Pass The Aux is about one thing and one thing only. Major groove! Well, actually it is about a lot of things – riffs built from digital deftness, playful musical dynamics that venture high and low, rising euphoria, graceful lulls, energy, beat and sheer fun. But if you made a list, groove would be top of the pile.
It’s music to dance to, obviously, but it is also music to lose yourself in, music for the sonic escapist, for the clubland diva, music that puts the real world on hold for a while and lets you hide in a world of bits and bytes and beats.
And within the chosen format, EDMs Hero explores a lot of territory. There are outright clubland anthems such as 007, relentless waves of industrial-level energy and hypnotic infectiousness and there are tracks shot through with Latin-jazz vibes such as the aptly named Suave. Afrojacked is futuristic, minimalist and wonderfully glitchy, Bounce is built on a wave of effervescent beats and More Levels tips its hat somewhat to the past and seems to echo everything from the early days of disco to 80’s synth-pop pioneers to 90’s rave culture and yet sounds nothing if not bang up to date.
One of the problems with the affordable technology which has opened up music-making to the masses is that a lot of this digital revolution has produced very dubious results, just because someone can make music doesn’t mean that they should and it is this which is watering down the dance and digital genres, lowering the benchmark. Pass The Aux is what happens when the right person makes free with the technology at hand. This is what everyone should be aiming for.
I wouldn’t say that I am normally the target audience for such club-inspired sounds and studio creations but even I have cleared a space in the middle of the room and grooved about, cut a rug, flipped my wig and threw some crazy shapes (or whatever the kids are calling it these days) to this. The fact that this album can get me moving, the wallflower curmudgeon that I am, tells you everything that you need to know.
