It was famed techno producer Eddie Fowlkes that came up with the ‘ Beatdown ’ tag. He used it to describe the sound of one of Norm Talley’s productions (featured here); saying it was down-tempo, or ‘Beatdown’.
Here we are served with 14 cuts that highlight the ‘beatdown’ sound while simultaneously displaying the more gentle electronic sounds of the Motor City. Showcasing better known producers, such as Alton Miller, L.A. Williams, Theo Parrish and Eddie himself, alongside those less well heard of; Malik Alston, Mike Clark, Darren Abrahams, Dwayne Johnson and Rick Whilhite, the music here is slow-paced house and techno, displaying soul, jazz, disco and r n’ b influences.
Malik Alston’s jazz-ified keys n’ snares offering, ‘Butterfly’, opens proceedings. Later, Rick Wilwhite gives us the hypnotic, Moodymann-esque ‘Ruby Nights’; Norm Talley offers two cuts, the blues sampling ‘Exodus’ and the disco-gospel of ‘Change’. Elsewhere Mike Clark provides two examples of his work, the Kool and the Gang and First Choice-sampling, low-slung discoid-groove of ‘The Creeper’ and the filtered, scat-vocal of ‘Let Your Love’. Meanwhile, we hit more familiar territory with Darren Abrams’s ‘Loose Piano’ - strings, piano and kick-drum combining to create a track closer in sound to the original Detroit techno blueprint.
On an album of such quality, highlights are hard to choose, however, Theo Parrish’s ‘Falling Up’ is an epic journey into future machine-funk, all Herbert-style beats, raw bass lines and gentle pianos. Eddie Fowlkes’s ‘Brotherman’ is piano-driven boogie, while ‘Metropolis’ by Delano Smith is an addictive key-fuelled slice of house.
If you have any interest in the sounds of Detroit, then the names involved should tell you all you need to know. However, looking beyond this and taking into account the high expectations, it’s a great to find that the music does actually live up to its promise. Do Check.
www.third-ear.net
www.beatdownsounds.com
Reviewed
by Colin Chapman
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