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Happy Birthday, Sykonee
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| Paradox Lost |
| Here's to another year of thoughtful and even-handed insight into all things music, and more. |
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| Sushipunk |
| Happy birthday dude, have a good one. |
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| Lira |
| Feliz Aniversário, Sykonee :) |
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| Lews |
| Happy birthday mate! :) |
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| Sykonee |
| Sweet! Birthday cheers in the c0r!! I is important.:toothless |
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| paulandrews |
Happy birthday.
This reminds me I haven't read TC in a long time. |
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| Sykonee |
| quote: | Originally posted by paulandrews
Happy birthday.
This reminds me I haven't read TC in a long time. |
Ah, heh. To be fair, it's not like there's been a whole heck of a lot of updating going on there. J's mostly moved onto CMG while I've been carrying on with my own blog. |
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| paulandrews |
| Oh, right. I guess I will have to try to keep track of both of you separately. I've always liked your reviews. |
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| Lews |
| Yeah same. Hope you guys won't let TC die =/ |
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| Sykonee |
| It's not so much we've let TC die, but rather the dude who actually owns the site has. It's been in major need of an overhaul for nearly 4 years, and notta' thing has happened. *shrug* The place had pretty much become a glorified music blog for J' and I anyway, so I figured I may as well set up my own blog and reap whatever meager AdSense income I can for myself in the process.;) |
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| SYSTEM-J |
In an era of sub-standard music coverage, where your Resident Advisors and your Pitchforks churn out the middling hipster coverage, a lot of people have been singing the praises of Canadian word-jockey Sykonee. Christian Ciccone spent a good few years writing solid reviews in the underground TranceCritic scene, but since his recent move to the EMC label folks in the ol' blogosphere have really begun hyping Ciccone's output as something genuinely fresh.
Truth be told, there's not a lot here that long-time readers of Mark Prindle and 90s Brit outfit Muzik won't have seen before: your standard shuffling rhyth - sorry, sentences, your quirky personal angles and your witty quips are lifted straight from that 90s era of irreverant music criticism. True, Ciccone adds his own touch, but the odd inscrutable hockey reference or Deep Space 9 analogy aside there's not a whole lot genuinely new going on here. Still, Ciccone is a decent sentence-smith and he can put together some head-bobbing highlights. His Balance 014 review is a spacey downtempo piece which breezes through some funky descriptive passages and builds towards a sensibly non-commital peak, with a tasteful Soulwax comparison to bring you down nicely onto familiar territory. As for that Black Album review... yikes! I'm not sure whether Ciccone was channelling the spirit of Oliver Lieb's album, but this review is downright evil, heh.
The rest of his reviews are a mixed bag. There are some sledgehammer trainspotter bassline spots at work, but Ciccone's indulgence of obscure Euro-dance influences is incredibly hit and miss, and while he clearly attempts to pull off the snarkster angle on a couple of CJ Stone collaborations, compared to the face-pummelling productions of fellow Canuck Ishkur, Ciccone's efforts just look tame.
Make no mistake, as a writer of dance music reviews for newbies, Sykonee will probably be a massive success. However, despite showing promise he needs to work much harder to break out of the formula if he's going to impress veteran readers.
Ace Track [Review]s:
That ASOT Classics one where he didn't even listen to the bloody thing.
That one where he somehow brings Neil Young into the discussion.
That Banco De Gaia one. No, the other one.
6/10. |
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