DAMON WILD 'DOWNTOWN WORLDS'ARTIST: DAMON WILD TITLE: DOWNTOWN WORLDS LABEL: KANZLERAMT FORMAT: CD / 2xLP CAT. NO.: KA101 RELEASE DATE: 13 FEBRUARY 2004
Damon Wild presents his third long-player, though his first for Kanzleramt, debuting impressively with a diverse and incredibly well-executed album of electronic music. It follows the ODowntown World¹ single released almost exactly one year previous. Wild¹s musical pedigree spans back to before the turn of the nineties when, as a 15 year old, he was a DJ on his hometown radio station in Louisiana. Despite being somewhat less than a geographical hotspot for Techno music, Damon helped introduce the locals to a mixture of early Acid House, along with the music of electronic pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire. In 1990, Wild made the move to New York the city he would become most synonymous with. He began working at Frankie Bones¹ legendary record store, Sonic Groove, and from behind the racks he came into contact with some of the burgeoning N.Y. scene¹s key players, leading to his own first release OUnleash The Groove¹ on Strictly Rhythm. In the several releases that followed, Wild settled into a style of hard, dark, acid-driven dance music and, in 1992, established his first record label Experimental. Around this time, he also achieved success with the anthemic ORave Generator¹ single, as part of the OToxic Two¹ duo with Ray Love. The success of this track was mirrored, if not dwarfed, by it¹s popularity in the UK. Some people may remember the act¹s appearance on Top Of The Pops! The Experimental label was responsible for bringing artists such as Freddie Fresh and sometime collaborator, Tim Taylor to the world¹s ears, but Damon is probably best known for this work on his second label, Synewave, which he founded in 1995. This imprint released some of the most seminal techno cuts from the New York scene in the nineties (and beyond), and provided an opportunity for even more Producers to show their talents, including Steve Stoll and Morgan Geist. Damon has only released one of his three albums on his own label, with his second appearing on Music Man, and this third effort on Kanzleramt. The album opens with the heavy breakbeat slam of Mr Mean. It¹s far from downtempo, but there¹s a sense of restraint in the production that delivers it¹s body-moving charge without ever feeling the need to bring out the sledgehammer. Indeed, this is a comment which could be used throughout this album. Like Dis has more of a conventional drive, and utilises a vocal sample that¹ll be familiar to fans of older techno tracks. This is a seriously smooth flowing dancefloor techno track, that embraces house elements to create a very effective groove. OK, OK, so I said the album never resorted to sledgehammer tactics... I didn¹t mention anything about a road-drill, which is what the sample in Crankpot sounds like. It¹s used to pretty innovative effect, though, adding to the insistent bounce of the track. The title, Silver, certainly goes somewhere to describing the shine of the synths on this record again, as Techno goes, it¹s very easy on the ear. Perfect dancefloor material, without alienating the home listener something that¹s pretty typical of Kanzleramt, in general. There¹s more of a tribal feel to the percussion on Halflife, but it¹s delivered with a gentle shake. The chiming synth tones go further in expressing this album¹s deeper sensibility, striving for (and successfully achieving) more than mere dancefloor DJ tool status. Downtown World Part 1, first instalment of the title track, is a taught, rhythmically complex number that conjures the dense, textural styles of producers such as Surgeon, yet there¹s an ever-present brightness that maintains an uplifting presence, throughout. It doesn¹t get much sweeter than Tribecca a track which just oozes late night sophistication. The interplay between the musical layers teases your ears seductively, blending melodies and perfectly subtle percussion to create one of the album¹s highlights. After which, Traveller instils more of a menacing urgency. Wild is never one to resort to lazy use of a sampler, preferring instead to craft his tracks¹ atmosphere from tense drum and synth programming. The explosive charge which this tune hints at is never full realised, opting instead to maintain a sense of tension. Downtown World Part 3 is sonically quite different to it¹s predecessor, but is has a similar nocturnal, urban feel to it. This album is dedicated to Damon¹s young daughter, Eva, and this comes to light particularly on this track, named after her. The glow and sparkle of the music captures the innocence of childhood pretty well. He¹s clearly a proud father, and she¹s got cause to be proud too, on this evidence. Tracklisting: 01/a1 Mr.Mean 5:05 02/a2 Like 'Dis 5:35 03/b1 Crankpot 5:20 04/b2 Silver 5:47 05/c1 Halflife 5:06 06/-- Downtown World pt.1 4:30 07/c2 Tribecca 5:47 08/d1 Traveller 5:01 09/-- Downtown World pt.3 5:02 10/d2 Eva 6:20
