Guest Chong Posted March 15, 2002 Share Posted March 15, 2002 Alegria - Phonograms Artist: Alegria Title: Phonograms Label: Sunset Date: 2002 Track listing: 01. 06'55" Rheinbringer 02. 08'18" One 03. 07'10" Arabon (Oriental Rmx) 04. 06'53" The Mission 05. 07'16" Wicked Chicks 06. 08'31" MDMA Test (Album Edit) 07. 07'55" Buddy Groove 08. 08'35" Chicachilla Review: Alegria has provided us with many great singles; now an album follows, released by Sunset Recordings. Sunset release progressive, groovy, psy-trance for the sunlight hours and this release is on track. #1 A down-tempo piece with some nicely over-layered atmospherics and some funky breaks. A vocal sample is run almost constantly throughout ("begin, begin") - nice horn effects that border on repetitive at some stages but manage to stay interesting. #2 it's smooth, funky and laid-back. It grooves along nicely - I like this 'One'?E#3 great to hear a re-working of this track, I remember it from the Spirit Zone release - Global Psychedelic Trance 6 - Soft beats and again a very nice smooth feel. Very warm surroundings throughout this album. #4 this track has a stronger, faster beat; Alegria manages though to line silk thru it all. He uses some very house-orientated sounds and samples, the woman's vocal sample makes this track slightly annoying for me; but the groove is really pleasant. #5 we hear the same sample as the first track ("begin, begin") but sped up with a Rasta-twist. This is a new beginning to the second half of the album; the pace has increased, but the smooth beats go on?Enother groove evolves and spins and turns your head inside itself (What would you do if you had a million dollars?) - Psy-house soundz. #6 "performing mdma test" - - - forest sensations in a club - more silky-funk, nice polyrhythm effect, the rhythm is gonna get ya! #7 this takes things into more groove, but slows it down into a mind-shake: there's a popping noise in my right ear every now and then, like a tennis ball being hit, a great effect and the track flows so nicely. #8 the finale, also smooth and funky with more repeated samples but even more so on the chill-side. This is a pleasant ride from Alegria, the album is at a smooth, constant pace (est. 136bpm), and it has a psychedelic-house feel to it with careful laidback funk touches; it seems that many artists are starting to explore this avenue. Alegria does it well. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pe'a Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Nice Album. Its good to see that some peoples tastes are not stuck behind borders. YES it's true; this is housy, and also psychedelic. Alegria has put together a nice package of music and it gets better each time u play it. Chong (you used to be MK, yes?) nice review - although I thought in T5 the sample is "Wicked..." - its hard too tell. I recommend the album to people who have an open mind and have like the previous Sunset Recordings releases. Good Work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Syre Posted April 15, 2002 Share Posted April 15, 2002 Arabon (Oriental Rmx) is a true killer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest McKenna Posted May 4, 2002 Share Posted May 4, 2002 I am actually quite open minded when it comes to different styles in the genre of electronic music. But when music suck it doesn't matter if it's full on, minimalistic, ambient, house or anything else. It just sucks. This album doesn't suck. But that is not to say it's any good. The production really sounds weak and there is nothing in the tracks witch make you want to continue listening. Now I've listened to a lot of the more clubby housey music, and there are some great music in that genre. But this doesn't come close. All in all it sounds to me like it's made by a hobby musician with a lot of softsynths. I even recognized a loop in "Rheinbringer" taken directly from the soundbank in Propellerheads Reason and it doesn't even sound any good. Sorry Alegria... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Candlejack Posted May 10, 2002 Share Posted May 10, 2002 Precisely. McKenna is completely right here, I couldn't agree more. When music sucks it doesn't matter what style it is. Alegria took the house-influence a bit too far this time. Most of his singles that I've listened were pretty good, but then those were all on compils and just made that little change in style that I like. Listening to this as a whole however it reveals that this style cannot interest me for a whole album-listen. That and the fact that the housey influence in his tracks has been taken a step too far in my opinion. I'd give this 5,5/10 and well, I'd advice people to listen this first and then buy if you like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tomvcarter Posted February 2, 2003 Share Posted February 2, 2003 Exelent, very housy, but still deep. Hated this at first, but now recomend it as one of the best most innovative albums of the year. Tracks 3,4,5,6 are all exellent. cant wait to hear more of his stuff. Not heavy stuff, progy, techy, housy trance! if u see what i mean?! Buy it 9/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Raash Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Yeees! Nice and groovy album without the annoying sharp sounds and other crap... Just pure, pumping basslines... Play this LOUD! I can't see why people ripp on this album, it's simply great! If you like Astrix and Alien Project, don't miss this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.