Tag: Rob Swire

Album review: Eric Prydz – Opus

A decade in the making, Prydz’ debut LP calls on ’80s synthpop and his famous progressive house for a sparkling journey through his abilities.

Originally published in The Edge

It was almost a dozen years ago that Eric Prydz almost displaced then-Prime Minister Tony Blair from his rowing machine with some rather provocative aerobics. 2004 single ‘Call On Me,’ a Stevie Winwood sample, spent five weeks at the top of the UK charts and, aged 7 and still only understanding music through the prism of ITV’s Saturday morning compendium CD:UK, Prydz’ self-maligned track served as my vulgar introduction to house music. By the time ‘Pjanoo’ was beaten to Number 1 by only Katy Perry four years later, an appreciation for the discipline and the man in particular had begun to properly gestate.

Numerous releases under countless guises later, including a three disc compilation under his dancefloor-centric alias Pryda in 2012, Prydz has at last put an album out under his own name. Opus requires patience, lasting beyond two hours, however the evident influences from the synth-pop upon which he feasted in his youth prevents it from feeling tedious. Continue reading “Album review: Eric Prydz – Opus”

Album review: Knife Party – Abandon Ship

Originally published in The Broadie

Although my sarcastic and weary demeanour may tend to convey otherwise, I don’t try to intentionally dismember what I review. Perhaps I may sit down at my desk and brace myself for an onslaught of mediocrity, an instinct that usually serves well through the likes of Miley Cyrus’ magnum opus Bangerz. Knife Party triggers this radar like a machete at airport security, but each time I take a listen to their noises I find myself pleasantly surprised about how much I don’t despise them. The music is typically just as humane as the name suggests, with stabbing synths and heavy percussion, but Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, the Australian duo who formed from the remnants of drum and bass ensemble Pendulum, have a perplexing knack of making it sound vaguely tolerable.

After a plethora of delays, debut album Abandon Ship has finally found the light of day, but alas, it’s immediately obvious that the pair shouldn’t have tried to spread out their inspiration, if you could so generously assign it that term, to a longer body of work than a four-track EP. Though the duo were keen to avoid having dubstep on the record, they’ve not strayed too far from their traditional ‘electro house’ stylings. Any exploration into new territories feels strained and disingenuous – almost as if their major label contract has shoehorned them into boxes more befitting of spoons and cake forks. Continue reading “Album review: Knife Party – Abandon Ship”