Customer Reviews

Miles From Home

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

 

 

From Roni Size to 4-Hero and now another drum and bass classic to add to my collection, PESHAY's "Miles From Home" is a finger of the future. With a deep stand-up bass driving throughout the album, Peshay takes you through the gamut of quality drum n bass.

"Live at 2:37" is a killer jazz track that puts you in a smoke-filled hole watching a live jazz improvisation show with energy that can burn up any dancefloor. Dancefloor? Try "Truly", the sweet vocal house track. Or maybe you want the classic dark drum n bass? There's "Vegas" and "Retro" to supply those evil churning bass lines and chaotic drum patterns.

Like SQUAREPUSHER's "Hard Normal Daddy", this album is so soulful, it can easily be classified as a jazz album by a dnb artist. I urge everyone who reads this review to buy this album if you want to see the full potential of what drum n bass has to offer.

This album is very relaxed and very easy on the ears but Peshay can still churn out floor fillers like "Vegas","retro" and "switch".I really enjoyed this Cd because it is so entertaining!"Miles from Homre" is another great song to watch out for.I remember how that song brought the crowds climaxing in Peshays` gigs around the UK and Ireland(i travel a bit)and the likes of "retro" and "switch" are just all-time classics.This is a cd to those who like something jazzy and funky and is another essential piece of music for those who know good music.

This has to be something of an overlooked classic. It's fair to say that other landmark downtempo intelligent Drum `N' Bass albums such as "Ltj Bukem's Logical Progression", "4-Hero's - Two Pages" or "Adam F's - Colours", usually get the mention before Peshay's sublime effort. Those looking for something akin to recreating a furious D `n' B night out would be well advised to give this one a miss, as this is music to digest at home or indeed listening in the car late at night. The coupling of refined Drum `n' Bass breaks, attached to Jazz instrumentation is nothing new, (as 4-Hero were doing this years prior), but as they say.....'It's all about the implementation!!'

What could so easily fall into background muzak becomes a powerful statement of studious production & arrangement, and proving peshay to be a producer of considerable talent. It normally centres around taking a heavily produced instrumental template comprising of consistently elegant Drum breaks, with a plethora of hypnotic piano, Horn, sax & bass guitar to form a sort of innovative Jazz `n' Breaks fusion. This is all composed & arranged by peshay (With the help of Decoder & Photek on a couple of tracks), and then perfectly matching a vocalist to fit the arrangement perfectly, so you have the godly underground rapper `J-Live' effortlessly lays down intelligent, complex wordplay that shows exceptional lyrical verbosity can work in most genres if applied correctly. As best demonstrated on the stunning "End of Story". The effect is similar to what `MJ Cole' performed on his remarkable garage/2 Step album "Sincere".....mixing a truly fine ear for polished urban music fused with well selected vocalist's & stunning production.

In fact if there is any criticism that could be levelled at the album, is (and this really is nitpicking), that it could possibly be considered `overproduced' (if such a thing is possible)....and if feels that every beat, every sample, every note has been meticulously polished & laboured over almost obsessively so, without the pace of the music to dramatically change or notes shifting dynamically or a surprise directional change....
But to criticise the album for this, is trivial at best, (how many albums have you bought, that you felt could have benefited from more studio time??), It's just that Drum `n' Bass has generally been a freeform, universally rugged from of musically expression, that this album with it's very strong Jazz influences throughout (how brilliantly devised & Composed)can't truly fall into, in fact it can't truly be called a Drum `N' Bass album....(more `Jazz `n' Breaks'), and it's important to state that my (slight) criticism shouldn't make you cautious of purchasing this album, because to endlessly praise the album (Which I'm so very tempted to do) without highlighting any criticisms wouldn't be a rounded review.

Suffice to say that one listen to the truly gorgeous 5 minute instrumental Late night jazz improvisation of "Miles from Home" will convince that this is no mere disposable album, this is arguably amongst the finest releases of intelligent Drum `n' Bass / Breaks albums ever made......utterly sublime.

Not going to take up space - all I can say is buy this and let it comfort your ears through the next 5 years listening (and beyond!).