Bangarang Review

BANGARANG

Skrillex
2011

Big Beat, Atlantic

Prod. by Skrillex et. al

See, this is why genre classifications suck. There are too many arguments as to what kind of music Skrillex puts out; while most people say that Skrillex is dubstep, dubstep purists will tell you that he’s either making “brostep” (a subgenre that seems to have been invented simply to define Skrillex and musicians inspired by Skrillex) or he’s just making house music. And, if I were trying to classify Skrillex’s newest EP, I’d be hard-pressed to actually tell you what Skrillex’s genre identity would be, and a track-by-track breakdown seems to be the only fitting way to write about the EP.

Skrillex’s Bangarang does not open strong; its first track, “Right In”, is a tragically standard wobble-bass affair, and while fans of the genre will still probably enjoy it, the song is not recruiting material. The track “Bangarang” (ft. Sirah) luckily picks things up with an excellent hook and set of vocal samples. Both tracks features vocal snippets throughout. These two songs, along with most of what’s available here, are certainly a bit different from his previous material, but not innovative in terms of the genre.

The writing collaborations are certainly of importance, and the first is with the absolutely legendary band The Doors. Shockingly, The Doors’ influence really does come through on multiple sections of “Breakn’ A Sweat,” but it would have been nice to not hear the words “Come on, baby, light my fire” in the song. In fact, it would’ve been nice to hear almost no traces of the stoner jam at all. Fans of The Doors will find themselves mostly disappointed in the track, as the song takes its cues from songs like “Light My Fire” and “Riders On The Storm.” A dance remix of these slower, more meditative songs goes against everything that makes those songs enjoyable. The Doors influences here just don’t work, and a heavier lean towards party songs like “Break On Through” and “Love Her Madly” would make a whole lot more sense. As it is, the track feels like one of the less interesting “YouTube dubstep remixes” of rock classics.

Thankfully, “The Devil’s Den”, a collaboration between Skrillex and Wolfgang Gartner, practically swoops in and saves the album, a high-energy video game party that this album desperately needed. The chiptune elements are reminiscent of the best stuff from the Street Fighter II and early PlayStation days, and they work fantastically with some thudding bass thrown under them. Skrillex is suddenly willing to let the energy tone down without having a gimmicky interview (“Breakn’ A Sweat”) and even comes up with some new patterns for his particular brand of wobble-bass and high-pitched electrical whines. If nothing else, it’s a supremely attractive song, and the first song you should probably hear from this album.

The next track and final writing collaboration on the album, “Right On Time,” is only notable for its all-too-short breakdown, a jumpy robot-freak out surrounded by incredibly repetitive club music and vocal samples. It’s not a very interesting track. The next track, “Kyoto”, invokes the return of rapper Sirah, opening with goofy “oriental” synthline that fails to impress. While Skrillex does respond to Sirah’s demand, “Yo, Skrill, drop it hard,” the track eventually turns into a heavy-metal inspired rap track (down to the shitty power chords.) This might be more interesting if Sirah’s verse was especially interesting, but it isn’t. Skip both of these songs.

Fans of the breakthrough single “Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites” will finally have something to enjoy in “The Summit”, a song featuring Ellie Goulding that takes on a similar electronica journey. It’s very pretty, it’s meditative, and it’s shockingly balladeering for Skrillex, never turning to wobble-bass or extremely high-pitched synth. The vocal fragments are reminiscent of the sort DJ Earworm will place in his year-end United States of Pop mash-ups, and the laid-back music is certainly more reminiscent of Earworm’s work than most of Skrillex’s stuff. I’m a big fan of Earworm’s work, and maybe it’s because I’ve felt that Earworm’s stuff has fallen off in quality over the last year, but I feel like I got something pretty wonderful out of “The Summit.”

It’s unfortunate, really. When Skrillex is doing what I might expect him to do on Bangarang, it consistently fails to be interesting. But when he turns towards chiptunes and ballads, I see the musician who caught my attention with his “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” EP who knows how to innovate and write some really classic music. iTunes and Spotify both feature orchestral suites of Skrillex’s older material, and it becomes evident that the man is definitely capable of producing some really brilliant and stirring music, and that certainly shows in the album’s best track. While something good can still definitely come out of Skrillex working within his usual confines in a song like “The Devil’s Den,” the magic definitely hits less often than it should, and this album will too often leave you wondering why you liked Skrillex in the first place.

2/5

HIGHLIGHTS: “The Devil’s Den” w/ Wolfgang Gartner, “The Summit” (ft. Ellie Goulding)

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: “Breakn’ A Sweat”, “Right On Time”

CATALOG CHOICE: Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites EP

NEXT STOP: DJ Earworm, “United States of Pop 2008-2011”

AFTER THAT: Susumu Hirawasa, “Paprika OST”

Superpunk Review

SUPERPUNK
Landscapers
2012
Mindtech Recordings

Electronica, trance, techno, drum and bass, dubstep, brostep, WHAT EVER, man. The people who categorize dubstep have almost become as over-technical as the people who categorize metal and punk, and I will not be a part of it. Basically, if the music is mostly produced with synthesized instruments, I will be calling it "electronica." Also, "trance" will mean a style of song, not a type of music.

With that out of the way, Landscapers' recent EP, Superpunk, is easily some of the most aggressive, bass-heavy electronica I've heard in some time. Each song finds itself winding deeply into completely madcap wobble-bass and non-dance rhythms, with pounding beats that'll make your subwoofer sob. If nothing else, Superpunk will find its way into my "bass-testing" playlist, reserved for trying out new speaker systems and headphones.

Of course, if Superpunk were just fat bass and nothing more, I wouldn't be writing about it. The EP manages to stuff rather distinct styles into its four tracks. "Arachnoise", the opening track (and the one that led me to investigate Landscapers in the first place) works off of an epic-scale orchestra, the sort you might hear in a goofy fantasy movie or a church in a Castlevania game, as well as a synth-line reminiscent of the early chiptunes. "Arachnoise" is not to be missed, even if it does not sell you on the rest of the album.

The other three songs are also pretty awesome, though. "So Magical" combines Landscapers' aggression with synthesized Vocaloid voice clips and a more traditional Euro-pop lead vocal hook, and attains a rather different tone from "Arachnoise." Your mileage may vary on the style it's playing with, but I have a lot of fun with the track. The eponymous "Superpunk" is perhaps the least exciting track on the album, as it combines hip-hop sensibilities with pretty traditional bass-heavy electronica sensibilities. It's less energetic than all the other songs, and while it's fine, it's also the least energetic track of the bunch. "Superpunk" also feels safer and less experimental than the rest. "Battle Axe" returns to the EP's video-game roots, but the focus here is more on the kind of power metal that Castlevania is more infamous for, and it's a return to the super-fun energy the rest of the EP carries.

It's hard to knock an EP with three good songs (especially when two of those are great), especially when "Superpunk" is not bad at all. I doubt the Superpunk EP will remain Landscapers' most interesting work, but for now, it serves as an exciting introduction to a group that only have a few EPs out. Give it a shot.

4/5

HIGHLIGHTS: "Arachnoise", "Battle Axe"

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: "Superpunk"

NEXT STOP: "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites", Skrillex

AFTER THAT: "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night", Michiru Yamane