Calvin Harris
18 Months

I am a big fan of electronic music, I think that among all genres, it is the one that best allows me to "transcend" to another dimension, but so far my interest has remained limited to the '90s scene, techno, trip hop... and the great names such as Daft Punk, Orbital, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, and Fatboy Slim.

Intrigued by the increasingly frequent appearances of international DJs who, in recent years, like real rockstars, fill festivals with oceanic crowds, I decided to listen to the latest album by Mr. Calvin Harris, a Scottish producer who in recent years has been climbing the charts, establishing himself among the well-known disc jockeys worldwide.

First observation: the record is not an album at all, it is practically a compilation with his most successful singles from the last 18 months (see the title). To disguise things a bit, Mr. Calvin cleverly decided to insert between one hit and another some short instrumental pieces (Mansion, School, or the intro Green Valley, for example) of practically no artistic value. Already here I wonder if it wouldn't have been better to cut everything to avoid a work with 15 total tracks, of which only 6 or 7 are truly useful. The style is a mix of simple commercial dance combined with synth pop, following the classic scheme of a light, sung initial verse followed by a chorus supported by very simple keyboard riffs: nothing exciting, but nonetheless some original ideas strangely manage to emerge.

The singles he decided to collect are the result of collaborations with well-known artists: among these, the mediocre We Found Love with Rihanna, Bounce with singer Kelis, Here 2 China with Dizzie Rascal, and finally Sweet Nothing, the only song I could define as really interesting and well-produced, enriched by Florence Welch's beautiful vocal performance. All things considered, the record runs quite smoothly, the really bad moments are only harmless tracks of a few minutes, and at least 3-4 tracks are worth a passing grade. The feeling is that much more could be done, but perhaps Calvin Harris has already well understood that he needs just a couple of notes and a couple of collaborations to sell and perform at events. 18 Months, therefore, receives a failing grade, although my doubts, many of them, are mostly due to the fact that he is among the most acclaimed DJs not only in Europe but also in the entire global scene.

I don't like being nostalgic, I listened to this album trying to enjoy something from the '00s and '10s, but unfortunately, I realized one thing: the electronic music that is fashionable today is really not much, it's not enough to play a little song and raise your hands from behind the console to be able to call yourself a DJ! Got it?