Akufen
My Way

Writing a review about an album like this is no easy feat, considering the fact that it has already been praised by the top specialized magazines across the pond (Did someone say "The Wire"?).
"My Way" is the first official album by Marc LeClair, a native of Montreal and a representative of that "French school" that has garnered much attention in the house world from the Daft Punk era onwards.

This album belongs to the house genre: 4/4 kick, off-beat hi-hat, and funky bass included. Judging by the defining characteristics of the genre, however, this album does not present any novelty. Akufen indeed uses the trusty old Roland TR 909 and its recognizable presets for the rhythmic sounds, directing the sonic exploration towards different shores compared to the usual ones for the genre, companions with a soft 'R' included.
Daft Punk seek the roundest kick, basses as dense as an Elah pudding, and distortions in the lead lines; LeClair, instead, focuses on the microsampling technique, using rather dated sounds like bass and drums but weaving extremely intricate patterns made of quick series of samples measured in milliseconds.


According to the author himself, the sound source of the entire blend of "My Way" was frequency modulation radio. And you can tell.
In no sample collection can you indeed find the same diversity of sound sources as appreciable in tracks like "Deck the House" or "Jeep Sex," little house gems with fast editing that even manage to avoid the excessive repetitiveness of the genre by varying the patterns just enough to keep the listener alert for the entire duration of the track (average of 7-8 minutes).
Leaving aside the purely stylistic discourse, which might be interesting or not, listening to this work is a real delight. The body enjoys it as it does with the best dance music, but so does the mind, due to the often interesting and, if I may be so bold, even humorous solutions (You'll grin like hyenas).


For once, the snobbishness of "The Wire" is right: this is one of the top 5 house albums released since 2000.