- It's rare for me to experience true ambivalence when it comes to music, and yet listening to Beatman, that's all I feel. All four tracks are polished, but not too much. They're all well-composed, but lack any real flair. They're all tasteful, but for a few superfluous vocal snippets. "Beatman" sets the trend, beginning with a just-groovy-enough bassline and skittish hi-hats. It feels short on ideas, with the main hook little more than some ryhthmically chopped vocals and a yelping voice. There's nothing wrong with simplicity, but here the implementation seems poor.
"Deep Underground" is an improvement, but for a naff vocal, "We live for deep underground music." Otherwise it has the makings of adequacy; funky bass, genial chimes and a locomotive hi-hat. With his remix, Marcel Knopf—founder of Clap Your Hands—strips back the vocal but doesn't drop it altogether. He also sharpens the edges a bit, adding metallic percussion and upping the intensity. Last is "In the Mix," sampling the vocals from Indeep's 1983 hit "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life." Again, the track's basic elements are sound, but all that excites past that is a playful guitar solo mid-way. Simplicity and functionality definitely have their place, but there are thousands of releases which do those things better than Beatman does.
Tracklist 01. Deep Underground feat. Aaron Palmer
02. In The Mix
03. Beatman
04. Deep Underground feat Aaron Palmer (Marcel Knopf Remix)