Wheat So Fuck?

nftgu:

For this week’s music review, I wanted to continue along the “You probably have never heard shit like this” thing that I started with last week. For those not playing the home game, I discussed http://pixeltank.tumblr.com/post/10057177422/cosmic-negation-pixeltank and my enjoyment of the ethereal, almost ambient chiptuney dubstep that the new album is filled with. This new artist, 23, is a guy that used to be out of Baltimore, but now hangs out around New York State, and yours truly is figuring out if he knows any promoters that are looking for bass that doesn’t quit. In lieu of purchasing a full album per se, I dropped for a new single, and a 4-track EP, that frankly sounds like a whole lot of ridiculous. 

The single an “Orchestral Dubstyle Extravaganza” based on Arkasia’s “New World Disorder,” is kind of hard to describe. Most people can’t deal with Dubstep, and of those who can, Hardstyle doesn’t usually even approach their acceptable genres of music. Frankly, even for someone like myself who doesn’t mind an obnoxious amount of bpm and bass, Hardstyle is really hard to listen to for a long period of time. I can do about 10-20min live, and about an hour max when it comes to an mp3 mix of it. And that’s if it’s mixed well. Most of it is very…very monotonous, but occasionally, there’s an epic trancey break that actually does the 4minute build justice. That is the part that I listen for, and the rest is just kind of filler, and me hoping someone sampled something cute.

This track…is just massive. http://www.beatport.com/release/new-world-disorder-remixes/404173 It’s a combination of triumphant hardstyle and some pretty glitchy dubstep drops. The song really kind of messes with you when it comes to the nuance that accompanies genres of music that usually use brushstrokes the size of buckets of paint. I had no concept you could put these two together and do anything but hate the world while hearing the product. The track is essentially what Optimus Prime sounds like when he gains the powers Cosmic (obscure Marvel Comics reference, sorry). To summarize, Peace is the Right of every Sentient Being, to quoth Mr. Prime.

The EP, named Discordia http://soundcloud.com/23e/sets/discordia-ep-august-2nd/, starts with a rather absurd dubstep remix of the Lavendar Town from Pokemon. Yes, I’m not kidding. It’s ghost pokemon music and wobble. Like, machine-gun heavy wobble at times. It’s massive, and does have his signature chromatic chord progressions, spinning up and down the scale while the sub wubs around as its supposed to. The obligatory Pokemon quotes/samples are well used and the Pikachu, Brock and Team Rocket samples are particularly effective. They don’t take away, and definitely are sparingly used, which says a lot about the restraint of the producer. 

“The Fall” is straight up dubstep, almost dubstep on hydraulics. The opening massive wobble is shake your desk big, and the extra chords in and around it through to about 2 minutes provide a nice little palette of sounds for the bass to butt up against. It’s as if someone gave him a challenge to turn an air horn into a dubstep song that didn’t suck, when 23 and a friend were listening to some shit big room techno that involved an air horn and a siren. This is essentially one of a handful of tracks who prove their worth with sounds that just push into your attention. Not a whole lot of variation or complexity because, I’m too busy sitting there amazed that I’m liking what I’m hearing, considering what it sounds like. Also, massive track for any and all dance floors. This on a legit NYC dance floor with wattage of sound in the 4-5 digit range would be severely awesome. 

“Purge” is a completely different track. The only way it could be more different than The Fall was if it was plated on a lute of some sort. I am very wary of individuals who think they can get away with attempting psytrance. Modern psychedelic dance music and trance has a ridiculous ceiling for production value and composition. Dubstep in the US, has not really approached the complexity of a Simon Posford or Juno Reactor soundscape. You can get away with a bit more cross-training if you are working with psytrance. 

This seems not to matter when it comes to Purge. The track is a seamless combination of Dubstep and Psytrance. The basslines mesh deliciously, and 23’s continued predilection for chordy dubstep dovetails beautifully for the psytrance progressions. All in all, it signals a very interesting potential direction for both psy and progressive trance. The breakout at 2:30 is fantastic, and really leaves all the dubsteppy bass in the dust while it plays around in the realm of Israeli Psy. But, it’s not gone, just resting while you dance around. It comes back in and the song continues on in a lovely duet. Frankly, my girlfriend found this track and could not get the crap over it. And after listening to it more than once, I cannot help but to agree.  http://soundcloud.com/23e/psytrance-dubstep-23-purge-out/

Shamisen Rock, the (sadly) last track on the EP, has an almost Pendulumy intro to it. That kind of synthy Drum and Bass always gets points in my book, especially Propane Nightmares era Pendulum. It then becomes crunchy as fuck. Like, death metal crunchy. But with synth lines, not even wobble. The crunch and synth just kind of keep grinding in on it. The vocal tweaking solidifies the album as harshly beautiful. Almost in a glitchy geisha girl kind of way. The drop of the grind is fantastic, again proving the knowledge base of the producer.  The glitch and grind drops back in and all of a sudden, the basic melody becomes apparent in it, and additional Mind = Blown type shit. Again, a good round out to a short EP.

If you’re reading this, perhaps send me a message or a question involving what type of music you’d like reviewed/purchased next, or things I’ve probably already bought. Also, comments on the level of or need of snark or silliness. 

http://soundcloud.com/23e
https://www.facebook.com/SoundsLike23
http://twitter.com/#!/23music
http://whatsofuck.tumblr.com/ 

 

Fun Fact about the “Airhorn” in The Fall.  It is actually a micro-looped sample of a squeaky chair that I tuned into an instrument (digitally). The challenge was well yeah, to make a song revolved around it not suck :P  The original title was “Chairstep” haha.  If you look in my past posts you’ll hear samples of it in the making…