Customer Reviews

Backstroke

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A great continuation where "Leave luck to heaven" left off. I've collected and followed alot of the artists on Ghostly for the past few years and I've never been dissapointed. Taking over where the mentor Richie Hawtin left off "Backstroke" is solid minimalist techno with interesting lyrics making for a really enjoyable experience weather your just chilling at home or itching to get up dance -- it's all there for you to make it your own.

I've been listening to techo/electronica music for over a decade and I enjoy it very much. I'm not sure why. It just appeals to me where I'm at the present time. As such, I buy up a lot of CDs that I have no knowledge of whatsoever. I enjoy some very much and others I store away never to be played again. I purchased Matthew Dear's "Leave Luck to Heaven" in this way after reading a short review in Rolling Stone. I was blown away by the recording and became a Dear fan from the first playing. "Heaven," in fact, was so good that it prompted my first Amazon review. Naturally, I purchased "Backstroke" as soon as it became available.

"Backstroke" was a disappointment. It's not that it was a bad recording. In fact, it's rather good. The only sin of "Backstroke" was that it didn't live up to my glowing expectations derived from Dear's first CD. As such, I put off reviewing "Backstroke," I got tied up with a bunch of other more pressing matters, and several years drifted by. Then I purchased and reviewed the "Audion (Suckfish)," "Asa Breed" and "False 2007" CDs. I just love listening to this stuff! Except, I now recognize that I greatly prefer Dear's "instrumental" pieces, and I don't particularly care for Dear's vocals. Well, that's just a personal preference and others may feel quite differently. In any case, the time has come to go back to Dear's "Backstroke" and give it another listen.

"Backstroke" is a good CD. Well done. Pleasant listening. If I weren't familiar with Dear's other recordings, I'd give it five stars. It certainly ranks well above most of the other electronica I listen to. However, this CD doesn't live up to Dear's recordings, specifically, "Heaven," Suckfish" and False 2007," in my opinion. I'd say that "Hide" and "Takes on You" are the best tracks. I burn out quickly on "And In the Night." All but two tracks feature Dear vocals, and I find his vocals distracting from listening to the very interesting electronic progressions he lays down. It's a good album, very worthy, probably better than the four stars I'm giving it.

Gary Peterson

BACKSTROKE is another album of bizarro-house from Matthew Dear, one of the few who can make bizarro-house work. So even after a minute and a half of noise at the beginning of "Another," we get the track that we'd been waiting for, a digital bit of clickery that doesn't entirely give up the noise. His vocals come the fore in "Tide," but the deep bass hits of "Takes On You" that take you into the horn-like blasts of sound are more distinctive. The wooziness of "Grut Wall" and the dizziness of "Huggy's Parade" help both of those stand out as well. But on some levels, this album isn't as focused as LEAVE LUCK TO HEAVEN. But when you get a track as sleazily disco as "And in the Night," why nitpick?

the follow up to the superb debut album "leave luck to heaven" and this cd does the former justice. my favorite track is "huggy's parade". matthew continues where he left off with LLTH, with very danceable housey pop music and catchy vocals that are bound to grab the attention. if you liked the predecessor, you know you'd be crazy to skip this one. if you havent heard either, you cant go wrong with picking them up.

matthew dear's earlier material (released mainly on vinyl) is straight-up minimal techno, but lately he's been going with a poppier approach with the addition of vocals. he sings on almost all the songs here, and there are lots of other nice touches, like guitar (i think) in "tide", and horns and latin percussion in "and in the night". there are lots of quirky melodies and interesting production effects. this music is very modern, individualistic, catchy, often dancy, and sometimes a bit spooky.

I can't imagine anyone not liking this who's already a fan of the whole 4/4, minimal house scene. It's firmly rooted there. It reminded me a bit of Swayzak, only the vocals on the few tracks that do have vocals are very unpolished and strangely unfitting. But, yet, this makes the songs better somehow. Very enjoyable, but unfortunately short.

I cannot believe the crap that this label has been putting out. The only reason that this label started is because the owner's dad has a lot of money to throw around...

The only reason people buy this stuff is because they are tricked into thinking this stuff is good...

Ghostly pays magazines and newspapers to write good reviews about their work. If a magazine writes a bad review of their work, the money that Ghostly gives them stops coming in... So a CD like this that has been given a 10/10 in URB should have actually received a 2/10.

You want to listen to some real music? Well, you can start by NOT purchasing this CD.