MICHNA
Magic Monday
GI73
Ghostly International 2008
12 Tracks. 47mins50secs

Adrian Michna spend part of his early years in New York, but it is his move to Miami and the party spirit that can be found there that fuelled his need to make music. Having cut his teeth as a DJ, Michna’s first noticeable foray into electronic music was as part of Secret Frequency Crew, who released the splendid Forest Of The Echo Downs four years ago.

Having now landed a place alongside the likes of Matthew Dear, Kiln and School Of Seven Bells on the eclectic Ghostly imprint, Michna delivers his first slice of solo goodness, splattered all over the forty-eight minutes of Magic Monday. Reflecting the highly colourful artwork, Michna’s music is at once playful and often unpredictable. Heavily drawing on hip-hop and its sub-genres, Michna creates complex little vignettes around groovy beats and infectious melodies, upon which he applies various levels of electronic treatments and samples. The result is a joyful patchwork of beats, grooves and sounds which seems to jump from one clever moment to the next with disarming insolence, as if this collage was the most natural thing in the world. And in the hands of Michna, it is. Thing is, he does it with quite a fair bit of class and a certain flair for rather grand melodic themes and sumptuous settings.

Of course, there are more of less obvious references to anything and anyone standing somewhere between Prefuse, Boom Bip, Flying Lotus and DJ Shadow, but this actually doesn’t play against Michna, in any way. As he distils his sounds, collating electronics, guitar textures and samples into his little instrumental urban tales, he manages to create a universe of his own, from the luxurious spreads of Believe In It, Bumper Car Masters or Do What You Want To Do to the more atmospheric Levitation, Redline Flights or Third Orbit and the groovy Swiss Glide, Italian Visitor or the slow funk of Skunk Walk.

Michna may look like he’s barely out of high school, but he’s gathered some fine influences over his formative years, and he put them to good use on his debut album. While not totally unique nor original, Magic Monday is nevertheless a rather clever and alluring record.

3.8/5

Michna (MySpace) | Ghostly International
Buy: CD | iTunes