Released: January 10, 2012
Grade: B+/B
Superstar DJ Steve Aoki (of the Benihana Aokis... yum) just released his second full length album, "Wonderland." The 16-track compilation is a techno mix of trance, dubstep, and house with added vocal elements of rap, R&B, and yes, even screamo. As per usual, Aoki collaborated with a variety of artists from Kid Cudi to Travis Barker to Afrojack, so get ready to hear some familiar voices. As a unit, the album flows decently well - there are no super abrupt transitions between tracks that leave listeners disoriented. You're free to sit back (or dance) and lose yourself in the music without being jolted awake.
However, overall the album is less than stellar. For me there are really only two standout WOW I'm filled with wonder tracks - "Livin' My Love" and "Turbulence." Within the first few seconds of "Livin' my Love," I immediately started rocking out to Aoki's beats, LMFAO's rapping and NERVO's slightly throaty (in a good way) singing. The song can definitely get you pumped up and rallied for your night out, workout, you name it. There are multiple undercurrents to dance to so rave, grind, go cray cray. "Livin' My Love" also has a good quick decline then build up to an awesome climax!
"Turbulence (Radio Mix)" feat. Lil' Jon has been around for a while and is probably my favorite Steve song. It's definitely ragey with seamless transitions between beat frequencies and pitches. Lil' Jon contributes just enough - his vocals help pick the song up but are not overbearing. Seriously just listen to it.
The songs the next level down - definitely worth listening to but not amazing - are "Steve Jobs" and "No Beef (Original Mix)." "Steve Jobs," which features Angerr Dimas, is pretty ordinary for the first three to four minutes but then it definitely picks up. So sit through those and then you can really dig it.
"No Beef" is a popular club mix that features Afrojack. It's a little more trancey and though the beat line is pretty average, the super high pitch of the beats makes it something special. The song loses pace nicely in the middle with Miss Palmer's vocals and then picks up again briefly before slowing down to a satisfying ending.
Much of the rest of the album is pretty average. Almost all the songs can easily be danced to but are nothing spectacular (save for the aforementioned). In some tracks, Aoki seems to expand his horizons a bit ("Heartbreaker" has a new-sounding ephemeral quality and the two songs featuring Travis Barker's screamo is definitely something... not something I dig though). But in a lot of others, Aoki's beats sound somewhat ordinary, a common difficulty for many techno artists. Not sure if it's worth buying all of the songs but check them out for sure!
Purchase it here.
-G
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