Review Summary: Daft Punk C-sides.
Last year, Justice brought us a refreshing blast of abrasive, yet undeniably catchy dance music. The French duo plowed their way all the way up to Cadillac commercials and arena-venue status through their groundbreaking work,
Cross. Meanwhile, a young twenty-three year old Italian, who goes under the moniker of RoxXn, continued to produce and refine his version of dance music. While RoxXn does not exactly mirror Justice, he is another product of a dance-friendly Europe. Between
Digital Waves and
Tonight, it’s a rather empty output.
The first of two EPs in a double disc album,
Digital Waves comes off as the more lively disc. Tracks like “Cornwall (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)” and “Foxglove” come off with a prog-dance style that never becomes too unnerving or abrasive. But with every unique track that RoxXn offers comes what I would call Daft Punk C-sides. “All Right” rings off as similar as to the Daft Punk slap-funk classic “High Life,” but is uneventful and rather flaccid in comparison. While it may be unfair to compare, it is hard to not think of one of the most influential dance artists around. Moving on, tracks like, “Lagos,” “Digital Waves,” and “Endless Pleasure” show a rather dark style of dance music, perhaps the style that you would find at some creepy underground vampire rave party; or at least something along those lines. Yet the unappealing true dance music does not retract from RoxXn’s apparent skill. RoxXn shows flashes of great electronic drum work within “Endless Pleasure” with Aphex Twin “4”-like drum rolls and rather subtle change of beats. Along with undeniably creepy tracks comes accessible beach-rave type dance music like “All In One” to cap off
Digital Waves for good.
The differences between
Digital Waves and
Tonight become apparent rather quickly.
Tonight comes off as a more laid back and relaxed electronica effort. “Goodwill Hymn” is a practical goodnight lullaby while synthesizers carry “Ween” at a steady, yet spacey pace. It is a repeating them throughout
Tonight in a rather flaccid effort. The worst part of it all is the bizarre likes of the closing track “Wonderland.” The sample used single-handled destroys the track’s undeniable flavor putting a rather dampening effect to a song that is something a true step above most of the songs contained on both EPs. The sample is a loud and obnoxious overtone that has no place within the record, nor does it really correlate to the song itself. With that, “Wonderland” can rather easily sum up both albums in the fact there are some great moments behind dull and uninspired music.
It is easy to pick out what’s wrong with RoxXn stemming from what seems like a rather lazy collection of songs. From the promotional letter I received it had stated, “All the tracks of this double EP are selected from about one hundred songs in 7 or 8 years” and it was rather disappointing to hear that and analyze these specific tracks. Rather than looking for that perfect electronica/dance song, RoxXn should focus more of his energy and attention to compiling a well rounded and cohesive album. While it is not an easy step to measure up to Daft Punk or Justice, RoxXn barely competes with the likes of SebastiAn (French artist who has yet to make a significant wave globally). With
Digital Waves and
Tonight, RoxXn provides something rather unremarkable, but at the same time a beacon for improvement.
