there aren't many people that can hop through genres like Alliance Division does on his debut LP released on egoboobits. mainly downtempo album dips into various styles to create a collage of electronica genres.
lounged up vocoded opener La Belle et la Bete deceives you and leaves you wide open for the onslaught of styles that awaits you. funk guitar licks of Funk Frame Rate, Departure's samba beats and cheesy piano house of yesteryear in Despite My Appearance are just a tip of an iceberg.
things calm down a bit with Passive which, sort of, starts the downbeat section of the album, continued in the amazingly lovely Homeland's ethnodub reminiscent of Thievery Corporation, only to be broken by the inappropriately placed Electric Highway, an electro/trance wannabe track that could have been placed closer to the start of the album or better yet, completely omitted. thankfully, jazzified slow breaks of The Small Tooth Dog together with The Lizard Husband put the vibe back where it belongs.
before the end comes a cheerful house tune named Name That Tune, heh. Deckard concludes the album in an atmospheric trance (no, not the commercial bullshit called trance, think Orb and 'pulsating brains') state.
what a ride: funk, jazz, house, ethno, breaks, downbeat! there's truly something for everyone on this excellent album. Alliance Division has a firm grasp on all the genres
one thing bothers me tho. tracks are ordered in a peculiar way, without any afterthought so the mood switches are a bit abrupt. but that's nothing that cannot be fixed with a pair of clicks on the playlist - ah, the beauty of netaudio!
recommended track: Homeland
second review and again a release by the same label. biased? maybe... but definitely localpatriotic!
and the releases are low profile and someone had to spread the word.
06 April 2005
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