About the review

Title: Drifter Qulin
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Artist: Alizhen
Genre: Jazz/Blues: Jazz
Reviewed by: Spectra on March 30, 2008 (All reviews by Spectra)

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1Overall Description
Props to Alizhen for taking an experimental rhythm measure...sounds to me like a 5/8th rhythm...and injecting into it the degree of confidence in break-beat hip-hop. Has a flat foreground that injects confidence into the song yet distracts from the brilliant beat rotations and funk-like quick stabs/in-out fading melodies going on in the background.

If Run DMC (Godfathers and greats of hip-hop) reformed to create yet another new funk-infused genre it might sound something like this.
 
2Creativity Description
The emotional effect of the rhythm measure gives it a "rewinding" feel reminiscent of turn-tablism. While the "wah" guitar fits the mood of the piece well it simply identifies the 8th notes in the song rather than adding to the groove creating a reggae-style vibe. In other words the flat rhythm of the wah guitar could be enhanced onto 16th and 32nd notes (and/or quantized) for better groove. Probably the most amusing aspect of this song is the softer echoing/"ghost note" snares which snake around the rhythm on advanced notes (IE 32nd+ notes) enhancing the song's sense of groove and giving the rhythm background a very jazzy, improvised, "live" sounding rhythmic tone. At 37 seconds another sharper funk guitar comes in and plays a less flat rhythm than the first, but still gives a fairly flat reggae feel do to mostly staying on 8th notes rather than swinging. At 1:19 a high-conga type drum comes in a starts playing a highly swinging 16th+ note groove that represents what I hoped the other rhythmic/drum lines would become. To note as well, some effects like the tone-modulated laser sounds at 0:35 and the bass stabs that come in at that time and the rhodes piano that punches in and out of the background give it an excellent signature "space jazz" feel.

More groove in the rhythm IE falling away from the predictable reggae feel and toward the abstract feel implied in the "ghost" backgrounds snares would add to the degree of experimental creativity in this track.
 
3Artistic License Description
There are only about a few other artists here on TIS I've seen effectively using experimental beat measures (DJ I/O and TwiTerror being two of them) and Ali-Zhen's sound is not only unique in being in a special beat measure but also unique in it's space-jazz vibe as opposed to the more beat-rotation vibe from the other mixed-measure artist. In the creativity section I got rather picky about the flatness of parts of groove but, on the other hand, the mood which the groove and/or places that lack it create a vibe that is very unique even compared to other odd-measured beat efforts.
 
4Arrangement Description
Everything here is "AliZhen quality"...which means both crystal-clear and ultra-confident. The wah guitars, rhodes piano interludes, the deep almost sexual sounding ambient-d&b style lush synth breakdown at 01:15 that provides a sense of serenity to an otherwise restless mood...all provide an evolving instrumental background that takes you on a journey rather than shows you all its tricks at once. You have to listen to this track a few times to get all the nuances of it, which greatly increases the last-ability of this track.
My real gripe here is the overly loud and sharp main snare and rhythm arrangement of the first wah-guitar that hits almost completely on "reggae-like" 8th notes...it distracts from some of the brilliant groove rotation in the background snares and instruments fading in and out from that background.
 
5Sound Quality Description
Simply put if you enjoyed ultra-smoothly mixed songs like AliZhen's "Boxed-In" (and/or blasting it on a good pair of subs in your car like I do) you won't be disappointed with this track. Professional quality all around...although my subjective tastes lean again the very sharp main snare sound that doesn't hurt the objective fact that the main snare is very clear and well "produced".
 
6Does it work as a piece of music Description
Musically, despite being experimental...there's nothing here that falls through the cracks of music or rhythm theory or skimps on it in any way. Alizhen seems just as comfortable in this "odd" style as his usual hip-hop break tracks. The only thing, in a partly subjective sense here, is that the grooves in the background and the more flat/8th-note beats in the foreground seem to argue: the background seems to say "abstract" while the foreground seems to say "foundational/fixed".
If Alizhen ever makes another song in the experimental realm I would strongly encourage him to go all the way IE completely abstract...not necessarily b/c he'd get better ratings that way but because he'd add something more unique to the scene. One thing is for sure...it seems anything Alizhen produces is taken quite seriously by the listening public, and any doors he opens with his experimentalism are likely to influence others to also want to push limits of music theory, particularly in rhythm. All in all, great job...but I'm still waiting for you (Alizhen) to start a "beat-style revolution". :-)
 
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