Ben Coda has been prolifically releasing his own music for nearly the last decade as well as remixing so many tunes by people as diverse as Quivver and Mory Kante and it is only now that he releases his first album – how so? I suspect the impetus is his involvement in the Lowering The Tone label with Mark Pember (Meat Katie) where this album is released. And what a cracker it is.
The Other Side: A gentle almost ambient sound brings this track in until a bass line emerges from deep in the mix which builds until the kick comes in and the whole track is lifted up into a prog breaks sound.The music builds with vocal overlays and acid bubbles until the break and it crashes into a beautiful sound that transports into a soundscape of bliss. One of the standout tracks to me of the album and it’s only just started.
Light Shining: Ben has built a sound that is distinct from others in the many genres he works within (I’m sure he would say he doesn’t work in any particular genre just producing good music) and this is a great representation of his trademark feel. A rolling beat, a hard driving kick, squelchy synths, distorted vocals, builds and drops, and a progressive feel.
Heatseeker: What is that coming…could it be a song…of course not… but that melody sounds like a tune I’ve heard before..but no. It rises and rises and is almost uplifting in a techno kind of way. Then boom a female voice (granted distorted) slips in and you are ready for a chorus but instead the beat has become harder and you’ve been led away to the break when an almost funky synth stab hits you and you’re back with the female voice. The nearest Ben will get to a pop hit I feel. Xmas No.1?
Inside the Machine: This was released as a single with Underground earlier on in the year.A rolling slab of groove it is too.Lots of squelchy sounds to drive along that incessant bounce that crosses many genres from Progressive, Psy-Breaks,to Tech Funk and beyond.
Bang Bang: I have reviewed this track before but after hearing so many good remixes of it this original seems like a new track. That dark bassline would move the most jaded dancer. It sounds quite slow after hearing the other remixes out there but still a great track.
Underground: Dark brooding and underground sums this track up.
Everybody Knows: Dark vocals (check it), big kickdrum (check it), wierd Synth sounds (check it), rolling rhythm (check it), building overlayered sounds (check it), big build (check it), distinctive Ben Coda beats (check it). Check it out.
Angel Dust: A sound that pulsates and whirrs like a psychaedelic helicopter rising from the depths of a techno forest introduces this track but is soon interrupted by an insistent kickdrum before more vibrating rhythms come in and out of the tune like strange faces peering out of the undergrowth. Then just as you’ve got a grip of the tune and are bopping along a Leftfield sounding voice comes in chanting and the tune changes and you’re lifted up by the more laid back beat punctuated by small slightly distorted breakbeats. The breakdown comes and almost goes full breakbeat before picking up the rhythm again which will make you want to dance wherever you are.
Outstanding Track No.1
Perception: What’s this I thought is it Ben’s UK Garage track? – as that percussion and bass line insinuated but it soon changes up to an almost dub like track and a bit of a breather from the full on sound of the rest of the album. It even has an 80s synth stab in there to keep you on your toes. The whole track glides along and draws you in so much that you want to listen again as that drum sound is addictive.
Gruber: When I heard this track I immediately thought Boris Brescha on a psychaedelic tip – and I’m sticking to that – see what you think.
Waverider: A very percussive sound introduces this track and then it breaks and although the percussion is still there the bass has brought the track to another level and it is now bobbing along with that acid tweak driving it and other sounds all building the track to a peak where the strange synth line moves the track to another dimension but keeping the body rocking. And a vocal that sounds, to me, oddly like Alan Partridge on acid (now there’s something you don’t hear everyday).
Machine Reload: This track starts with a psy-trance feel but then the kick drum changes it and when the bass kicks in it has moved again to a progressive tech funk slice of heaven with added psy tones.It could appear in many mixes across any of those genres and wouldn’t be out of place – added with the acid tinged sounds it is a grower of a track that demands another listen to get a grip on it.
The whole album fits together so well and a great way to end a very successful year for Ben and Lowering The Tone and just makes me look forward to what is coming from them in 2018
