|
As of today, Chris Firenze's second piece, Don't Worry Peach, on the newly revived Akashik Records is available to buy/download, name your own price! http://chrisfirenze.bandcamp.com/album/dont-worry-peach
Check out the review by our own Jonah Hakanson:
 I'm proud to say I remember the beginning of Akashik Records. The first beginning, that is. It had some of the right stuff, and it's debut release was one of Chris' (then Maestro) called "Furlong", I even did a remix for it. But, alas, it wasn't the right time. Chris has been busting his ass doing lots of things, and he does make quite a bit of music. Inevitably, Akashik would come back around, I knew that. I'm usually right about things like that. It was picking up some steam again, I think, around last year at the Fire Electronic Music Festival when Chris had opted to hand out the remaining "Furlong" CDs... which was quite a few if I recall. We ended up pawning them off on some crazy kid to finish doing our dirty work. It's a lot harder to just give away CDs than you think.
But, Akashik Records is back to life, again.
Certain bits of this first release are just down-right amazing. I should probably tell you that I'm not much into minimal techno as a DJ, but this grab-bag of tunes is so fun I don't know how any serious dance music fan would pass it up. The production is clean, and spot-on, well-mastered, but it's not "dry". All three tracks suit very different purposes, carry very unique vibes all their own, and I didn't feel like I was standing in one spot through all of them. Yeah, this release will kill your too-cool-for-skool attitude in a big hurry. Of course I know Chris beyond his music, and I can tell you that his energy is usually that of bubbling bounciness. There's not enough fun sometimes in these simpler genres, but Chris puts it there. Yeah, it seems creepy, then you smile, the bass grinds, and you can hear Chris between the panning hi-hats, "just joking!"
If it was serious, I'd have to shelve it. Too much of the minimal techno realm tries too hard to be so serious it becomes practically nothing; music that turns to dust in your ears. But, this stuff on "Don't Worry, Peach" is absolutely ideal. It's just fun just to listen to. I could even fathom playing "Blowfish" if I ever got stuck following one of those more sleepy minimal-tech dudes.
- Jonah Hakanson
Thanks Jonah! |
