Digi Kinda Groove

From M3P
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Wednesday 02 August 2006 (Michael Bugeja - The Malta Independent)

The first thing that strikes you about Digi Kinda Life, Toby’s new album, is how different it sounds compared to the fresh-faced vibe 0f 2003’s Journey Beyond the Sun. During the relatively short time since his debut, the young Maltese DJ/producer has, through working on a variety of projects, acquired much more experience and a broader sense of vision. Composing, recording and producing the soundtrack to Angli, remixing William Mangion’s Cloud single, writing the theme tune to NET TV’s Virus and handling the audio production and musical score for historical documentary The George Cross are just four of them.

His weekly radio show on Bay 89.7 FM has also been a vital source of inspiration, but what really makes Toby tick is the studio and you can feel it in every one of the 14 tracks on offer here. Sidestepping the breezier House groove of his debut, Toby’s second outing relies on heavier doses of breakbeat, open forays into electro-lite and a fair share of melodic grooves, the result being a blend that is chilled in places, funky in others, but a 100 percent groovy all over.

Opening track Away on Three Hills for example, is a great example of both, but it’s the meatier cuts, such as Greedy for Life, Nitty Gritty, God Made Me Funky, Get Up and Queen of Funk that give this record much of its energy. On the other hand, the fact that new single On Your Mind isn’t quite your stereotypical catchy tune is possibly a pointer that Toby’s scope has indeed extended way beyond club country and rooted itself deeper into the composition and experimentation of tracks like Cover Your Eyes and closing track From The City.

Toby official website