Calvin Harris, one of my favourite producers (who also happens to sing) releases his third LP 18 Months. I figured why such is the title - since it has been roughly 18 months since the supposed release of the record.
I first heard about Calvin Harris when he produced two of Kylie Minogue's stand out tracks on her X album - In My Arms and Heart Beat Rock. From then on, I became curious about his sound. Started listening to his I Created Disco record back in 2007, but what made love this fella was his 2009 release: Ready For The Weekend.
With much anticipation about his new record and his new-found fame -- including producing We Found Love for Rihanna; collabs with Kelis, Florence of Florence and the Machine, Ne-Yo, Nicky Romero -- the album raised so much expectations and I could say they were met. Or even have exceeded for the many.
What difference can 3 years make, right? I've seen and heard how Harris musical palette and style evolved and how he is also becoming smart about its business side without compromising much of his artistry.
With the explosion of the EDM genre in the music market, Calvin's sound is something I'd still want to hear. I just hope he doesn't succumb to so much commercialism. While the collab with Ne-Yo, and producing jobs for Mary J. Blige, Ke$ha, and other mainstream artists are quite the sign he's onto the same path as David Guetta took, I still have much respect to his talent and how he helped mould the UK dance scene with his is really interesting and funky attitude.
Only one track stood out for me: Awooga; while the other noteworthy tracks are: the 2-dozen chart-topping hit We Found Love, Mansion, Feels So Close, Iron, We'll Be Coming Back, Sweet Nothing, and School (which is a great reminder of how Harris' sound started out.
What do you think?
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