Fanu – Departure

December 2, 2013 • Lightless

Fanu has a very special place in my heart; his debut double-album Daylightless was the thing that helped electronic music finally click with me in the first place. This is his fourth "real" album, and I'm happy to say that even after listening to every one of those four albums, Departure is still as awesome and fun as Daylightless was when I first heard it.

Okay, so maybe at first it's not too different from a lot of modern drum and bass. "Drumsö Fuzz" is as standard as you can get: Amen-beat-based breaks, ambient atmosphere, dull throbbing basslines... it's nothing we haven't heard before. But the way Fanu puts his tracks together really resonates well with me. Maybe it's the slight melancholy edge from the vocal samples or occasional strings or soft keys, or the light ambient droning, but there's always something there to keep the beats very energetic and lively and interesting.

But it doesn't end there, either, for Departure isn't just drum and bass. There are a lot of new influences peeking out here and there which give the album a very unique style, and I love how it's done. You'll hear bits of instrumental hip hop, maybe a little ragga jungle or downtempo. And even with all that different stuff going on, Departure still manages to keep a lot of consistency. Okay, so "Hop And Bass" does sound pretty out-of-place with is east coast hip hop beat, as does "Ranch Dance" with its weird southern flair, but they're both cool tracks anyway, so I'll let it slide.

I'd still say Daylightless might be the superior album, but Departure definitely has a lot going for it that absolutely makes it worth listening to for anyone with even a mild inclination to drum and bass. I'm still having difficulty really getting into a lot of electronic music, but Fanu has helped immensely and this is an album I could really get into and put quite a few listens of under my belt.

Technical Itch – The Machine Mind EP

January 28, 2013 • Tech Itch Recordings

I've only previously heard a few releases by Technical Itch and don't know much about the producer, although I did know he is very prolific and it wasn't too surprising that a new EP by him would crop up as one of the first releases of 2013 I'd hear. I'm nothing of an expert on this sort of music, but it's been a while since I heard some darkstep since I discovered it about a year ago. It seems not much has changed.

As far as darkstep goes, The Machine Mind EP seems typical: hard-hitting and quite fast drum 'n' bass percussion, and plenty of creepy stuff going on in the background (voice samples, violin synths, ambient rumblings, and the like). Nothing particularly new, but it's not bad, either. The tracks have a tendency to drag on, though, all of them being between six and eight minutes long. Occasionally they'll shift things up a bit to justify the runtime, but not often. "No Longer Human" definitely does, though, with its vocals and a slightly dancier and more diverse sound, making the track pretty refreshing—probably the best song on the EP.

Overall, I like it, but again it's standard Technical Itch; fans won't be disappointed, of course, but if you're holding out for something really new and interesting I'd wait a bit longer.

6

Somatic Responses – Digital Darkness

February 8, 2008 • Hymen Records

Another foray into the deep, dark world of crazy electronic music: it's time for Somatic Responses, some sort of screaming electronic death machine that stabs my brain in the just the right spots. Okay, it's not a perfect brilliant album, but it's still the sort of dark dissonance I like.

Digital Darkness puts forth a style of music that (to me, so far) is pretty unique: it's incredibly heavy, and often incredibly complex, with beats that stagger madly back and forth between dark drum and bass to pounding power noise to breakcore and back again. It's difficult to call it a drum and bass album at all sometimes, as the music can get very dense and amelodic, but during other passages the beats can get quite danceable and awesome, and there is even a quiet breather track in "Neu". There are a lot of unique samples, drum kits, synth voices, and such going on, so the sound is pretty diverse from start to finish, although the consistently creepy-chaotic mood ties everything together quite nicely.

But of course, like too many electronic albums I've heard, it gets a bit too big for its britches and by the time the last couple of tracks roll around I've usually gotten tired of it. The fact that my ears have been mercilessly pounded for over an hour doesn't help things much, but at the same time I doubt that at-work-with-headphones is the ideal listening environment for this sort of music instead of some tweeked-out industrial club or something. (I don't go to clubs, okay?)

To be honest I'm a bit surprised that this album has received as much of a negative response as it has—aside from its length, I can't really find anything in it to complain about. Then again, perhaps it's grown on me; I have been listening to it quite a bit, and it already goes along nicely with all the other deranged electronic music I like. So take that as you will.

6

竹間淳 – Bomberman Hero

June 1, 1998 • NTT Publishing

While Tetrisphere may have been one of the two first console games I owned, its companion Bomberman Hero was much more memorable to me. Its platforming-adventure style not only helped cement my later taste for N64 games, but its music was also enthralling to me at the time. And it's still quite a good listen, too; it may be more kid-friendly than your run-of-the-mill gritty, hardcore drum and bass, but there's a lot of good electronic music here which not only accompanied the game well but stands on its own as a great album.

While admittedly most of the music has a slightly campy, cheesy feel to it, I don't see that as a bad thing—the catchy little melodies are great ("Redial" for a good early example, not to mention "Zip"'s lovely marimba) and the soundtrack has a very fun feeling to it throughout, even on the darker tracks ("darker" isn't saying a whole lot). The cheesiness is also often undermined by some complex drum lines, gritty atmosphere, noisy background sounds, and synthy glitches, which contrast the upbeatness pretty well—while it may be music for a kids' game, it's definitely not amateurly-composed.

