Sweet/sour tape review by paolo

I got my tape a few weeks ago. I have no idea who it's from but it's nicely packaged in gold chocolate-type packaging, like you'd find around a Galaxy bar or a Ferrero Rocher. One side is coloured pink with the word SWEET, the other side is coloured green with the word SOUR.

I've never reviewed anything before so I'm just going to go through it track by track and sum up at the end.

Sweet side

1. Lady singing a sad, wistful song over a 4:4 beat. This sort of sounds like something that you might hear in Starbucks or possibly on a moody advert for Apple, which I would normally hate this stuff but it actually works well. It's quite emotionally affecting. Off to a good start

2. Nice head-nodding house tune. Not exactly bedroom music but not a big dancefloor tune either. Would be good for doing housework to on a sunny day

3. Slightly more downbeat house tune, with bittersweet, yearning vocals and strings. Nice bassline

4. I think this is what would be called 'boogie'. I saw Krystal Klear DJ recently and this is like something he would play. It certainly is a sweet summer tune.

5. Going a bit deeper here but still house. Features a glockenspiel and a voice saying 'you're searching' a lot. It's been pissing it down with rain all day but the sun comes out when this track is on (I don't think the two things are connected but it fits with the summertime vibes of this tape)

6. More boogie, this time with cut-up vocals about looking into my eyes. Still rolling along at about 110 bpm. Goes a bit piano house about halfway through

7. Tempo goes up slightly (I think). This one has a sort of dark yet funky bassline, a bit like 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer. There's a woman saying the same thing over and over but I can't make out what it is

8. This is bouncy as hell. There's a big fat bassline and a really low voice talking with a high-pitched voice about something or other, and a bunch of people singing about how much they like techno funk. This would be great to dance to when drunk

9. More chilled but still funky. Somebody sings about electronic funk and how it can't be stopped, and there are also robot voices

10. Lipps Inc - Funky Town. This is the only track on the tape that I recognise and it's a belter. Amazing disco-pop, if you've never heard it

11. Eighties-sounding synthpop/house/electro tune, with big room vibes and a catchy synth line. Also someone saying 'move up, get down'

12. The start of something a bit more downbeat with sad-sounding piano that is cut off by the end of side one

Sour side

1. Sleazy electro funk, nice and slow. Carrying on where the first side left off, with  a lyric about hugging your brother from another town. Very eighties in a good way

2. Disco pop about having a high school crush with a catchy hook. Could be described as sultry

3. Boogie disco with a sample from 'The Hall of Mirrors' by Kraftwerk and French vocals. Still got the bouncy summertime vibes of the first side

4. More boogie but more house than disco, complete with vocals about the beat not stopping until the break of dawn

5. Upbeat house tune which just seems a bit nondescript/bland to be honest

6. This is better. Vocal classic-sounding acid tune with loads of energy, must be an excellent club track

7. Bouncy house tune with a big fat bassline and a deep vocal asking if I'm afraid of the boogie monster (I'm not)

8. Cool, almost garagey house track. Quite deep but maintains the bounciness

9. Big room tech-house stomper, which I'm not really feeling so much. Maybe just not in the right mood

10. Wicked hardcore tune to finish the tape. Has a guy singing about not speaking the language or understanding the words and awesome synth stabs. I feel I should recognise this for some reason but I don't. This perks me up a bit and gives me a wee adrenaline buzz


Overall, this is ninety minutes or so of choice summertime house/disco/boogie music which I imagine would be ace to dance to. Whoever mixed it is solid technically and allows each track to play out for a decent amount of time, which I like. Also exposed me to a bunch of music I'd never heard before because I don't listen to a lot of this sort of thing