Viadrina // Pop Song EP [Your Mamas Friend]
As a reviewer it is my job to describe how a track sounds as accurately as possible, and give my opinion on it. In this context, it is handy to be able to let you know what genre the track falls into, and I must confess I was a little unsure about the title track of this EP – so I took a wee look on Beatport. Apparently, this falls into the category of Indie Dance/Nu Disco, but I say this purely for your benefit – I don’t really care what genre it is, it is a very good piece of music. 80s style break beats and percussion lead us off, before a vocal starts to echo through the intro, eventually taking centre stage so that we are just left with beats and voice – the superb bassline then finally arrives, and the track leaves the starting blocks.
In the wrong hands this could have been a disaster, with its 80s feel and a vocal that could sound ridiculous if surrounded by the wrong framework, but this is good stuff – these Polish producers are smart enough to know that the bassline and vocal are the stars of the show, and let them both shine, leaving the track with a lovely warm groove to it. My only complaint is that at the end of the main breakdown/build up, when you’re waiting for the beats to return fully, we are teased for a few bars and it really removes a lot of the momentum that had been building up nicely. Regardless, this is a quality tune, and sure to be very much enjoyed by its target audience.
We’re back to the 4/4s for the Adana Twins remix of Pop Song, which is probably even better than the original. A chunky, moody electro bassline, reminiscent of some of Seamus Haji’s finer moments, pulsates through the track, with a pad being brought in to give a more dramatic and urgent feel than the original. All in all a very fine remix of a very fine tune.
The other two tracks are Viadrina’s original ‘Tomorrow’, and the Marcin Czubala remix of it. An exercise I often find useful when reviewing a track is to listen to it and jot down some observations, then out of interest I read the press release to compare notes – for the original version we both had ‘subby bass’, but the writers of the release also had ‘silky vocal’ and ‘gorgeous synths’, which I do not agree with. Overall, I found both versions of the tune to be rather dull – unoffensive, but unengaging – but the first two cuts make this a very worthwhile release overall.
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Stevie Reid
