Alex Metric : 'Head Straight'
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I knew I’d heard of Alex Metric before – a simple Google whack told me he’s responsible for a rather taking mix of Alphabeat’s ‘Boyfriend’ and I’m pretty sure but not certain I have seen his name on a poster – but never had I heard something he was solely responsible for. The question therefore was could this self-styled DJ use his undeniable production skills to create something truly his own? Could his electronic editing prowess be harnessed into a melody of his own making, or should he stick to tweaking the offerings of the real musicians?
‘Head Straight’ is an unsurprisingly electronic cross-genre hybrid, but a good one – the vocal and lyrics overshadowed by a really easy to enjoy melody. At this point I should make clear that I’m no student of this brand of music, my knowledge of DJ’s starts and stops with Sammy and his (hers?) totally Benidorm 2003 version of Brian Adams’ ‘Heaven’ and I spent much of my university life dodging all-night Erol Alkan sets and the like. Perhaps to my eternal loss, because there’s no denying that the most skilled of DJ’s can really play – if that’s the phrase – and Alex Metric shows enough on ‘Head Straight’ to suggest he can grow into the stature of the likes of Alkan. His approach is applaudable too, the break-beat style he adapts described instead as ‘a really really unsafe rollercoaster’ in a most humble underestimation of his own skills. He certainly has his world buzzing, the dance-floor press awash with superlatives highlighting his ability to harness a chorus into his work – something often overlooked by his counterparts. Track 2 on the single couldn’t underline this point with a thicker marker, ‘What Now’ proving all I read about this chap to be true – his work is stylish yet carries a feeling of assured relax, cleverly housed vocals coming and going at precisely the right points and allowing his true strength – synths, computers and melody – to stand up front. Taking stuff and definitely enough to make me pay at the door next time I cross a poster with his name on.
I asked whether Alex Metric’s production powers could be housed into his own material. The answer is emphatic. Yes.
8/10
Words: Benjamin Coley
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