Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

Fans of the brash party electro made popular by Wolfgang Gartner and his ilk will be on familiar ground with this first single from Moguai’s forthcoming LP. Big, loud and pumping, it’s well-produced – if pretty unoriginal – and will no doubt quickly find its way into the sets of DJs who like that sort of thing.

And those who like that sort of thing will know exactly what to expect. Driving bass, lots of Nintendo noises, big breakdowns and “hey, LOOK AT ME” drops, wibbly wobbly vwhomp effects and fairly standard attempts at melody. There’s nothing particularly wrong with “Mpire” – it is what it is, and will get the job done on the dancefloor at 2am – but equally there’s nothing particularly special about it. It doesn’t have the aggression or virtuosiy of the instantly recognisable (and memorable) Feed Me, and little of the nuance and personality that distinguish tunes by Gartner or Mau5trap head honcho Deadmau5; it’s just another competent, anonymous electro tune with little replay value.

Back in 2007 these kind of tunes sounded like the future. Now they just sound like tunes from 2007.