Different Day

Album review

Despite recording dozens of singles during the few hours he's not behind the decks, DJ Icey's second production album is dreadfully undistinctive. Boasting unmissable hooks but only a spotty attempt at any level of subtlety, Different Day alternates a few of the usual genre workouts with the type of yearning trance-pop filler that's tailor-made for a Chevy commercial. Icey's productions aren't the biggest of his problems; usually they're solid enough, though his attempts at electro paranoia ("The Future," "A Little Louder") and breakbeat funk ("Freaks in the House") never rise above the norm. Problems become disasters, though, when his tracks are chained to the anonymous, stereotypical female vocalists heard here (especially the first two). Certifiably slick and undeniably tame, these are the types of tracks that only an advertising executive could love. Though it's difficult to say whether Icey could do better than this if he weren't aiming for pop hits, the results are what counts, and Different Day would've sounded dated in 1999, much less 2003.
© John Bush /TiVo