Third Drop Reflection - Realization

[Rotwang]

Third Drop Reflection - Realization (Electric Power Pole)

 

 

Press Release:

 

Electric Power Pole Records are proud to present the highly anticipated debut album of Sydney artist Third Drop Reflection – Realization. After four years playing live around Australia and overseas, Barry Anthony Tukonic, a classically trained pianist, has selected the finest of his compositions to create an epic psychedelic journey driven by powerful bass lines and intelligent layering of synthesizers resulting in intricate and emotive melodies that take the dancer/listener through multiple realms of light and darkness

So what exactly is this? Hard to say. It has fullon-style basslines, but it's not fullon. It's every bit as melodically-driven as Goa trance, but it's not Goa trance - it doesn't have the same characteristic timbres or eastern-influenced modes. But whatever it is, what it does (and does well) is get your feet moving and your brain feeling good. It's full of morning-friendly, emotional peaks which it's really difficult not to enjoy.

On the downside, this album has a tendency to overuse very harsh, almost hard trance sounds for its main melodies; they're present on almost every track. It's nice in small doses, but it becomes tiresome, even annoying, after a while.

 

Tracks (click titles for Saiko Sounds sample):

 

1) Life 7:45

 

The opening track is dominated by a pounding bassline, while a sequence of pleasant if ultimately inconsequential melodies build up over the top. A decent enough track, but it doesn't really go anywhere; frustratingly, it spends a lot of time hinting at an imminent climax that never actually happens.

 

2) Locrian - Come the Dawn (TDR Remix) 8:54

 

After an atmospheric intro featuring some rather creepy children's singing, at around two minutes in we hear the first appearance of a slightly annoying main melody. Otherwise this is a very good tune, mainly because of some excellent and surprising developments in the final few minutes.

 

3) Ishta Grey 6:53

 

Ishta Grey opens with some nice ambient doodling before the track proper begins with a very cool major to minor key change and a lovely choral sample. Then a couple of minutes later the inevitable ear-stabbing main melody kicks in. It's pretty standard stuff from that point.

 

4) Morning Glory 7:42

 

Within seconds of the beginning of this track it has already become apparent that Morning Glory will be something of a highlight. And it is: the harsh sounds from previous tracks are still here, but whereas they usually stick out like a soar thumb, here they fit beautifully into a vast array of harmonies that keeps getting better and better. This is one of those rare pieces of music that makes one want to throw one's hands up in joy.

 

5) Droplicka 7:05

 

This starts out really well; the intro is haunting and atmospheric, and while the harsh main melody is still there it doesn't drown out everything else like it does on some tracks. The only downside is a bizarre and frankly pointless detour through "circus trance", but that's mercifully short before the good bit is resumed.

 

6) Tripsta Bee 7:37

 

Like Life this is mainly built around a thumping bassline, with a series of melodies and very little by way of harmony. Compared to the better tracks it's rather simplistic and repetitive, but it's enjoyable nonetheless.

 

7) Tripsta See 7:27

 

Apart from a relaxed intro involving a very nicely manipulated sample of a child talking this is more of the same, albeit one of the better tracks - it's more subtle and subdued than most of the album but it has lots of nice melodies which will get your brain dancing if not your feet.

 

8) Sin Eater 6:48

 

As the name suggests, Sin Eater sounds rather sinister compared to most other tracks. It starts out very well, with some nice choral samples and a darkish bassline, but when the main melody appears it pretty much overpowers everything else like the musical equivalent of way too much salt.

 

9) Taste of Colour 7:57

 

This opens with some nice darkpsy-style swooshing and a simple but effective pitch-bend melody, before any attempt at subtlety is thrown out the window once again and the main melodic line appears, which sounds like some kind of synthesized guitar. It's actually not half bad, though it gets repetitive after a while and the predictable key change doesn't help.

 

10) Erisian Fields 11:48

 

Now this is a real surprise - not only is it very different to the rest of the CD, it's also quite special in itself. The harsh, grating timbres that were used on every previous track are nowhere to be heard here, and instead we have something much softer and easier on the ear. This would not have sounded out of place on Braincell's first album, and if it had been there it would have been one of the best bits. It's every bit as epic as the twelve minute length suggests, but changes often enough that it never gets boring. Heck, there are almost as many ideas in this one track as there are in the entire rest of the album. Splendid.

 

 

 

Overall:Third Drop Reflection has managed to develop a unique sound, and if you're looking for something that's both euphoric and psychedelic at the same time then you should probably give this a try, because I don't know of anyone else who's doing this kind of thing. However I fear that the overuse of harsh timbres will put many people off. I should also mention that the mastering on this CD sounds kind of wrong to me - the high end sounds seem overly loud compared to the basslines and percussion, which also sound kind of muffled; perhaps this is intentional but it doesn't really work. On the whole this is a good album, no doubt, but the occasional moments that are better than merely "good" hint that this artist has the potential to make a better one. 7.5/10

 

Favourite Tracks: 2, 4(!), 5, 7, 10(!)