Umesh Madan Review

By John E

My first trip into the woods here at DMusic, since I'm a big advocate of home-made electronic music, has rather conspicuously landed on Umesh Madan, a solo electronic act out of Bellevue, WA.

I'll admit that I purposely chose a project that isn't extremely popular on the charts, mainly because I feel that lesser known projects are the ones that need the attention. After listening to a few tracks, I was more than convinced my decision was dead on.

The first track I checked out, "20th Century 80's Boy," initially struck my attention with its brash transitions. Very sharp and quick, I immediately took a liking to its seeming quirkiness and sat back, relaxing a bit to some comfortable memories it dug up while two more songs downloaded.
 
Next to hit my ears was "Moodswing." I wasn't really impressed with this one at all, but it was somewhat rescued by its excellent usage of industrial-esque percussion. "Bits and Pieces" came on next, and let me just say that this is a cool song, however unexpected; very clubby, but wonderful structuring and synth (the piano sounds a bit out of place at some points, though).
  
Negatives? The sampling is a bit generic, no colourful mastering, etc. But realistically, I can't ring myself to hold any of these things against the artist, him being self-produced and no doubt without tons of cash to throw around ... because, as you know ... erm ...
  
Before I start a fifteen page rant on liberal music economics, I'll just go ahead and sum this one up:

Whilst there isn't much content posted currently, flat out, Umesh Madan is solid, intelligent structure that seems to have a two-by-fours inching towards a personalized kind of synthpop.

Music such as this, constructed under the conditions of a home computer and minimal software, is a wonderful sight when done to this degree. It really helps send a strong message to new musicians that loads of money, experienced production teams, record label support, etc, aren't required components of succeeding, especially when it comes to electronic music.