Reviewed Song: Flight 93

The powerfull sampled lyrics at the start together with a strong d&b rhythm set you up for a journey which I like. the rhythm combined with intercganging and everchanging synths mean that you never get bored, a fault of so many tunes in this style, the gw bush lyric sets you up for a powerfull 4 on the floor beat that soon mixes with earlier elements and a kind of eastern chanting lyric,  the lyrics seem to have a Afghan war theme but I'd need to listen a few more times , to understand if there is a narrative there, but the mood of them works pefectly with the music. Sorry i'm writing this while listening and the obvious theme is the twin towers disaster, with recordings from traffic control. The subdued beat during the disaster unfolding, works very powerfully, with the sad ending leaving a kind of apropriate empty feeling. Tackling a powerfull subject like this requires sensitivity, and Nikivee has achieved this.

Review Song: Freedom East Timor

As I gazed down the list of reviews I had assigned to myself I saw the title of this track "East Timor" and had a funny feeling this was gonna be a really good song, a song with feeling, an uplifting song, maybe even with a strong political background and meaning. And then I saw the genre ... "Club" it said. Kind of a let down really. But then after changing my mind to expecting a track produced by some kid who had heard about East Timor in the news and thought he'd get popular by making a song out of it, I played the track... My mind changed again. This track is really really good! And now I'll tell you why.

It is a subtle blend of house, trance, techno and leftfield electronica producing a powerful track which contains no lyrics, choruses or verses, but instead uses the power of synthesis and electronic music to convey a strong point. Afterall, once you see the title and song description your mind is fixed on the idea of conflict in east timor so no extra details in the form of vocals are required! It begins with a kind or semi-tribal percussive loop consisting of various claps, bangs and hats giving us a war/conflict/fight-for-freedom sort of feeling from the minute we push play. This is joined by a kick drum which firmly syncs everything into tempo and gets a "club" feeling going. The track has many parts to it mostly synth and bass parts which are performed to a considerably high standard. And like it says in this artists info, he adds complex, involving melodies to techno music and makes a trade mark for himself by showing true musical and technical skill in his music. There are also sampled "Freedom!" vocals which appear at regular intervals throughout the song. They are not particularly impressively sampled or manipulated but they are essential in keeping up the Indonesian-conflict theme and they just wouldn't sound right with a flange or phaser over them. The song is structurally progressive as it continues, building up and letting down again and again and there are some nifty "slowing-down" fills and breaks in there just before climaxes in the track. The only thing I can knock about this track is that although there are melodies which are technically and musically superb, there isn't one melody I can hum afterwards or vividly remember. Perhaps in future tracks the artist should try to include less synth work and make things just slightly simpler to produce something memorable. But then again, do you really need to remember when you have so much fun listening the first place? Of course not.

Im happy to give this track a high score because it is technically masterful, structurally pleasing, recorded to the highest quality and is defimately something I will listen to again. Plus, I am glad there are artists who care about the world and its obvious troubles and not about being famous and making money.