OUT Push - Scope (Artist Album) [Push Forward]

The early years sounds more promising.

Modern MIKE is very hit/miss for me. Still excited to hear this and hopefully it's more hit than miss this time.

Hmmm. Agree with @Rok

Overall, Melodic Trauma sound like a nice synthwave throwback. Not as well thought out as the stuff from Digital Blonde in terms of complexity and soundscapes, but it does offer a nice listening experience.

Nevertheless, M.I.K.E. has been such a massive let down in the past few years that I do not have high expectations for this album.

If there is one positive, is that the artist name for this album is Push and not M.I.K.E. Push or M.I.K.E. pres. Push or whatever other variant he decides to use this month

Hard to judge, the previews are from the beginnings of the tracks.
Seems like that majority of the tracks would be techno/melodic techno which Im already over-eaten.
Ambit and Formality sounds quite promising and trancy, specially Ambit. The others doesnt really remind me of Push alias at all...
Melodic Trauma is ecxellent and it will probably be the bestr track on the album. Other tracks are not synthwave-ish.
I will judge it after the full listen, but I already know, this would probably be my least favourite Push album.

Yeah, unfortunately that does not excite me. A track or two sound ok/promising, but overall I think this will be forgettable.

All just seems off in the non tech tracks with little inspiration, creativity and formula.
Mind Hype my pick as it has balance as a tech track but not blown away. Sorry to say reservations about this album are all but true.

I really don't like the modern techno sounds he used in the new album, some tracks are good, but not the whole album. A little disappointed

Quite like Drifting In The Zone actually! Sounds like old Push sounds with some deep progressive vibes

Scope - quite typical melodic techno track with not so many intersting elements, just that annoying "pow wow" synth. The bassline reminds Push, but overally the tracks feels slightly empty 6/10
In The Woods - better! at least the melody is there, sounds quite space-ish, slightly in the style of Slam Duck I would say, good one 7,5/10
Let Live Through - bouncing techno track with power kick, acids and some cool elements, is it a good techno track? yes! is it a typical Push sound? not at all 7/10
Ambit - the first trance track on the album, and quite typical M.I.K.E. / Push sound indeed...melody could have been slightly better in progression, but its not bad, quite enjoyable 7/10
Drifting In The Zone - oh yeah, this one is very good, some melodic techno elements with trancy melodies on top, very spacey / futuristic atmosphere, so far the best one 8/10
Formality - this one sounds trancy and quite Push-like from the very start, you will have to wait for the melody for a while, but yeah this one works, its quite deep and underground, still trancy and hypnotic 8/10
Mind Hype - Straight forward techno track, not bad but nothing oustanding, does it sound like Push? not at all...5,5/10
Syntactic - heavy kick techno track with some interesting parts, this one is cool....sounds like Solar Factor on techno kick 7/10
Zero Tolrance - acid driven oldschool techno track, definitely not my fav, although its not that bad...sounds like Push? hell no...5,/10
Melodic Trauma - the most melodic track on the album, very nice synthwave track, actually probably one of the best synthwave track I heard in a looong while, too bad there is no more tunes like this on this album 9/10

All in all its just as expected....rather average with few tracks which stands out. Half of the tracks doesnt sound like Push at all. Most of the tracks are techno oriented, however some of them are actually quite good for its genre.

The album is actually quite solid, worth 7/10 from me, but from the legendary Push alias I have much higher expectation

Best tracks:

Melodic Trauma
Drifting In The Zone
Formality

Some of the samples sound nice to me, will try this. Not really feeling the 80s synthy track unfortunately.

Went through the album this morning.. disappointing, but I had a feel the album could be in this direction considering his recent work as just Push and his recent b2b set with Joyhauser.

With a few exceptions of the modern Progressive Trance variety, its the same slow arena techno once more, a sound as exciting as my everyday commute to work.
None of it sounds fresh either, this sound was more relevant/prevalent in Techno about 8 years ago and now is only kept alive by the mainstream Drumcode types, while the rest of the scene moved to more creative, exciting stuff.

Yet it seems to be the only sound that the old farts with years of production experience (including Sherry, Shah and probably others I missed) are capable of mimicking when doing something like this.

From an absolute legend with about 30 years in the scene now, I hope and expect way more than this.

The Neon Life album from a couple years back was solid, well produced and creative.. and a welcome exception among a string of mediocre FSOE M.I.K.E. Push releases.

Had a good listen to this on a late-night walk which i thought suited the vibe of this album. On the whole though, i think this is mediocre at best. Only real highlight for me was the gated melody swell in Drifting in The Zone. Shame it only goes on for one short section. A large part of the album was rather forgettable; techno-influenced tracks but without much of the energy/drive it ought to have brought.

Hoplite said:

From an absolute legend with about 30 years in the scene now, I hope and expect way more than this.

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Mike needs to stop destroying his legacy and retire already (edit: to be nicer, because this was quite harsh, maybe set aside a new alias or *something* [edit2: he actually did, but not for this album] if he's going to start making Drumcode-adjacent techno). It's like watching a star athlete play 20 years past his prime and getting humiliated.

Although I suppose the analogy doesn't quite work since at least the star athlete has age to blame. Mike still (I think) has access to all the goods he had when he was in his prime.

Redrot said:

Mike needs to stop destroying his legacy and retire already (and maybe wipe his last 10 years + his label from humanity's collective memory). It's like watching a star athlete play 20 years past his prime and getting absolutely humiliated.

Although I suppose the analogy doesn't quite work since at least the star athlete has age to blame. Mike still (I think) has access to all the goods he had when he was in his prime.

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The sad truth is: You gotta live from something and from nothing comes nothing. I get the idea behind creating "modern music" to reach most people and making money through this ... and thats reality. If im honest: I would produce commercial stuff to (to make money) but never would I put my real name or whatever stamp on there. Art =/= Money