Review Summary: Forgot to take off.
John De Buck, aka Apashe, has been a polarizing figure in the EDM scene ever since his single "No Twerk" dropped, granting him a huge amount of exposure. As somewhat of a goofball he made a name for himself with sublime sound design, ominous orchestral passages and a sympathetic image throughout social media (propeller hat, anyone?). Ever since Apashe teased via Twitter he was working on a full-length album, fans were intrigued what the Montreal-based producer might come up with, especially considering the amount of solid releases throughout the years (except maybe Tank Girls, which - well - tanked) and the fact that he is undeniably the strongest producer under the Kannibalen Records wing.
Let me get this out of the way immediately - this album is not good.
With the title being "Copter Boy", which in itself is a reference to Apashe - or the Apache Helicopter - one might imply that this isn't an album that is intended to be taken all too seriously (also: we're talking EDM here), but this affects the music in the worst way possible. Most of the classical and/or japanese inspired melodic passages which over the years (Golden Empire EP and onward) became a trademark are either non-existent or just end up sounding overly goofy and on multiple occasions I found myself simply laughing at some of the melodies. "Fire Inside VIP" or "Puttin on the Ritz" come to mind as my personal WTF moments on the record, especially considering the original "Fire Inside" was god-tier EDM, which I'm still blasting on occasion.
Apart from that I sense somewhat of a conceptional idea running through the record, with all the references to take-offs, landings, helicopters. I do appreciate this, but I can't get away feeling like those things were just tacked on or even forced to give the album context.
Another problem holding this album back is the fact that some songs just don't seem to go anywhere, alas there's no straight up bangers that stick with you and keep you coming back for more, unlike a lot of Apashe's older material. Ideas are being introduced with no real connection to anything which lets all sense of cohesion go down the drain. "Touch Down" drags on for too long without any sense of accomplishment, and, while I do like the occasional Panther guest vocal on a Kannibalen release, he just ends up sounding boring giving me the impression that the vocal spot was there just to fill empty space. On the contrary "Fuck Boy", the track kicking the record off, seems to be riding too much on the back of Kandle's vocals which overshadow everything else, particularly considering the drop and its lack of drive just leaves the listener utterly cold.
After multiple listens, only a fraction of the tracks stuck with me, namely "Kung Fu" which suffers from lack of connection between the melodic breaks and drop sections but manages to bring back the Apashe vibes we have grown to love with its ominous taiko drum samples and grimey bass sound design, and "The Landing", which has some nice flows by Wasiu and brings the album to a logical conclusion. While those are decent tracks by themselves, they represent perfectly what's wrong with the album as a whole. Sound design is still top notch and production quality is great, but musically the record just can't stand on its feet.
This might not be a painfully bad album, but when put side-by-side with what Apashe is capable of doing it really pales in comparison and leaves me quite disappointed. With the fact that this is a full-length record, this album shoots itself in the back losing any type of focus before it can really gather it in the first place.
This is not a helicopter crashing and burning, this is a helicopter which didn't take off in the first place.
