Released through legendary independent label MofoHifi in late 2009 - Italian producer and DJ Phonat's self titled debut is an insane record - and likely one of the most quirky, strange yet hyperactive records I'll likely ever review. Across the album's 12 tracks - Phonat juggles between a massive range of genres, just to name a few - electro-house, French house, drum and bass, rock and nu disco - making it a perfect mix of everything I love, and a damn fine listen, if you ask me.
There's a lot to unpack here - so I'll start with the first half of the record - which sets the listener up rather nicely with half a dozen of plunderphonic-esque tracks full of fantastic sampling techniques, upbeat tonality and above all - they're extremely fun.
While Phonat opens with several nods to hip hop - such as A Warm Welcome - which reminds me of Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa (but if it was more epic!) and breakbeat excursions (looking at you, Get Down My Dirty Street!) - the tables turn with a slew of French house influenced tracks with glitzy, bright instrumentation and punchy production - the obvious highlights here include Set Me Free - which feels like a glorious collaboration between Daft Punk in their Discovery era and deadmau5 - and Love Hits The Fan - a glamorous and incredibly funky club weapon that feels extremely unique!
The second half of this record takes a very different turn - after the breakbeats, disco led jams and even the odd bit of rock and electro house (taking form in Ghetto Burning and Ho Visto Un Quadre Verde) - the elusive Italian wonderkid (as The Young Punx put it) shifts to showcasing stunning, Ed Banger esque electro which is heavy, demanding and brilliant - alongside jittery drum and bass, and Overseer-esque, riff heavy big beat.
Yeah, I told you this album was very versatile.
My personal favourites from the second half of this cracking album include Learn To Recycle - a six minute epic which goes from trip hop, to electro house to drum and bass, while mirroring the sampling skills of legendary Welsh duo Vanguard (for fans of Femme Fatale, check this tune out!) - London - which wouldn't sound out place on SebastiAn's legendary album Total with the thick, heavy guitar work it flaunts, the heavy amount of low end and the frenetic, quirky chopping it consistently features - and the tech-step club weapon that is Bad Boy - which I particularly enjoyed as a heavy drum and bass fan myself (although I do listen to disco more these days...)
To sum it up - this album is absolutely fantastic - it's extremely wild, raucous, fun, and in general, it's just an amazing record that I'd recommend to anyone - especially if your listening palette is incredibly diverse - there's a lot to sink your teeth into here!
Rating: 9/10
You can find Phonat on all good streaming services - however, I'm going to link the Bandcamp below, so you can directly support Phonat!
There you have it, everyone!
I hope you've enjoyed reading this review - if you have given this record a listen - let me know what you think of it in the comments - and as always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
man phonat is the style of music i wanna do like especially the chops from set me free, also i wanna do complextro french house with the example of madeon's remixing deadmau5 track raise your weapon, if you havent take a listen its a banger man
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