Swedish House Mafia - Until One (Soundtrack)

EDIT: If you really want to hear what SHM sound like live, listen to their Essential Mix at Creamfields. That set is amazing.


I will say that right from the jump I was surprised with this album because I was under the impression that it would contain A: new material from SHM, and B: strictly music by SHM. I also assumed it would be an unmixed soundtrack to the documentary of the same name. Perhaps I was misconstruing statements by the boys, or my reading comprehension is not up to par. Either way, I was a little disappointed when I took a look at the tracklist.

I must confess: throughout the album, I found myself fast-forwarding through a lot of the tracks. About 75% of the records is music I had already heard, so at certain points I was just listening to hear how the compilation was mixed and to support the group. This wasn't because the records were bad. It was just because, as I mentioned, I had heard a large amount of the tracks already. The production quality of the album is top-notch, with Axwell's works, in my opinion, clearly standing out from the rest. All the tracks are "phat", wide, and warm-sounding. The mastering is great. The individual tracks are all composed and produced professionally and do not disappoint in that regard. Collectively, unfortunately, I found the mixing to be bland. This is a combination of the characteristics of the house music genre and the dj's choice of programming.

Though I only gave it a quick listen, I noted that much of the album plays like a roller coaster. It's my preference that a dj set should slowly build up and increase the energy throughout the set. Maybe this was not SHM's intention while putting together this soundtrack. They, instead, let each individual track build and breakdown, play out, then mix in the next track. This sounds like a decent enough blueprint on paper, but when executed live it just seems like an energy killer. I thought at times while listening, "Would this work in a club?" At that point I realized that, as is the case with many other big names in music, SHM have reached a level where they can do whatever they want and people will eat it up. I have never seen either of these gentlemen live, so who knows? Maybe crowds do like this mixing style. I would argue that to enjoy this album, you have to appreciate the progressive genre and the mixing style of the Mafia. Otherwise, you may get bored when fillers are played.

I would also like to briefly mention that SHM likes to play mash-ups in their sets. I'm not a mash-up man myself, but if they're done live, I can respect that.

All in all, I would give this album 82/83 out of 100. Deciding factors were tracklisting, programming, and production/mix quality.

Looking forward to the documentary

Long overdue update

Rather than try and catch up on errthing that's happened in the past months, I'll get right to it. I've been taking my production a lot more seriously. The majority of my free time is spent on ableton. It was crashing on me a decent amount last night. It might have been because of Melodyne actually. I just tried out iZotope's Ozone again for the second time. It seems very powerful. I would prefer to use Waves, but there are still issues running it on a 64-bit system, and I don't feel like jumping through hoops to convert new DLLs. That said, I'm learning to get the most out of Ableton and the new soft synths that I've come across recently (i.e. Gladiator and the Predator). They are costly but are good for what they do. Nothing can replace hardware, though. I'd like to thank Steve Angello for giving his advice. He's been really responsive and helpful with his recommendations on headphones, software, synths, and demos. Sounds strange but I've learned a good amount from him and the boys (Ingrosso and Axwell) (Shout out to Future Music). They've all really blown up, and their 2010 DJ Mag rankings reflect that. Though, I don't quite get how all three received rankings higher than SHM. I mean, I get completely how things are computed but it doesn't seem logical.

For some reason producing electronic music has always been the easiest to me. Specifically trance. It really shouldn't be that surprising seeing as how trance is what I first started listening to. It's no coincidence that it was also the first genre I tried to produce. I'm now trying to hit more hip-hop and club-worthy R&B tracks. The advantage of having a brother for a dj is knowing what exactly hits in clubs. You also get a lot of groupies, but I've never been into leftovers or second hand shit. Neva dat!

I almost forgot to mention that, along with hip-hop, I'd very much like to produce pop music. If it hits in a club then I want to make it. Max Martin and Dr. Luke where you at? Unfortunately producing electronica is a lot easier for me than producing pop. So, I'm trying to embrace that. As such I'm returning to my roots and listening to Armin, Above and Beyond, and Tiesto's radio shows more frequently. I might even throw some EDM on my ipod. Right now I'm listening to Roger Shah's new double disc The Beach Side Of Life. It's out now on Armada. good stuff.

There's loads more to be said. I'll leave it for another time.

Now listening to: Roger Shah presents Sunlounger - Acapulco Waves