Win Win - Win Win

What do you end up with when a producer comes forward with a project of his own? History has shown that the results are mixed at best. James Blake proved that it is possible with the release of his first long player earlier this month and Kanye West has long established his solo career. But on the other end of the spectrum someone like Timbaland has failed to sufficiently expand his sound for a solo effort and even produced some of his worst work yet. And for someone like Diplo the the result was nuanced; on his solo album Florida he fell a bit  short of really adding much to the things he had already done for others but on his co-production with Swift (Major Lazer) he managed to step outside the box. The question arises again here, with the release of Win Win's self-titled debut. Win Win is Spank Rock producer XXXchange and Devlin, one of Spank Rock's tour dj's. So as far as credentials go, they're in the green.

And the album takes a promising start with cutting indie track 'Victim', propelled by a semi-raw, semi-hip guitar riff. But in the spirit of producers sometimes being somewhat unbalanced solo-artists, track number two is a bit of a swing-and-miss. ‘Future Again’ is a pretty standard dance track, nothing out of the ordinary. It just sounds a bit flat after the opening track. ‘Interleave’ shortly rekindles hope that things will get back on track. And ‘Releaserpm’ - a funky peace of world music meets electronics featuring Gang Gang Dance's Lizzie Bougatsos - can continue on that note. By the way: if one song deserved a spot on the album in remix format it probably should have been this one (check the video below, quite frankly not a single track on Win Win equals it, not even the original version). After those highlights the album takes a final turn for the worst.

There are definitely some good ideas on Win Win. Just not enough to fill an entire album. There are, however, plenty of regular ideas. Sure, optimists would say that that makes this a very eclectic piece of work. True, but it also means that it’s not always clear sound the duo is after exactly. And all too often they opt for the easy scenario instead of really trying to push the envelope, throwing in some store brand beats to avoid losing accessibility. As if every interesting idea needs to be compensated so as not to spook the mainstream crowd. With songs like ‘Releaserpm’ and ‘Interleave’ Win Win shows what it might have up its sleeve. But apart from those  rare memorable moments the two don’t show enough to really impress. Too little at least to determine whether the stronger songs are lucky shots or all the rest is the result of misplaced laziness.

1. Planet Playground
2. Victim (ft. Blaqstarr)
3. Future Again (Oakland) (ft. Angela Sarakan)
4. Mother Mary
5. Releasermp (ft. Lizzie Bougatsos)
6. Interleave (ft. Alexis Taylor)
7. Cada Buen Dia
8. Pop A Gumball (ft. Spank Rock, Andrew W.K. & Matt Sweeney)
9. Distorted Reality
10. Glen beck
11. Ghosts/Delirium
12. The Nature Of Transcendent Forces (ft. Douglas Armour)
13. Not Too Late
14. Not Too Late 2 (ft. Pixeltan)