True Colors

High Contrast

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 4, 2002)
• Original Release Date: June 4, 2002
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Breakbeat Science
• ASIN: B000066SHU
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,003 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Cardiff-based DJ-producer Lincoln Barrett (a.k.a. High Contrast) builds new beats and pieces into the once majestic style known as drum and bass, combining color-saturated technique, warm studio technology, and clever samples for a spectacular two-disc debut. Many producers try to bring a more song-oriented approach to drum and bass, but Barrett pulls a few old-school tricks with a new-school view that beats them all silly. The warp-speed "Make It Tonight" sounds like Mary J. Blige time-stretched and tipsy. "True Colors" fuses bracing math rock with warm R&B sensibilities, while "Passion" combines corny atmospherics with breathy females and smooth-jazz sonics. "Return of Forever" is full-on sleaze funk, with a groove as deep and sweaty as a Brazilian street parade. With his magician's programming skills and dazzling tune sense, Barrett ups the ante for drum and bass wannabes the world over. Disc No. 2 includes alternate mixes and two additional tracks, "Remember When" and "Full Intention." --Ken Micallef

From URB Magazine
Personally and as a producer, Lincoln Barrett (alias High Contrast) values subtlety. He goes for the whisper instead of the bang, and in the process has ended up ushering in an era of drum & bass where attention to detail and deft multi-layering count for a lot more than a bombastic bass line chopped together with a few swift breaks.

High Contrast's debut, True Colors, is a trip through classic garage and disco house, filtered through a lens of seminal early '90s hardcore and classical chamber music and spit out of the sampler as the breakbeat of the future. In a big, fat "fuck you" to pundits who claim dance music is too self-referential, Barrett layers elements of electronic music's past with outside influences to create songs that sound like personalized scores, not your typical dance-floor fodder. The brilliance of the project is that this music is dance floor - no less than five of the 10 tracks have been club smashes.

Clearly, this is not your little brother's drum & bass. Tracks like "Global Love," "Return of Forever" and "Make It Tonight" put the sex back in the jungle equation in the form of orgasmic vocals, syrupy snares and gently caressing melodies. High Contrast's output is neither dark nor light, and best of all, it doesn't fall into any genre clichés. All of which makes this album damn near perfect to listen to anytime, anywhere, whether you're washing the dishes or rinsing out the dance floor.

Vivian Host

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Songs, not tracks, October 24, 2002

By	P. Gunderson (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I hesitatingly bought this double CD, but I'm glad I did. "True Colors" isn't just a compilation of tracks--it is album of real songs. Too much dance music is just a cool groove looped to infinity. These songs have individual character--in the liner notes, High Contrast (aka Lincoln Barrett) says that they evoke different colors in his mind--and yet they cohere as part of a total vision. I would call it "warm" drum and bass, since it has a lot of samples from "organic" instruments--B3 organs, soul vocals, and such--but the beats have punch and are resolutely futuristic. There's both emotional depth here and sophisticated production that makes for great listening on or off the dance floor. High Contrast's "True Colors" is better than Goldie's "Timeless" (no cheezy orca noises), although I have to admit that "Timeless" made albums like "True Colors" possible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Souful Side to Drum and Bass, brought by High contrast, June 21, 2004

By	"djfaulk05" (USA) - See all my reviews

When I picked up High Contrast's 'True Colors,' I was very skeptical of what I would hear, since I am an active listener to all sorts of Drum and Bass forms. High Contrast seems to take this 'DnB' genre to another level of fast pace breakbeats, into goovin' tunes. His style is very unique and very addictive, I must say. You catch yourself listening to the whole CD over and over and enjoying its Light, Jazzy, Techstep, Intelligent way of mixing drum and bass with modern phrased vocals or the next chord that strikes. Personally, I think High Contrast(Lincoln Barrett) is a creative man in making drum and bass take a 'lighter' note than its fellow competitors(usually 'dark' drum and bass producers). Overall, this album 'True Colors' is one of those cd's that should be in your drum and bass collection of all time. With its soulful and addictive beats, you shouldnt pass up this offer of not buying it, or at least listen to it.

-djfaulk

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific, May 12, 2005

By	Listener "Listener" (US) - See all my reviews

I spend hours upon hours looking for "this", regardless of the genre. Worth the ~$13 bucks; Return of Forever is unbelieveable. If you like True Colors, most definitely check out High Society, in fact the entire rest of the Hospital crew.