Jaws Underground - Still Alive

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Jaws Underground

Title: Still Alive

Label: Geomagnetic TV

Date: October, 2010

 

1. Music Box

2. Danger Zone (Jaws Underground rmx) - Mesmerizer

3. Teknologic

4. What City (Jaws Underground rmx) - I.Dot

5. Trance Fighters

6. Sub Division

7. The Rules

8. Still Alive

9. In Space - Jaws Underground Vs. A-Mush

 

This is Alexandre Joly from France with his 4th album. Four? Really?? Wait, is Joly his first name or last? I'll be honest with you, I read his name and thought is sounded like Angelina Jolie, and had to search the interweb for pics...you know how that goes. So here I am 4 hours later. I mean, c'mon this chick is hot!

 

 

Anyway, Geomagnetic TV is an American label that has been firmly planted in the world of full-on. They sure have been busy releasing a ton of stuff. I have some of it, and can usually find a track that I really like. I think this guy is on the twilight side of things so maybe I stumbled onto something?

 

Music Box- A child's music box plays a soft melody as a couple of girls discuss where babies come from. The bass line rumbles as orchestral stabs play in the background. Not unlike Principles of Flight. Lasers fly among a chopped up chant. There is good use of an actual drum sample a couple of times as a lead dances out of the break. The layers start to stack, as the next break sees that disturbing sample return. An acid melody slithers out between deep bass stabs. Not bad!

 

Danger Zone (Jaws Underground rmx)- Two French DJs comprise Mesmerizer and man was I getting ready to kill this one. I don't know what's going on at Mind Control Records, but they are really getting good at producing uninspired, cheesy, generic full-on. And you best believe all the full-on cliches are present here. Infinity reference repeated (it's not psychedelic any longer), generic bass line, and track slow down. Ugh, now I don't know what the original sounded like, but if you remix a track you have to take the blame.

 

Teknologic- Buy it break it, suck it, f*$# it...you gotta be kidding me. Techno bleeps and blops with one of the more annoying samples I have heard. Another track slow down...no you know what it isn't worth the effort to type how crappy this is. When did he think this was a good idea?

 

What City (Jaws Underground rmx)- "There was a time that we didn't know the world was round or.. that the atom existed...or whatever, because we didn't have the technology to observe it. And then boom! One day..right? So...it's totally conceivably possible that at a later time we will have the technology to observe...God."

 

The last part of that statement makes a lot of assumptions me thinks. I.Dot (get it, I dot dot?) is...ah, I don't know who the f@#$ that is. Anyway, the thumping bass line is back as several leads guide us through. Pretty groovy. The break brings that sample back and a little acid joins the party. The melody is good with the key change and this is making up for the last two Abominations (Mind Control Records pun). The sample comes back...yet again with a new spacey lead. I like the shift in focus, even though it is more on the epic trance side. Guilty pleasure for sure but a good track.

 

Trance Fighters- With a large does of Japanese samples this has both feet in the cheddar category. Full-on to the bone, complete with buildups. Sigh. Keep it moving, nothing to see here.

 

Sub Division- Ok now we are getting back on track with a fast paced bassline and some good tempo. Synths whirl about as the lead melody descends against the beat. A thicker, more acidic synth picks up some slack, but it just feels empty, no emotion and no direction. Skip it.

 

The Rules- The intro has some interesting percussive elements and heavy breathing like in a horror movie. It starts full-oning in predictable fashion and pretty much stays that way. This is getting ridiculous. It isn't terrible, but there is no layering and the leads that are chosen to, um..lead are not that great.

 

Still Alive- If you liked the movie Saw then you will see that it is all over this track. But in cheesy fashion, instead of using a poignant voice sample from the movie, he uses what I assume to be his own voice. Or it could be from one of the later installments from the series. Let's be fair after the 2nd or 3rd did anyone really give a s@#$? The rampaging bass line and more Saw samples with boring leads is pretty much the way this track rolls.

 

In Space- So thankfully we close with a pretty good acidic facewash. Where the hell was this for the rest of the album? I don't know who A-mush is but I'm guessing he did the lion's share of work here as this track style wasn't found anywhere on the album. The beat is heavy, and the acid is flying around like a shrapnel grenade. It isn't very complex, but sometimes the simplest tracks done well can go really far. This is powerful and straight forward danceable.

 

 

This was an utter train wreck. Where is the passion? Where is the deep storytelling? Hell, where is the power. Maybe he isn't a twilight artist. Some of this was as cheesy as you will find. It wasn't very detailed and didn't maintain my interest at all. I liked the remix of the I.dot track and the A-Mush collaboration but after that, it is slim pickings. Now I don't want to pick on full-on (it is too easy to do), but there are examples of great music that uses that style. Mr. Peculiar does it. U-Recken does it. This however is not one of them. You are still alive Mr. Underground, but just barely.

 

 

Psyshop

 

Beatspace

 

Mdk

[frozen dream]

lol, picture unrelated