Music

January 17, 2023

batta - chase

Talk about good first impressions, holy shit. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's OPs have always enamored me just as much as the wonderfully impressive animations that are paired with them. It started with the bombastic and retrospective intro of Phantom Blood and then carried into Fighting Tendency with its bedazzling and retro-esque flashy colours and 3-dimensional choreographed scenes. The punchy animation of the Stardust Crusaders intro is nothing short of a brilliant introduction to the part that would change the rest of the series forever, and the quality only heightens from there! Admittedly, I stopped my obsessive binge near part 3. I was sixth grader with a small-ass head and I think I just got bored with it and the fear of any graphic shit that might have appeared in front of me. It's whatever! Nowadays, I don't watch anime like, at all. The only one I watched recently was Neon Genesis Evangelion, and it is easy to tell I was fucking obsessed with it (still am). Regardless, anime isn't something I'd willingly... participate in. Like, watch or anything like that. It's not my kind of thing, and I feel like for the most part I've grown out of JoJo's. I still find a lot of fun in it and there is clearly a lot of love that goes into it, but I don't know if I can devote so much time into watching it.

Oh, there I go again, trailing off. Here, I'll split the background information up into a separate paragraph and talk about the song in this paragraph. Right from the get go this song is bombastic and rowdy as hell and I LLLLOVE IT!! The overbearingly badass shredding of that electric guitar is everything. Oh, and the vocals fucking rock too! And so does the album art! And so does the KICK-ASS SOLO THAT STARTS AT, LIKE, 1:10 OR SOMETHING. IT IS FUCKING BLISS, but the kind of bliss that's not like, SAW II or anything. More like... the kind of bliss you get as you're throwing people into meat grinders or something.

Cool cat photo by the way.

December 30, 2022

Ex Aquis - Feral Devotion

I've always loved PURE LIFE since their Ambient Punk Vol. II compilation (you can likely see the inspiration on my logo), so I came into this expecting something on par with - or better than - what I had listened to previously. Upon listening to the first track alone I was quickly blown away. God-damn, first of all, it's an Evangelion-inspired compilation. Seeing as I just finished the entire series (original TV show, The End of Evangelion, the four Rebuilds), having this be released immediately after was nothing short of perfect and made me realise that I'm not the only stupid nerd in the world who likes the franchise. Upon first listen, ignoring the soundbite from that one scene where Shinji masturbates over Asuka's hospitalised body (really gross), I fell in love immediately. I've listened to some of these artists before, as most of them are on Ambient Punk. Ex Aquis is no different - he collaborated with CRYOSAUNA on BBPIB which is a brilliant song in and of itself - so I came in with really high expectations, and they were immediately met. The indistinct vocal chops and bassy overlapping synths compliment each other so well and make the first minutes of the album alone already incredibly alluring. Admittedly, I bought this album without even listening to it; I usually don't buy on impulse, but my expectations were THAT high for the contents of the compilation. It was a wise purchase. A stellar way to kick off a brilliant little followup to a previous album I haven't listened to yet, but intend to...!

December 27, 2022

MGMT - When You Die

Maybe it's the resounding confidence he tells the devotee to "go fuck yourself" with. Maybe it's the weirdly serene but also trippy and cacophonous strings. Maybe it's the unintentional(?) hilarity in him saying he's MEAN, and he's EVIL. Maybe it's the weird laughter that plays after GETTING SHOT IN THE HEAD WITH A GUN. This song is such an enigma to me. I've known about MGMT for a while now, before all the Little Dark Ages. Yes, I was quite fond of the few singles that brought them critical acclaim when I was a youngster. I still am very fond of those old tracks! The only thing that's changed is Kids terrifies me to a much lesser degree nowadays. I still don't have the guts to watch the music video for it, though, mainly because I'm preoccupied with listening to the music in the background, on loop, constantly, until I get bored or annoyed. No, really, you should see my last.fm feed. It is a NIGHTMARE.

