Dario G
Sunmachine
(Kinetic/Eternal)
I always wondered how long it would take before someone really watered down techno music into something that could be easily digested by the masses. Although its happened before to some degree with Enigma and Deep Forest and other artists, but Dario G is quite possibly the first true "techno-lite" group that I've heard. Sure, there's that Hi-NRG crap, but Dario G actually manages to pull it off without any screaming divas or hulking rapping guys that flaunt it in a made for MTV video.
When I first heard the song "Sunchyme" about a year ago, I thought it was one of the cheesiest things that I'd ever heard. It leads in with a nice piano part, then some strategic little blips and bloops before a mid-range kick drum comes in and a sample from an old but recognizable song "Life In A Northern Town" by Dream Academy (trust me, you'll recognize it when you hear it) starts looping over it all. "Carnival De Paris" starts out with some nice trumpet work, but soon moves into a very familiar refrain and a drumbeat that sounds like it was lifted from an old school Goodmen track. Again, cheesy as all hell, but catchy in an odd sort of way (as well as being the theme song for the Women's World Cup soccer tourney, in case you were wondering). The group actually tries to do something a little bit on the harder side with "Revolution," but even with the dark-sounding synth pads, it still comes out sounding fairly upbeat. And that's only 3 tracks.
In the end, what you have is almost 70 minutes of lightweight, elevator-techno music. Musically, I'd have to put them in the same sort of category as the groups I mentioned in the first paragraph, because while they do encorporate elements of techno in their music, it is definitely some of the most sugar-coated electronic music that I've ever heard. Still, they do have some catchy parts, and if you don't mind your more electronically-minded friends making fun of you, it's a breezy listen when you're not in the mood for anything else.
Rating: 4
