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ARTiST....: general midi
TiTLE.....: operation overdrive
LABEL.....: Distinctive
CAT.Num..: DISN 186
GENRE.....: breaks
SOURCE....: WEB
ENCODER...: lame
SiZE......: 130,7 MB
REL.DATE..: jul-02-2009
Quality...: 320kbps / 44,1kHz / full
Url.......: http://www.junodownload.com/ppps/products/1430740-02.htm
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01] 4 million ways 03:20
02] absinthe 04:23
03] audio assault 05:17
04] back for more 04:19
05] get it down 04:32
06] kickbox 05:05
07] milton 06:00
08] misbehave 04:01
09] out of control 04:14
10] poker face 03:58
11] i, robot 05:34
12] when i rock 06:16
TOTAL TiME : 56:59 min
Chris Power 2009-06-22
Techno swots will know 'general MIDI' as a technical specification that allows
synthesizers to receive messages from other digital equipment. In other
words, it's something that helps make the creation of dance music possible.
General Midi, on the other hand, is Bristolian Paul Crossman, who has been
active on the breakbeat scene since the late 90s. Operation Overdrive, his
second album, is a mixture of underground and commercial elements
that veers uneasily between the tough and the sugary.
This is an album that can be divided pretty evenly into two groups.
The first, as typified by the thumping break and evilly growling bassline
of Audio Assault, comprises heads-down instrumental tracks that showcase
General Midi's ability to deliver dancefloor bombs. Muscularly functional and
impeccably produced, there's nevertheless nothing surprising about the way
in which they're constructed.
The second group is populated by poppier vocal numbers such as Poker Face
(no, not that one), which pair off a succession of boilerplate breakbeat and
electrohouse-style backing tracks with some pretty forgettable vocal performances.
Those lending their pipes to proceedings include breathy London-based American
breaks DJ and producer Odissi, Dominique Woolf (ex of Devil's Gun) and Sean Gill,
who sings on the truly dreadful 80s-tinged electro-popper Absinthe.
Far better than any of these is opening track 4 Million Ways, on which the superbly
named Orifice Vulgatron from UK hip-hop crew Foreign Beggars hypes the crowd
(or just you if you're listening on your own) in double-time over a heavy electro
backing that, obvious as it is, does its job when teamed with the vocal.
LA's Whiskey Pete performs a similar function û albeit to far less impressive effect û
on Get It Down, and in so doing prompts the thought that General Midi should have
ditched the pop angle and enlisted some heavyweight MCs to this project. As it is
Operation Overdrive inhabits a disquieting no-man's land, its mixture of
straightforward instrumental floor-fillers and attempts at pop songs ending
up somewhere between Plump DJs and a Republica without the hooks.
BPM is against P2P and remember you that this release is for evaluation purpose only.
If you like this release please support the music and the labels, buy it!
BPM is looking for rippers:
if you buy music in whatever format and if you think you can be useful to our grp
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