Cubic – The Cubic Alphabet (Album – Alfa Matrtix)
Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: After the excellent “Alphabet Hymn”-EP and having revisited the 808 Dot.Pop-album “Cubic Temperature” Belgian solo-project Cubic now unleashes his own debut-album. It’s a conceptual work wherein Franky Deblomme (ex Darkmen) put some letters of the alphabet into music.
Content: Franky Deblomme already gives us an idea of his sound approach on previous releases. He’s clearly inspired by the Minimal-Electro/Pop approach of his label mate Metroland (and 808 Dot.Pop) getting back to the sound of Kraftwerk, mixed with his own Dance & New-Beat influences plus a harder EBM touch (as a kind of wink to Darkmen). Vocals have been replaced by robotic/computer vocals, which are just adding a cool effect to the songs.
+ + + : Cubic has achieved a well-crafted and intelligent piece of retro/modern Electro. The influences are moving much farther than simply Kraftwerk, but I also want to mention some bass lines reminding me of Front 242 and Dance sequences à la Niels Van Gogh. It creates a diversified opus with as common thread a sophisticated and refreshing Electro production. The work reveals different potential hits such as “X – Album Edit”, “W”, “S”, “D – Delta Dub” and “F – French Dub Mix”. The concept has something funny, but the music is definitely more interesting. This is a surprising production mixing refinement and subtlety at one side and danceable songs with a refreshing Electro-Pop style at the other side.
– – – : Cubic belongs to this growing wave of Robotic/Kraftwerk-ian projects so it’s not that renewing although Cubic has something of its own!
Conclusion: Cubic brings Electro-Pop music to a higher dimension and level by mixing different- and related influences together. This is for sure one of the hottest newcomers from the Alfa-Matrix roster.
Best songs: “X – Album Edit”, “W”, “S”, “F – French Dub Mix”, “D – Delta Dub”.
Rate: 8½.
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