Another month, another TK album. Mind you, this time it was Patrick who nominated it, and this being shuffle month, it really isn't his fault. But the man sure gets around! Maybe we should rename this blog to #TTTTK: Team Tragic Talks TK.
At any rate, even though I'd rather review a TRF tragfest if I had to do another TK album, I have to say I quite like globe's Lights2. The winding, 8-minute-plus "TRANSCONTINENTAL WAY" might as well be called "TRANSSIBERIAN WAY," given the positively frigid feeling its sparse techno engenders. But you know what? It just pulls you in. That it's nearly 9 minutes long barely registers with me.
"OVER THE RAINBOW" is one of those songs that took a while to get warmed up to, but nowadays I mostly love it. I really like the slow burn of the electric piano opening before it breaks down into a stomping para-para soundtrack. As usual, the Marc Panther parts don't really do anything for me, and the song ends in a whimper (the reprise they added also doesn't seem to contribute much), but overall it's the first must-listen moment in the disc. "Knockin'on the door of my heart" starts with a delicate percussive sound that brings to mind melting icicles, quickly joined by an acoustic guitar and a trance drum track, continuing for an excellent 6 minutes. "STARTING FROM HERE" is a mixed bag, a club-ready trance-groove worthy of vintage Denki Groove (check out "Shinkansen") that nonetheless feels really weird when the first verse comes on, as if KEIKO is singing the wrong song; then, 6 minutes in, Marc Panther takes over the track and it's probably the most disastrous of his performances ever. The Gallic sexy rapper schtick is just creepy, especially when he keeps saying he feels like a little boy… LIKE A LITTLE BOY! OK Marc please wait here while I get a restraining order, you creep. Anyway, after two minutes of Marc's embarrassing act, the song, once again, just kind of ends.
"INSPIRED FROM R&B," the other single on LIghts2 has a pretty melody and even the male-female duet works. The arrangement, though, feels kind of boring, like TK couldn't be bothered doing more than setting and forgetting a guitar loop and a percussion track from an old 100-instruments-in-one Yamaha synthesizer.
All told, I liked Lights2 and I'm pretty sure I won't be getting rid of it after I post the review. Its greatest strength is the consistent cold vibe it creates, because sometimes what you need is some chilly trance music to unwind, you know? But even though I like a lot of the songs, I think most of them have problems that can't always be blamed on Marc being a horrid fool, like tracks ending abruptly, or choruses/bridges that break the song's flow a bit too jarringly. Still, I liked it, even if I'm ready for a TK-free month here at Team Tragic Talks.
