| Product: |
L.E.F. - Ferry Corsten |
| Date: |
22/03/08 (71 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good variety of sounds and styles - no fillers
Disadvantages: Won't convert non-believers
Dutch DJ and producer Ferry Corsten (otherwise known as Moonman, System F, The Nutter, Kinky Toys and around 20 other names) has been a regular on the club scene now for more than fifteen years. L.E.F was released in 1996 and is, by far, his best album to date.
Arranged across sixteen tracks, L.E.F. is one of the strongest club music albums by an original artist that I've bought for some time. Surprisingly, Corsten demonstrates a strong variety of sounds here that, whilst not catering to a particularly wide audience, do add variety in a musical genre heavily criticised for sounding the same. A mixture of instrumental, sampled and full vocal tracks L.E.F is indeed loud, electronic and ferocious.
Corsten has a distinctive sound that can be fairly difficult to describe exactly. A fan of industrial, heavy beats, he was a mainstay of the trance scene in the late 1990s, but opted to go for a less conventional, instrumental sound, as opposed to the usual uplifting female vocal. As time has progressed, he has picked up a harder edge, and with the current popularity of electro-house, the album now combines traditional trance arrangements, with an electro-tinged edge.
The instrumental tracks are a mixed bag. Galaxia is very old school; a simple, uplifting, bass-driven trance melody that would slip comfortably into any club set. Daylight is similar, not unlike the sort of material that William Orbit was producing seven years ago, but updated with electro-house samples to complement the synthesised melody. Cubikated is something of an oddity here, sounding more like a rave track than either house or trance and is one of the harder tracks on the album. The short, bleepy Intro is largely a waste of space.
The tracks with single vocal samples are probably the most radio-friendly of the bunch here. A number of the tracks sound not unlike the single release Rock Your Body (not featured here) and are instantly likeable. The title track LEF and Watch Out are probably the best of the bunch, particularly the latter track and its dark, slightly sinister vocal sample. Electro-house number Fire has a whiff of Gorillaz about it, largely due to the uncharacteristic male vocal sample. The two tracks using female vocal samples are more conventional and more likely to have wider appeal as a result. Beautiful (my favourite tune) has a haunting, rather sombre sound (a staple of the trance sound) and On My Mind is moodier still, sounding not unlike something that Paul Oakenfold would produce.
There's more variety again in the full vocal tracks, with varying degrees of success. Into The Dark is the most curious of the bunch, with its 80s style synthesised beat and male vocal that could almost be the return of Howard Jones. The 80s sound is replicated in Forever, featuring a female vocal that could almost be Roisin Murphy of Moloko fame. Down On Love is a characterful, rather soulful little song that seems a little lost amidst the much harder sound of the rest of the album and the genre shifts wildly again for Junk, with its brisk pace and storming hip-hop vocal. The album's only real chill out song comes in Freefalling, pleasant enough in its right but fairly bland in comparison to the rest of the album.
The overall listening experience is, nonetheless, accomplished and for any fans of club / dance music, a worthy acquisition. Corsten manages that rare feat; an album of original music that shows diversity and consistent quality and L.E.F. is something of a revelation.
You can pick up the album for around £8 online or download the complete track listing at iTunes. Recommended, either way.
Summary: Ferry Corsten reinvents dance music - well, kinda
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