My Devil Inside

Jean Borelli has been making music for a rather long time, and the longer he does it the weaker it gets. From appearances “right at the beginning” on Flying Rhino and Symbiosis, through midperiod singles on Iboga and Tip, down to consecutively disappointing artist albums on Solstice, the circle is complete with this lacklustre conversion to progressive trance.

What shits me most about this release isn’t so much the product, as the process behind it. I can take something at face value, as we all can — three ploddy proggy tracks that go nowhere and are instantly forgettable: fine.  What I find exceedingly unplatable is the implicit assertion that progressive is somehow a “true representation” of where Jean Borelli is “at” musically, when everything about it reeks of trend-following cash-in.

For a start, you only get to drop your first name and become only known by your surname when you have accomplished something significant. Joyce, Mulder, Santana, Ronaldo, Gaiman, Bambingboye, Dalgleish, Geldof, Garcia, Watterson, and Posford (at a push.) Nominative Singularity is earned, not chosen.

The music is exquisitely simple, exquisitely vapid, and exquisitely generic. You know exactly what’s going to happen before it happens, and when it does you wish it simply didn’t. This is the soundtrack to the  more mundane aspects of partying such as texting your mum or going to the toilet.

Another factor worthy of consideration is exactly why this was released. Does Iboga really think this represents the finest, cream-of-the-crop premium quality music they are able to release? Do they consider the man, the music and the package to be a genuine coup to the world of music? Or did they have it lying around and figured they’d better do something with it, and given the minimal cost associated in releasing digitally, they went for it to see if it would turn a few bucks?

This “mud sticks” attitude to releasing music leaves a thoroughy unpleasant taste in the mouth. Digital distribution lowers barriers, but it encourages an audience to exercise its own judgements more and more, whether that’s through Beatport previews or full-length rapidshare downloads.

Holding up a hugely mediocre release as being flagship release on a flagship label can do no good to the public perception of either.