Review

At One: African Healing Dance: (Atjazz)

Martin Iverson, aka Atjazz has been responsible for some astounding remixes and production in the house, nu-jazz and tribal spectrums of dance music. Having heard him DJ twice this year, he definitely has his own style and sound that he carries over into his own music. His record label, Atjazz Record Company is a strong name amongst house DJ’s up and down the UK too.

The latest signing on Atjazz Record Company is ‘African Healing Dance’ written by R.Ward aka At One. We start off with big tom-toms, an addictive click and a very tribal come afro-beat workout. The chord melody is minimal, it’s almost eerie, but in a really good way that adds a hypnotic feel to this track. The spoken words of Wyoma work brilliantly overlaid with the rest of the music too, adding another layer of hypnosis!

The track itself sounds quite basic in terms of instruments used, but when you listen carefully you can tell this is what At One intended. Indeed, there is some excellent production and very subtle percussion going on all the way through this piece of music. If you liked the stuff Danny Tenagalia played in the nineties as I do, you will feel ‘African Healing Dance’ as it is very Tenaglia-esque.

The second track ‘Miti’ follows in the same manner of being quite tribal, but with some gloriously filtered percussion such as the distorted triangle sound. There is reverb in abundance on this track which gives the piece a very spacious feel.

This is a really nice package and will work very well late at night when played loudly!

"African Healing Dance" is released
Words GARETH MORGAN