Twisted Parameters Paper Review

[Guest The Malta Independent Mik]

 

The Malta Independent ...Review by Mike Bugeja 3rd Dec.03

 

 

Homegrown beats and hypnotic rhythms!

 

Kemic-Al – Twisted Parameters http://www.kemic-al.com

 

His may be a relatively new name on the Maltese dance scene, and yet Kemic-Al, under his Zaldonite alter ego or as part of the Los Bandidos Psikadelicos DJ posse, has been etching out quite a following for himself, particularly in the trance scene. His musical roots actually hail back to ska and rock, but have always been broad enough to embrace any music that is exciting and stimulating. His first ventures into the dance scene came via various percussion performances at numerous events and parties, following which he progressed to DJ-ing and organizing his own parties.

 

The response of the discreet but sizeable trance following in Malta encouraged Kemic-Al to branch out and work on original productions, the first batch of which quickly picked up a steady following via his MP3.com website. Some of the tunes also made their way into the playlists of several internet radio stations, and this positive vibe was certainly crucial in motivating Kemic-Al’s output and the eventual completion of this debut album.

 

 

Contrary to what many may be expecting of a trance artist, Twisted Parameters actually presents an alternate perspective of this global genre, largely revolving around the artist’s particular taste for sounds and rhythms as opposed to the formulaic synthesized (and swirling) prototype that gave trance its initial appeal. As such, Kemic-Al’s approach on this album has been to construct and develop all the sounds from scratch, straying from this ‘homegrown’ philosophy only where vocal samples are involved. The basis of the album was in fact constructed from mutated and manipulated percussive sounds, as most of the nine tracks here will attest.

 

Aural accessorizing was in fact kept to a minimum, with the result that the music often dwells inside a gray area that owes as much to trance as it does to techno, with the common (and only connecting) factor being the hypnotic psychedelia-laced rhythms that Kemic-Al is clearly attached to.

 

Of particular note here are the tracks Wake Up Call, whose nifty samples are a clear example of Kemic-Al’s favoured quote that ‘Sound is the art of seeing invisible things’; Klassic-Al, where musical interludes are meshed and fused together to great effect (and possibly the album’s most mainstream moment); and Batidas Por Minuto, whose warped sonic groove (subtly tinged, I thought, with a Liam Howlett electronic accent!) was a valuable stepping stone for Kemic-Al’s prominence on internet radio. Psy-trance and psy-tech, apparently are the coined phrases for this brand of dance music, and indeed, there are elements here of both. Adding a third dimension to the album is closing track Z-Zora, which opts for a chilled approach to bring the feast of beats and rhythm mesh to a cinematic end!

 

The parameters of the music may be twisted, but Kemic-Al nevertheless retains the spirit that gives this album its vitality!

 

 

Mike Bugeja

 

The Malta Independent

 

http://www.lib66.tk

 

 

lib66@maltanet.net