December 25, 2022

Interpol - PDA

Merry Christmas, you magnificent bastards. Here's a song that I've actually known and enjoyed for a long time; about a year, I think. As such, I have a lot more "nostalgia" for it. Not heavy nostalgia, but I still have some memories associated with it. I won't let that taint this review, though. In fact, I'm quite lazy today! I'll be quick. The song begins. Paul Banks starts talking about how yours is the only version of his desertion that he could ever subscribe to. I think that the way this song starts could not be any better. Beyond the drums, it begins with a guitar chord that isn't sad or anything. It's moreso really serious and disdainful. And the vocals that kick in later complement it greatly. For a brief moment the tonality of his voice doesn't change while the chords in the background do change, creating a really nice effect of almost-conflicting notes that feels like it should sound wrong, but it actually sounds fantastic. I should also direct attention to this song's music video. Something about it... the constant vignette, the way the characters are 2D in 3D environment and move quickly and erratically, it just goes perfectly with the song in a way no other music video really does. I remember disputing the lyrics on a Genius page for the first verse. He says "I'm raking all around me," but apparently according to Genius it's "raping all around me." Like... doy??? Apparently, the Japanese lyric booklet said "RAPING," therefore it has to be that (even though Banks clearly makes a K sound)! Whatever. I think this song evokes a complicated emotion that is a weird mix between positive and negative and is nothing short of sublime. As with most of Interpol's songs, I have absolutely no idea what the fuck the lyrics mean.

December 24, 2022

Aphex Twin - Cliffs

Wow! It's Richard D. James! Of course this gets a spot. In fact, this got a spot as the OFFICIAL theme of Christmas Eve! May your winters be filled with existential dread and may your presents be filled with drum machines. Except, in this track, there aren't any. I love Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. II because of how much it deviates – to this day, even – from the work he usually does. It's a testament to his great variety when he can release a metal-as-hell gut-crushing soul-grating song like Come To Daddy (Pappy Mix), and an eerie, nigh-drumless soundscape like Cliffs. The album's music spans from calm, resonant, and melancholy soft chords to Hell, and for the first track on the album, it does a great job introducing you to what you're getting into. It's a mix of the isolation a track like Stone In Focus gives off, along with the eeriness and paranoia of Trees. Like many other tracks, it's a simple chord progression looped constantly, but it's layered with unnerving vocal chops that sound so strange they elicit a practically indescribable emotion. Ah-ah-ya-ah-ya-ah-ya-ah-ya-ah is repeated at least fifty times throughout the track and yet the strange feeling the sample gives never quite wears off. It is such a beautiful track and a perfect opening to one of the most stunning and genius albums of all time.

December 23, 2022

The Tuss - Rushup I Bank 12

Just like the last time, last.fm gave this to me. I got to it a bit differently; instead of using the list they give you on the homepage I just asked the website to give me a playlist of my recommendations. It's not very common I fall in love with a song immediately. In fact, with most songs I come to adore, I tend to really dislike them at first. I believe that to be a mark of a good song. Pop songs are good at first but then grow annoying after a short time. I'd like to think that better songs have the opposite effect. Surprisingly, though, this was an edge case. I loved it immediately, and chose it as the song of the day only a few minutes after hearing it at 11PM. I've always been fond of Richard's work from his distant ambient soundscapes to his grating percussion-laden electronic hellscapes (Cliffs and Come to Daddy (Pappy Mix), for example). But something about this just sounds much more approachable. A problem I always have with braindance is that listening to a new song can really be a mixed bag as the chances of you liking the song immediately or after some time is practically unpredictable. I think the mark of a good braindance song, then, is if someone with a lot of dabbling in the genre can immediately appreciate it upon first listen. Even other artists like Autechre and Boards of Canada still rubbed me the wrong way upon first listen to some of their tracks. I did eventually learn to like them, but it took some time. Am I a true fan? Or am I a phony??

December 22, 2022

SebastiAn - Kindercut

Wow! It's French house! Of course this got a spot. In fact, this got a spot as the first song of the day ever. The main appeal from this song, to me, comes from its simplicity. The one sample – taken from Wild Cherry's Are You Boogieing Around On Your Daddy – is repeated almost ad nauseam. It balances itself out, though. Other various instruments chime in and out at various parts throughout the song, so it never really grows to annoy you. Besides, the sample is perfect for this combination of instruments, I think. It kind of evokes a sense of nostalgia within me, and I have no idea why. It might be the subtle melodic "chimes" in various repetitions of the main sample throughout the song. Regardless, this sounds like something I've definitely heard before, and if it weren't for the cover art I'd be glad to show it to my parents. But they're all Christian.