First and foremost, this review will be slightly different from a general artist's review because I am a firm believer that you cannot merely mark a producer on potential alone, simply because his success is likely to come about through the way that he conducts himself with regards to getting his work heard. Really, producer's rely on rappers using their work in order to get noticed. As such, I feel the best way to judge a producer is with two main fields:
1.) Choice of samples, melodies or progressions which I will aggregate from all tracks and mark out of ten.
2.) Execution of these choices.
As a result, I will need to examine most of the beats in detail in order to give this review any validity.
New Dark Age's effort entitled Beat2 is an admirably varied attempt to produce an engaging beattape which stands as a work in its own right and there are two clear sides to the tape. The first side is this funky, rhythmic groove which is just so infectious that you cannot help but nod your head. Bootsy's Funk Formula captures exactly what I mean. The guitar sampled at the offset is enough to get you bobbing your head but the drums are absolutely fantastic and fit the sample superbly in accompanying the repeated riff. The highest compliment you can pay any beat is that it engages you from the off to the end and this beat certainly delivers. Speedboat in the Bay follows the theme and I couldn't help but notice that the track was only 1 minute 30 seconds in length and even then, after the great first two tracks, I found myself twiddling my thumbs. It just should not have been there. After two great funk ridden tracks, I was not really feeling a third, especially one lacking the imagination of the previous Funk Formula. With a beattape, you cannot really have too many similar sounding beats one after another because there is no rapper to detract from the attention of the similar feel that certain beats are bound to have.
New Dark Age however instantly redeems himself with a track encapsulating the second side of Beat2 which I previously alluded to. Car Theft explodes into your headphones, starting with this eerie guitar or synth which builds for the first fifteen seconds and then erupts into this glorious high tempo amalgamation of synth and bass. It is brilliant and the repeated riff of the intro pops in here and there to good effect. Night Machine builds on this new and welcome side to Beat2 and the drums here are very reminiscent of Nas's I Can but the beat has a totally different feel. It is dark, brooding, moody and perfectly executed.
Unfortunately, following the previous two brilliant tracks comes an attempt to cater for those artists looking out for a mainstream hip hop beat and New Dark Age delivers. I cannot really hold him to account for it because these beats really get you noticed and 100 is well executed, well layered and the piano is excellent. So you may wonder what I am harping on about. Well, it is just so unbelievably skippable, the brass sounds empty and it just sounds like a channel straight out of a producing program. I feel the levels needed to be altered to generate a more alternative sound. The chord progression is predictable and the fact that I myself have made a similar sounding track tells you all you need to know. It is a generic sound which doesn't set itself apart from the rest as some of the previous tracks have. Its well executed, but nonetheless a disappointment.
Apology To All the Animals I've Eaten has to be one of the most inventive track names I have seen in a while and the track is an eerie build up which never realises itself. This is not a criticism. It is unbelievably relaxing and the sounds going on are soothing to the extent that you cannot really help but comment that it is perfectly layered. It is a great end to the tape and it fits in really well with the artwork chosen for the project. One can well imagine everyday life passing by when listening to this.
The tape as a whole is excellent but there are of course a number of criticisms which have to be pointed out before I conclude. As I have said, there are two clear halves to the tape but I am not sure that there is much direction to the project as a whole. It seems to me to be a case of beat after beat without a great deal of thought as to how the listener will react to the order of the beats. For instance, had Speedboat on the Bay been placed anywhere else in the tape, perhaps I would not have responded in the way that I did to it. Three funk driven tracks was just too much soul for me. I would liked to have maybe seen this track follow Night Machine. I am not entirely certain about the title of the tape either, indeed the name Beat2 (following the previous Beat1 tape) just seems to reiterate my point. The project seems a collection of beats rather than a cohesive effort to weave the beats together. This point however is merely personal preference creeping in as I like my tapes to have a sort of continuing theme which varies throughout and perhaps Beat2 has this and I have simply overlooked it.
This cannot detract from the fact that Beat2 is a tape filled with imaginative melodies and harmonies and to overlook this would be near criminal. New Dark Age is obviously a very talented producer and the sounds he creates are at times mesmerising. One thing I cannot praise him for enough is an area in which I myself fall down all to often and that is the drum patterns. Every single track on this tape has excellent drums and although perhaps at times more rides and variants could be added, the sounds of the snares and kick is always on point.
Choice of samples, melodies and progressions: 8/10
Execution of samples: 7/10 New Dark Age fell down on his positioning of the tracks but he makes up for this with the quality which each beat possesses.
High Points: Car Theft, Night Machine, Bootsy's Funk Formula
Low Points: Speedboat in the Bay (It's not all that bad, just terribly positioned), 100 (A beat I have heard 100 times before, just turn on the radio and any hip hop that comes on will most likely sound like this)
New Dark Age is at his best when most innovative and I only really got the impression that one track on here lacked innovation and inventiveness and as such, it would be great to hear rappers collaborate with this talented producer.
Listen/Download to Beat2 here: http://ndamusic.com/album/beat2
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