Welcome to the second track review in our Radioactive Review series, brought to you by our Bad Haz Techno Beatport Review Team. This month we're checking out the Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic) Beatport Top Ten Chart. A team of our promoted producers & DJs gives their thoughts on the track in a light-hearted, concise manner, including a Geiger Counter Rating (out of 5). With many of our team having different backgrounds, experiences, and most of all, opinions about all things techno, this should provide a fun and varied evaluation of the track. For this review, our team consists of Hegstraction, Many Elephants, Peter Harich, DZM, & Jerdie. And for a non-producer/DJ perspective, we have a special addition to our team, the techno super fan, Seoul Aes Sedai.
The track for this review is That's The Way I Speak by Shlomi Aber on the CLR label, and was number one as of the 27th November 2022. Shlomi Aber is a Barcelona based producer & DJ, born & raised in Israel. His influences come from Jazz, Funk, Minimal, Acid, and the old Techno movement (Spotify Bio).
Here are the thoughts and comments from our review team (if you'd like to join in, you can post your own review in the comments below):
Hegstraction - "This track immediately gets into a nice groove with some subtle percussion & kick changes coming in later. I'm not a fan of vocals unless they have some special meaning & used sparingly at that, so the continuous 'speak' just feels very commercial, however, it does add to the hypnotic nature of the track, and I'm sure a lot of people will enjoy it. I was enjoying the track, but when it ended it felt something was lacking; I guess I was expecting a little more progression, something more satisfying, but perhaps this is an intentional aspect to get listeners to play it again or put it on repeat."
3/5
Many Elephants - "Now don’t get me wrong … my own music approach leans towards the minimal, but this track takes a singular idea (albeit a promising one) and then takes it absolutely nowhere. The 3-note bass and the standard kick / hat drum track are a simple yet promising start. The use of the vocals to accentuate the rhythm is a good touch. However, there is no movement or escalation from that foundational starting point to help build any tension or drive things forward. You just get over 5 minutes of a tune not really going anywhere. Overall, it feels like this track is a good scratchpad idea that isn’t finished, and it has the potential even with just a few rhythmic and tonal changes to really fly. But right now, disappointingly, this feels like a track that should have remained at “in progress” status and had at least a few more revisions."
2/5
Peter Harich - "Well, its a hypnotic track, and also a raw track so I guess the raw & hypnotic category suits it well. I actually like the track, the bass is cool, the short saw drone is syncopated in a way that appeals to me. The vocals are well produced and mixed. The way the track breaks down for the "this is how I always" part is great and then it really kicks off again with the "speak". Really nice! Now for the parts I'd change. The kick does not do it for me; it's fairly basic and I'd like something with a little more air and middle. Some more crunch to it. The kick pattern is great but the actual kick needs some work. The hats and shakers are great but need some more treble to make them pop a little more. All in all, I actually think that this is a great track, and I can see myself using it in sets."
3/5
DZM - "This track is definitely raw and hypnotic, but mainly because its core concept does not really develop very much, and I am also not sure it would work on the dancefloor like that. The bassline is decent and the vocal sample works, however I can't really imagine myself listening to this voluntarily for the full six minutes. To me it sounds like something Nina Kraviz would fit a minute of at the back end of one of her deep sets, and maybe thats how the track is used?"
3/5
Jerdie - "One of the reasons I love techno in general is the balance between repetition and the subtle changes that push and pull to create energy and movement. This particular track takes a while to get going. The peak energy arrives around 2:30 which is typical, but I find the build-up to be largely uninteresting. The energy is created with mostly white noise and a vocal sample that tires quickly. It lacks groove and atmosphere, even in the minimal world. This might be a good track for a DJ that has RMX skills, but as a techno fan, it's not appealing to listen to it unmixed."
3/5
Seoul Aes Sedai - "Starts off promising but never quite gives me what I want (though I'm not even sure what it is I want from this track!). Overall quite basic & minimal, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Vocals are pretty typical & perhaps too repetitive. An okay song for a playlist, in a bar/lounge area, & possibly a club, but not a particularly memorable or fun track."
3/5
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Credit to Many Elephants for the inspiration behind the 'Radioactive' naming & 'Geiger Counter Rating' ideas, in keeping with our 'Hazardous Material' theme stemming from our first Bandcamp compilation (and future label releases), and also in part due to influence from Daz Scott's epic track, Geiger Counter, which was an early Bad Haz Techno promo. Have a listen below :)
Thank you for supporting Bad Haz Techno, and we look forward to bringing you more Radioactive Reviews in 2023.
