Vince Watson – Biologique

While I don't get easily impressed by deep house, and let alone tech house records, Watson's debut album "Biologique" has endured the test of time better than one could have anticipated. First of all, Vince has a rarely equalled talent for composing melodies and his feeling for harmony is good enough that I wouldn't get too many awry looks (hopefully) if I claimed that he sounded like Carl Craig's favorite disciple.
From track to track, he keeps the steady pace from higher 120 to lower 130bpm range, delivering warm and deep groves, with enough memorable leads to make a lot of followers of the Detroit techno production school make a run for their money. A lot of interminable and dreamy soundscapes, hypnotic sounds and an inexhaustible geyser of beautiful melodies.
Unlike many similar albums, or the vast majority of modern IDM music, Vince Watson's record isn't limited exclusively to the living rooms, and better yet, it's one of those gems which, despite all of its musical and orchestral complexity, has a very high likeability factor. It's a record many people embraced, once I played it for them. For clubs, it works just as fine, especially for the after club sessions, as you could literary close your eyes and chose randomly - every pick would turn out to be a winner. In comparison to some recent, melody driven records, which prevalently gain critical acclaim due to their "music for thinkers" aesthetic (nothing wrong with that in general, just when will people stop considering anything with more than three melodies in one track to have the power of infusing them with spiritual content)?, "Biologique" is an enticing body of work namely because it can appeal to a broad audience, yet it never sacrifies its artistic beauty and statement: casual house and tech house listeners as well as dedicated and demanding heads have given nods of approval to this one, and judging from my own personal experience, even the harder techno freaks won't ever complain if you drop this for an after party session at someone's house. Its quality doesn't derive from the fact that it's aimed at a particular corner of the market, but it comes from the music which is - and there is no way I could break it down for you any more than that - marvellous.
As for similar releases... Don't really know. Can you imagine the melody work from Ulrich Schnauss' remarkable first album "Faraway trains passing by" without all the fluff and kitsch which occasionally suffocated the listener? Can you imagine luminaries such as Carl Craig and Kenny Larkin at their most sincere and soulful pitching the tempo of their tracks down just a bit? If you liked house stuff from one of its chief ambassadors, Ron Trent, and if the answer to the above is "yes", then you owe this album a few meticulous listens.
Favorite tracks would just have to be the entire bunch. I just came back from the office an hour ago, and playing this album sky rocketed my mood and instigated me to jot down this review. My advice is to take "Biologique" in one sitting.