Production (Mirwais Ahmadzaï album)

Production^[1] is the second album composed and produced by Mirwais Ahmadzai known under his artist name Mirwais. The album has been released through the French independent label Naive Records^[2] in April 21, 2000.

Background

It has taken two years, starting early 1998 and finishing December 1999, for Mirwais to complete the composing and production of his second album. Most tracks have been mixed in his personal studio in Paris. Mastering has been done at The Exchange,^[3] London, by Simon Davey, except "Disco Science", mastered by late Nilesh Patel.^[4]
"Naive Song"^[5] is likely to be one of the very first track ever, using the auto tune voice fx.^[6]

Critical reception

Production has been praised by music critics worldwide, including magazines like Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and NME ^[7][8]

Music Video

Several music videos were released for Production. "Disco Science" was directed by French photographer/artist Stéphane Sednaoui in 1999 and released the same year.^[9] Inspired by Nagima Oshima's film "In The Realm Of Senses" the explicit visual content doesn't allow the video to aired during the day on generalists TV network.
The second video, for "Naive Song", was directed by the photographer Jean Baptiste Mondino during 2000.^[10]
Stéphane Sednaoui directed another video for "I Can't Wait", which was released as the third single.^[11]

Mirwais Remixed

In the year 2008, Naive Records released Mirwais Remixed which was a remix album which came along with the original, including all singles remixed by different artists. Giorgio Moroder, Joey Negro, Dave Clark, Shakedown, Thin White Duke, Les Rythmes Digitales, Olav Basovsky were remixers who's contributed to consider "Production", as an classic electro Album today.

In Popular Culture

Almost all songs from Production have been used in movies, ads, music jingles.

• One of the most noticeable was the famous "chase"'s cult scene, in Snatch^[12] Guy Ritchie's movie which use Disco Science as background music.^[13]
• Apple used "Naive Song" for TV and Movie commercials for the launch of the Ibook in 2001.^[14]
• McDonald has used the song for their 2002's commercial's campaign.^[15]
• Carolina Herrera has used "Never Young Again" for the launch of their Fragrance "Chic".(2001)^[16]

Track listing

1. "Disco Science"
2. "Naive Song"
3. "V.I. (The Last Words She Said Before Leaving)"
4. "I Can't Wait"
5. "Junkie's Prayer"
6. "Definitive Beat"
7. "Paradise (Not For Me)" featuring Madonna
8. "Never Young Again"
9. "Involution"

The album also has a Deluxe Version, wherein disc 2 contains "Disco Science / Electrobreak Remix", a fast-paced 8:20-long track based on "Disco Science", but very well holding its own as a separate piece of music. Compared to "Disco Science, "Electrobreak Remix" is relatively rare.

Personnel

• Mirwais Ahmadzai : Programming, Keyboards, Guitars, Bass, Vocals
• Madonna: Vocals on "Paradise (Not For Me)"
• Doubleté: Scratch on "Never Young Again" and "Definitive Beat"
• Cyril Morin

References