« back

malik alston - caterpillar ep - third ear recordings - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: House

The latest in the Detroit Beatdown series comes from Malik Alston after Mike Agent X Clarks Motown EP. He has worked with Alton Miller, Symanski, Ayro, Recloose and Roy davis Jr. He is also a regular performer and sideman on the Detroit electronic, jazz, and poetry/rap scene and a talented musician who excels on piano.
His contribution on the Beatdown LP was already outstanding and this versatile 4 track 12 is a strong continuation. There's a lot of detail in all of the tracks and a good blend of the programmed/electronic component with live input. The A1 is a house track reminding of nineties Roy Davis Jr a bit. It starts of with a sharp and stinging kick, nice piano chords and additional sounds. Further down the bassline drops, the beats get heavier and the track gets an hypnotizing edge.. The A2 track is co-written and arranged by Brian Garrett. It's offbeat with good beat programming and live played piano with a slight latin twist. The B1 track is mad! Nice (off) beat programming that changes all the way through. A good interaction between the hard snares, bended djembe like sounds and live sounding hi-hats. Weird sounds are running through the start of the track. At about half the track there's some good repetative keywork that works nicely along the beats. Very Moonstarr like!
The B2 track shifts between something offbeat and 4/4. A chunky bassline goes together with again live keys. Nice breakdown towards the end!
Well recomended!!