Cortex is Assaf Weizmann from Israel and this is his first full length release. There have been tracks for various compilations (including quite a stormer on the Solaris compilation called "Jim"). I guess you would describe his style as night time full on. It is very powerful with a bouncy tempo having enough variability that I don't get bored with most of his tracks. The CD has a cover of what I think is a brain (cortex, get it?) with some nice colors that catch the eye.
When you put the CD in, Cortex wastes no time in letting you know what you are in for. The danceability factor is high with Rap Chibiligram and it serves as a nice gateway track into Assaf's madness with nice synths attacking the ear. The stakes are raised with The Magic of the Moment (T3) and The Next Day (T4), both of which provide tasty synths that move me to movement. By far my favorite track on the album is Materia Blast (T5). That synth line is wicked evil and it surrounds itself with a generous helping of delicious acid. If you ignore the absolutely stupid sample in the beginning of Salvation (T7) you’ll find a pretty good mover of a track which evolves nicely. Emuna (T9) is too stop and start for me, killing any flow and the last track is an example of "Hey we got some more space here, let's fill it with some short guitar crap”.
Sure this is full on, but it is full on done well. While not deep like the latest U-recken album, for example, this effort should not be overlooked. Subtlety is not on the menu, as the music is powerful and will beat you over the head. There are no 8 or 16 bar periods where nothing happens. Another thing I liked was the absence of overused, tired drug samples. That can become so tiresome. Sure, there are some tracks that could probably be more elaborate but even those have merit. |
