A certain discontentment came for me.
I have had many doubts and speculations about this project by Bassjackers, the first album from the eminent duo, released earlier Friday. A classic slideshow for “The Biggest” is what I was going to arrange for, reviewing it track by track, but my thoughts were becoming predictably repetitive. So, bullet points again:

1. Unilateral.

Bassjackers have a signature style that has been endeared, but they are also capable to differentiate at times… Unfortunately, here we find their Big Room lead and structure in almost every tune. This makes the experience undeniably monotonous and linear. Instrumental took the centre of the stage here, with no vocal production in sight!

2. Short, too short…

The contents all together bind up for just shy of forty minutes. Considering that seven songs (with three being interludes) were already released as singles to grab more Spotify revenues… There are literally 3.02 minutes of interludes (we’ll talk about them later), and 12.59 minutes of unreleased music. Dissatisfaction is ineluctable with the decisions taken here.

3. Something’s amiss.

This seems more of a compilation than an album: instead of all the various shapes and sizes of Bassjackers music, we have everything condensed in just their primary style. As other similar producers have shown, say Blasterjaxx and Hardwell, their album show various even unexpected genres. Speaking about that:

4. The interludes.

Basically a cinematic outset for the following works… And that’s all. They do add a breath of vibrancy between all these aggressive vibes, but their function remains rather a head-scratcher for us. Do they show more about Bassjackers’ personalities? Any experimentation? No way. Under-developed components.

5. The collaborations.

“Outlaw” with R3SPAWN scored as my favourite among the fourteen others, followed by “Memento” with TWIIG. I loved how the duo has called producers, even if less known, who fit well with this genus of sound. From this point of view, there was evidently a preference for talents, and not fame. Aoki, Dr. Phunk, Jaxx & Vega, APEK: all excellent companions.

6. Mush Mush.

One of their first quintessential releases, amazingly re-worked eight years later. This is the very track that actually made me feel as I was listening to an album! There is something about their past, their personality, their old style! “Mush Mush” stands out from the rest with personality and class, and it’s by far my favorite as a solo from them.
Why weren’t there any more songs like this?

7. The iron wasn’t struck when it was hot.

Creating an album like “The Biggest” is actually somewhat facile in terms of time resources: there aren’t many “famous” team-ups, the marketing effort is cut and dried, there weren’t other pending projects… So, why did the pair release it now and not in 2014, per se? From a contemporary marketing outlook, this couldn’t be worthwhile.

Overall, “The Biggest” isn’t an album, from my point of view. It chooses unexpected brevity, with a ridiculous amount of unreleased tunes (only four), entirely devoted to a single Electro House style, lackadaisical towards other influences and a minimal construction of the overall concept. It doesn’t share any particular feeling, neither something more about the artists’ personalities, except for “Mush Mush”.

However, I actually recommend listening to it! I had a good time with most of the releases (apart from a couple of generic ideas), the hosts fused their styles with Bassjackers, and the overall quality remains splendid.

Short, unilateral, but entertaining to finer extents. But NOT an album.

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