For whatever reason, these three reviews are too short to be their own blog entries.
Unsatisfied - Kansas City 7Up
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Kansas City 7Up is an internet-based musician and Youtube Pooper, who also goes by the name Dewmann. If you don't know him by now, you're missing out on some quality poopage, Goofstep 20-11X being a favourite of mine. Whether in his poops or in his music, you'll find two recurring themes: towering technical ability, and an affinity for the classics of both mediums (is poop a medium? Who cares?).
Speaking of the classics, if you like Pink Floyd, fantasy themes and jazz drumming, this is all for you. The Orangy-composed guitar of Old Ways is Waters as hell, tracks like Lemons and The Tale Of Father Jacob are love letters to old-school adventure game soundtracks, and Sequin Tent Of An Empress has some lovely brush-kit ride cymbals that are used to maximum atmospheric effect. Where Kansas elevates things is in his ability to shape his influences into a new, unique sound. Somewhere in his blend, the different flavours bleed into one another, building off of each other, with the end result being a sound that sounds like no-one else. End result? An album worth checking out. Satisfy your unsatisfied cravings here.
4/5
Best song: Old Ways
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Whiterock - Myst Mach
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Myst Mach is Iamoutofideas1, who you'll know if you've EVER BEEN TO POOP TALK IN YOUR LIFE. Recently he's been exploring the sounds of dubstep, which has culminated in this full-length album right here.
.
It's easily my favourite release from the guy so far. The song structures, the sounds, the songwriting are all the most solid I've heard from him yet. They don't stray far from his usual MO - dark, ominous bassy fuzzblankets of dub. However, dude's included a few songs that bring in a few new ideas: Hi consists primarily of one sparse Amen Break loop that's toyed with for about 3 minutes, but the more unlikely track is the plunderphonics-style messabout of Name Not Found (Fix). It's one of my favourites from here. For me, though, the best track is probably Hover. The title is ominous and inspired, and the song itself lives up to that. It feels like something huge is levitating above me while I'm listening to it. Red Light and Backstage Bordello have the same effect, but Hover works best for me.
.
Where it loses me a little is that the tracks are so long. I like Hover, but I can rarely make it through all 8 minutes. This is coming from yours truly, a man who can barely make a half-decent song over 3:00 long, mind. The length of these tracks implies that they were intended as background music, and they totally fit that purpose, but they're a bit long for iPod listening.
.
In terms of atmosphere, Myst Mach has improved on previous efforts here. Gritty sounds, smoother sounds, sampled sounds, punchy beats: it's a fairly solid body of dubwork. Find it here.
3.5/5
Best song: Hover
.
In Real Life - TryHardNinja
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"Find her a diamond
I found in Minecraft
And then she would give me all her love"
Hgngngnghhhgnnng.
If there was any one lyric that fully describes this album, it's the one above. In Real Life by TryHardNinja is an album that heavily draws inspiration from videogames in general (and One Direction, judging by the beats on this thing), and it sounds just as corny as you'd expect.
I didn't like this right from the concept. "Wouldn't it be great/if life was more like video games?" goes the chorus of the title track. How many times have you heard that sentiment? The sad part is, you could probably get some mileage out of the idea, but only if you reaaally plumbed the depths of the subject matter and got really creative with your lyrics, which TryHardNinja doesn't really do. Multiple times he compares his feelings about a girl to diamonds and creepers. Take Back The Night contains no cringeworthy videogame references, so by association it's the only song on here I like.
To be fair, it's not like he was going for supreme lyrical crafting or anything; the album was intended as nothing but a fun love letter about how fun video games are. That begs the question, though: what good is the song when you could just play some videogames instead? There's a reason I don't listen to Minecraft-themed music, and that's becauseit usually sucks if I wanted to appreciate Minecraft, I'd just play Minecraft. Which I do. But still, if you're so obsessed with videogames that you need even the music you listen to to be videogame-themed, I'd suggest you find a second hobby. Take up fishing. Get a gym membership. Take a cookery class. Anything to prevent your entire life from being centred solely around videogames.
Get Off My Block (featuring Captain Bloody Sparklez) is a Minecraft parody of what sounds like Birthday Cake by Rihanna, which automatically makes the song my least favourite on the album. Fuck Birthday Cake. A Whole World Made For Me is basically I'm Yours by Jason Mraz, note for note, which is lame too, but at least it isn't Birthday Cake.
I don't know. Maaaybe it's just harmless fun. Maybe I'm just being a hater or whatever. But to be honest, I'm getting sick of the dominance that the medium of videogames has over the internet and its culture. It just doesn't feel fucking healthy. There exist some fantastic independant musicians on the Net, producing some really quality shit - take Willowbeats, for example - that get overshadowed, again and again, by mediocre videogame-parody music. If you like Deadmau5-style EDM, you might get some mileage out of this thing, but I can't bear it.
