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. When I started to write this, it hit me immediately. Anyone remember Falco?

Excellent electro-pop-ish electronica. Highly Recommended.