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Electronica from Turkey, that's not something you hear every day, is it? Hats off, then, to Osman Refik Akyuz, whose single-minded vision has borne fruit with this 14-track CD. As a fan of Turkish and Arabic musics I was hoping he'd utilise his country's rich musical heritage to make a more unique electronic style and while he only really does this during "Waiting For That Day", where the opening voice has all the clarity of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, the Arabic feel that graces the up-tempo "A Flight To Cairo" and "Egyptian Walk" does the job just as well. He's also a bit of a bass guitar wizard, using it to give "Kovboy" an almost new-wave feel, in unison with the 'nah nah' vocals that sound simultaneously commercial and offbeat although "Some Bass" is probably the most self-explanatory title I've ever encountered as it's just 3 minutes of funky slap bass and nothing else. The recording quality is less than 100% and while this isn't all bad in that it gives the music a somewhat offbeat, electronica-style feel, especially on such tracks as the rocky "Short Distance Walker" and the chaotic, punky-sounding duo of "Was Not..." and the closing "Bu Aksam", it can get a bit irritating when listening to the album from start to finish.
Such is the variety on show here it's as if Akyuz is just trying out various ideas and seeing which ones don't work (the awful vocals on "Row Your Boat" being one obvious example) and which ones do with the dynamic instrumental "Mother" easily moving to the top of the pile. It's a fine piece by anyone's standards, featuring some ultra-infectious synthleads and if he could just polish it up a bit it would be a corker. Likewise "A Warm Place" has some decent echoed vocals and not unpleasant synths although he might want to watch himself with "Space Girl" as it bears quite a resemblance to Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman" and if they were to find out some serious questions might be asked!
So while the music on here isn't quite the finished article it's good to see a musician following his own path in this manner and if he can keep this momentum going by giving his future work greater polish and perhaps refine his style a little more then I'll be intrigued as to what he comes up with next.
RATING: 6
Artist Link: http://www.oramusic.net
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