Like many game soundtracks, this one has a lot of styles thrown in it; most tracks are drum and bass oriented but there's a fair bit of minimal / atmospheric house and techno as well—even a touch of jazz. The album still holds together well and has a fairly unified sound, even though—as with a lot of game music, many of the tracks here are slightly themed. There are obvious water-level tracks, factory-level tracks, etc., and while the theming is done effectively in-game, on the album everything still meshes together well enough. It's fairly impressive. And, of course, sticking around until the final track "Loom" is a good idea: it's a more ambient / Japanese folk fusion track, which never appeared in the game and feels a bit out of place but is still pretty neat (and quite beautiful).

So while my appreciation for Bomberman Hero's great music can probably be attributed to fond memories of countless hours spent blowing up polygons back in the day, the soundtrack still holds up in my eyes as a great showcase of different electronic styles and a testament to composer Jun Chikuma's talent. While the game may not appeal to many people (and it's lost a bit of its charm for me too) the music is definitely worth a listen.

7

DJ Hidden – The Later After

March 6, 2007 • Ad Noiseam

After my recent good experiences with darkstep and finding that it's a genre I enjoy, I've been trying to explore it a bit more and see what else it has to offer. A bit of exploration led me to DJ Hidden's debut album The Later After, and for being a very impromptu listen I was pleasantly surprised.

As with the Black Sun Empire I recently reviewed, one of The Later After's strongest points is its atmospherics: bits of dark ambient, buzzing drones, shimmering highs, and spoken word samples that permeate the music. I really like it; it helps make the album pretty spooky and sometimes industrial-sounding. The beats and drumlines themselves, though, should not go without mention. They are some of the best I've heard in recent memory. They alternate between being just barely there and being incredibly heavy, which fits the atmosphere well and is really effective at emphasizing dynamics. They're also pretty danceable (at least, that's what I'm guessing; I didn't actually dance to them).

Interestingly, though, DJ Hidden has managed to put together a sound that works well with pretty much nothing else. It's mostly drums and ambience—very little melody, and not much bass either. When there is a melody, though, it's always very deliberate and purposeful (see "Here Lies the Confusion"). The consequence of this is that the music feels very sparse (yet, again, I think that's the point, as it's supposed to feel creepy and atmospheric). Also, I already listen to a lot of electronic music that's very rhythm-based (and hip hop) so it's not too alien to me, while I can expect some people to be turned off by something like this. And amazingly enough, despite the style of this album being pretty consistent throughout, I don't really feel like it ever gets very repetitive. Even each track, which may only have one or two different beats to it, is still combined effectively with the atmosphere and has plenty of dynamics to keep things interesting.

I'm really glad I found this album; it's very much right up my alley in terms of style with the noise and ambience. I might concede that it's not the ideal DnB album, as there is such a heavy focus on the drums and not as much buzzsaw bass as I like, but that's okay. It's still a really good listen; recommended, as long as you know what you're getting into.

7

Black Sun Empire – Cruel & Unusual

December 13, 2005 • Black Sun Empire Recordings

A lot of the time I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark when it comes to electronic music; despite listening to it off and on for quite a long time now I still don't always grasp different sounds or concepts and a lot of things still feel very alien to me. I suppose such things happen when coming from a very rock-oriented background like I have. Yet somehow I have managed to find a lot of comfort in drum and bass music, especially the harder and darker stuff, which is probably why I enjoy stuff like Black Sun Empire quite a bit. I barely know what the term "darkstep" means yet, but if this album is a typical of the style then I know what I can more easily get into.

Like I said, I enjoy the dark stuff, and Cruel and Unusual brings it. There is a lot of dark ambient influence going on in the background which provides a nice atmospheric layer underneath some pretty interesting and often complex beats. Surprisingly (to me) there are a lot of interesting changes throughout each track and some nice diversity throughout the album to keep it interesting—the guest producers probably help out with this—and, basically, it's pretty difficult to get bored listening to this album (it might happen if you're listening carefully, but this isn't the kind of music to do that). The drum lines, while often sticking pretty closely to typical dance/rave patterns, can sometimes get nicely frantic and fun to listen to. The synths often shine as well with some fast arpeggiating melodies and hard rhythms which complement the drum patterns really nicely.

I am a bit disappointed by the inclusion of the second track, a remix by Optiv, which isn't nearly as good as the rest of the album: it's a bit too repetitive and poorly-mixed (maybe it's my headphones, though, who knows), and breaks the flow and mood set up by the first track. On the other hand, the remixes near the end of the album are great—being done by Black Sun Empire they sound just like the rest of the album and fit in very well. The version of the album I have doesn't include the second disc of pure remixes, but I'm okay with that if the Optiv remix on the first disc is indicative of the quality of the rest of them.

But Black Sun Empire's tracks are great, and this is a really enjoyable album. I'd guess that it's probably best suited for those less well-versed in drum and bass as there isn't anything particularly unique presented here and no particular standout tracks, so aficianados will probably be unimpressed with it, which I can understand. That doesn't make it any less enjoyable for me, though, and it's definitely recommended for anyone less familiar with this sort of music but still want something engaging to listen to.

7