| ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Abie Toiber is a musician producer out of Mexico City who began his career out of middle school (what were the rest of you thirteen year olds doing in the eighties?). Later, studying at the Musician's Institute in Los Angeles, Toiber met up with other musicians and formed the pop/rock group COMA, which -- after a brief stint being signed with EMI, fell into state in 1998 and has yet to be revived (but there's still hope). Around the same time, Toiber managed to begin making plans for Lotus (released in May 2005), while working through collaborations, advertising, mixing and producing, all working towards starting his own label, Toca75. Each track from the Lotus album (all available for streaming at the Abie Toiber website), reflects a true artistry -- both behind and in front of the isolation booth walls. Whether you're into the lighter fare, heavier things, dirtier sounds, funkier grooves, or just plain something else too kinky to be mentioned here, there's absolutely no way you can miss the Abie Toiber sound; a delicate mixture of atmospheric groove electronica, middle eastern fusion, pop and indie rock. But we all know guys don't like words like "delicate". So let's just say "a handsome mix of atmospheric groove electronica, mixed roughly with middle eastern fusion, pop, and indie rock". In a few of the songs, you can just barely hear some latin influences, but the underpinnings of any latin music background really isn't all that apparent with this boy from Mexico City. It's all the larger world fusion centered around the modern American and European pop/rock/indie/electronic movement. ... yeah, you know ... THAT movement. ON THE DOWNSIDE:
In the beginning vocals, the production decision to bury the vocals slightly beneath the noise didn't really appeal to me all too much right off the bat. It was difficult to make out the lyrics and really get a feel for what was going on. While the vocals surfaced somewhat later on, I kind of felt that the song would have had more "push" if it had gotten on with it from the start. But, hey, it's probably too late for that now. STRONG POINTS:
One can't help but think that, along with a few other independent producers out there (i.e. Deliccato of Geisha Glory), Abie Toiber is going to be someone bands and labels are going to want in the studio with them during production time within the next twenty years. Incredible decisions and sound quality, as well as awesome performances -- not just on this track, but throughout the entire Lotus album. In fact, production quality and performance here are equally strong points about the "Stars" track. THE CONCLUSION?:
Buy the album. Or just stream it, and THEN buy it. I can't tell you what to do with your hard-earned money, but remember ... I can guilt you into it. I mean, not now that I said it, but ... Seriously -- you can't miss this one.
Stone Bayliss
BandFreaks Staff Reviewer |