1/5
Best song: Take Back The Night
Unsatisfied - Kansas City 7Up
Kansas City 7Up is an internet-based musician and Youtube Pooper, who also goes by the name Dewmann. If you don't know him by now, you're missing out on some quality poopage, Goofstep 20-11X being a favourite of mine. Whether in his poops or in his music, you'll find two recurring themes: towering technical ability, and an affinity for the classics of both mediums (is poop a medium? Who cares?).
Speaking of the classics, if you like Pink Floyd, fantasy themes and jazz drumming, this is all for you. The Orangy-composed guitar of Old Ways is Waters as hell, tracks like Lemons and The Tale Of Father Jacob are love letters to old-school adventure game soundtracks, and Sequin Tent Of An Empress has some lovely brush-kit ride cymbals that are used to maximum atmospheric effect. Where Kansas elevates things is in his ability to shape his influences into a new, unique sound. Somewhere in his blend, the different flavours bleed into one another, building off of each other, with the end result being a sound that sounds like no-one else. End result? An album worth checking out. Satisfy your unsatisfied cravings here.
4/5
Best song: Old Ways
.
Whiterock - Myst Mach
Myst Mach is Iamoutofideas1, who you'll know if you've EVER BEEN TO POOP TALK IN YOUR LIFE. Recently he's been exploring the sounds of dubstep, which has culminated in this full-length album right here.
.
It's easily my favourite release from the guy so far. The song structures, the sounds, the songwriting are all the most solid I've heard from him yet. They don't stray far from his usual MO - dark, ominous bassy fuzzblankets of dub. However, dude's included a few songs that bring in a few new ideas: Hi consists primarily of one sparse Amen Break loop that's toyed with for about 3 minutes, but the more unlikely track is the plunderphonics-style messabout of Name Not Found (Fix). It's one of my favourites from here. For me, though, the best track is probably Hover. The title is ominous and inspired, and the song itself lives up to that. It feels like something huge is levitating above me while I'm listening to it. Red Light and Backstage Bordello have the same effect, but Hover works best for me.
.
Where it loses me a little is that the tracks are so long. I like Hover, but I can rarely make it through all 8 minutes. This is coming from yours truly, a man who can barely make a half-decent song over 3:00 long, mind. The length of these tracks implies that they were intended as background music, and they totally fit that purpose, but they're a bit long for iPod listening.
.
In terms of atmosphere, Myst Mach has improved on previous efforts here. Gritty sounds, smoother sounds, sampled sounds, punchy beats: it's a fairly solid body of dubwork. Find it here.
3.5/5
Best song: Hover
.
In Real Life - TryHardNinja
"Find her a diamond
I found in Minecraft
And then she would give me all her love"
Hgngngnghhhgnnng.
If there was any one lyric that fully describes this album, it's the one above. In Real Life by TryHardNinja is an album that heavily draws inspiration from videogames in general (and One Direction, judging by the beats on this thing), and it sounds just as corny as you'd expect.
I didn't like this right from the concept. "Wouldn't it be great/if life was more like video games?" goes the chorus of the title track. How many times have you heard that sentiment? The sad part is, you could probably get some mileage out of the idea, but only if you reaaally plumbed the depths of the subject matter and got really creative with your lyrics, which TryHardNinja doesn't really do. Multiple times he compares his feelings about a girl to diamonds and creepers. Take Back The Night contains no cringeworthy videogame references, so by association it's the only song on here I like.
To be fair, it's not like he was going for supreme lyrical crafting or anything; the album was intended as nothing but a fun love letter about how fun video games are. That begs the question, though: what good is the song when you could just play some videogames instead? There's a reason I don't listen to Minecraft-themed music, and that's because
Get Off My Block (featuring Captain Bloody Sparklez) is a Minecraft parody of what sounds like Birthday Cake by Rihanna, which automatically makes the song my least favourite on the album. Fuck Birthday Cake. A Whole World Made For Me is basically I'm Yours by Jason Mraz, note for note, which is lame too, but at least it isn't Birthday Cake.
I don't know. Maaaybe it's just harmless fun. Maybe I'm just being a hater or whatever. But to be honest, I'm getting sick of the dominance that the medium of videogames has over the internet and its culture. It just doesn't feel fucking healthy. There exist some fantastic independant musicians on the Net, producing some really quality shit - take Willowbeats, for example - that get overshadowed, again and again, by mediocre videogame-parody music. If you like Deadmau5-style EDM, you might get some mileage out of this thing, but I can't bear it.
1/5
Best song: Take Back The Night