maksim

Electrik

maksim is a Croatian pianoist...i like his music very much...since he's a pianoist, so he wouldnt be a singer...and u wouldnt hear his voice as he is not singing...i dunno what type of music itz called...new age? because there is no one singing, so, i think itz refreshing to hear his music after hearing songs who sung by someone else....his selection of tracks mostly is a mixture of classics and modern.....so, sometime u'll find some pieces of his tracks that u are quite familiar with... and in his fifth album, Electrik, itz really an 'electric' selection...this album is a heady mixture of recognisable popular classics, which i bet u guys havent heard of it b4 + new compositions by his long time collaborator, Tonci Huljic, and a few unexpected suprises...this is what Maksim said about Electrik...

"Most of the pieces here have a really upbeat production," he says. "I myself really like clubs and electronic music - it is the music I most listen to after classical - so the idea of people dancing to one of my pieces in the club is really, really challenging."

The album's opener The Gypsy Maid (from IL Trovatore, an opera) is a fantastic manifesto for his approach...it starts off almost folkily, with the jolly tune becoming increasingly dramatic and an insistent beat adding a real sense of purpose...itz not hard to imagine hearing this in a club - it has the internal rhythms of a rave...Maksim plays his piano like a DJ works the decks, knowing how to control the crowd: lifting them high, bringing them down, speeding things up or chilling it out.

Although itz an 'electric''s album, sure it has a very modern feel, but it's by no means all relentlessly full of beats and electronic effects.....it still have some classics' tracks.........

"There are a few pieces on each of my albums that are slower tunes or more filmic music" says Maksim, "People can listen to this in the car or to chill out when they get home as well as in the club."

And he's right about his music's filmic (pertaining to motion pictures) qualities....several tracks are obviously very cinematic...listening to the music, itz just like watching a movie...but, of course, without the picture...these tracks just make the listener have to conjure up their own images....the fast-paced Requiem Listen with its apocalyptic choir could be the theme for the climax of a dark, but action-packed superhero adventure - the sound of someone saving the world....and Beyond Rangoon/Waters Of Irrawaddy is from an actual film's soundtrack, being Maksim take on the Patricia Arquette film's score by Hans Zimmer..itz very subtle and both incredibly emotional and uplifting....his lyrical playing of the slowly sweeping melodies calls up the lapping of water and the drama of high mountains....classical standards such as Hall Of The Mountain King sometimes victims of their own familiarity, are made to sound fresh again.

itz perhaps not surprising that this is a very democratic album...he not only demonstrates that high culture can be made accessible to all, but also that pop music is not necessarily as throw-away as it first appears...a version of ABBA's The Way Old Friends Do makes an unexpected appearance, its sentimentality transformed into uplifting emotion and military style drums adding dramatic backbone.....

for me, every albums that he made has itz own 'personality'....from his first (his first album was not released outside croatia as he's still not popular at that time...if i'm not mistaken, itz in year 2000)...well, should i say, starts from the second album till his fifth album, there are different 'personalities' in these albums...but one thing for sure, itz a mixture...classics and modern...this is how he tried to 'introduce' the classical's tracks for the younger generations....as i say b4, itz a kind of music where u can try after having those 'singing songs'....some of his tracks really make me wanna 'push hard' on doing something, like when i'm really frustrating or when i feel that i couldnt finish or achieve something, i will listen to some of his tracks that i feel itz really has the POWER to push me move forward....itz feel like 'inspirational'....thank you, Maksim!!!!

these are the tracks from the album:

1.The Gypsy Maid 2.Requiem Listen 3.Child In Paradise 4.Anchem 5.Hall Of The Mountain King 6.Nachrach 7.Beyond Rangoon/Waters Of Irrawaddy 8.March Of The Icons 9.Tango In Ebony 10.Carmen Entr'acce 11.Prelude In C 12.In Paradisum 13.The Way Old Friends Do

PS: not all of this article was written by me.....