Every now and again, an album makes you stop what you are doing, as its quality demands your full listening attention, and the new one from ITAI is one such example of this.
We didn’t know much about ITAI before hearing this release, but we are very excited to hear more from this talented American artist. The album is a downtempo selection of organic house/electronica that focuses heavily on a live saxophone played by ITAI himself.
ITAI is a classically trained musician/saxophonist who brings a jazz flair to his electronic music tracks that are full of suspense and a captivating aura of intensity. Although produced at a slow tempo, the tracks have rhythmic basslines and a lot of percussive textures to give them danceable energy.
All of the tracks would certainly work on the dance floor, and will no doubt find their way into the sets of people who champion the Burning Man style of shamanistic house music, but the albums widest appeal is probably for home/headphone listening. Enough energy to accompany being on the move, it’s also got soothing qualities and a lot of intricacies.
Right from the very first track, appropriately titled “Intro”, the album has you trapped under its spell. Building suspense, it leads to the first of the tracks with a kick drum called “Flame of the Pine Cone”, which has choppy guitar chords and a pulsating bassline that are carried forth by the tones of a saxophone. Things then get very lounge jazz influenced with “Curiosity Bear” before the samba style percussion of “Latin Idea”. The last four tracks get mystic with the ceremonial chants of “Jacob’s Ladder” followed by the bass-heavy “This Is The Way”. Closing out the release is the atmospheric “Wancy” and then the cool, up-tempo groove of the last track “Darkness”.
You can really tell that ITAI is a classically trained musician, as this album has a musicality that can be rare in electronic music. It’s out now, and you can buy a copy from HERE
