Kobaya--Shiballizer

Starting his musical career at age 6, Nenad Petrovic has decades of experience under his belt. After dabbling in bass guitar and violin, Petrovic turned his attention to the electronic scene—producing and experimenting until 2004, when his first work “Rosa Salvahe” was released. From then on he has been releasing numerous EPs under the guise Kobaya, the latest being Shiballizer on Valentino Kanzyani’s Jesus Loved You record imprint.

The title track is a pop-dance-floor hit. Introducing the overall themes and melodies early, Petrovic then adds layer upon layer of bass beat, intermixing the general pace with rapturous spin-offs. Overall though, Shiballizer is a trance track that employs the same overall beat throughout its seven minutes. UnTitled is more pulled back and has a greater variety of bells and whistles accompanying the underlying bass beat. While the intricate effects and noise-makers give UnTitled a more interesting and dynamic feel than Shiballizer, the song never quite goes anywhere. Yes there are climaxes and shifts in the driving bass beat, but these happen too late and too infrequently for my liking, leaving the listener with minutes of the same beat.

Finally, Here Something This That (which is only available on the digital release of Shiballizer) drives faster than UnTitled. Together with an effect that sounds very similar to a barking dog, Petrovic switches up the general flow of the pounding beat so that it remains unique on the release, but still has trouble adding variety within the track. Shiballizer is the clear winner on the release that bears its name. While all three are trance-like electronic grooves, only Shiballizer really adds enough variety to justify its seven minute length. Still, Petrovic puts out some great grooves and more should be looked for from him, especially on the Jesus Loved You label.

(Published at 365Mag.com)