Review of Smash's musicdisk
"There Goes the Neighbourhood"
If you didn't notice, Smash is back. As a great fan of Smash's music, I felt really excited about this disk, and I can't say I was disappointed. You can't ask for better quality tracking than this. You just can't! One thing that made me even more excited was the interface that came with the disk, featuring graphics by some of the most talented graphicians the scene has to offer at the moment.
Looking at the different tracks in no particular order...
Away From Home
Pretty funky song, which I think is "just" a bonus track. What this song reminds me the most of is the awesome soundtrack to the game Bubba 'n Stix. In fact it reminds me a lot of it. Don't know, but there might be some Martin Iveson influences in this one. Rather short song as well. Below two minutes.
At first I thought I didn't like this one. But when I discovered I was humming this song while working and even singing the chorus out loud (without noticing it myself), I realised this was one of my favourite tracks of the disk. I guess this song needs some time to sink into your head. It sounds a bit chaotic the first times you hear it, but after a few times you'll sort it all out and start to enjoy the song (at least I did). Funky as hell and features some "analogue-synth-fx", such as those heavily underrated "synth-tom tom's" from the early 70's... hehe. Inspired by the cheesy sci-fi movies of the 60's and 70's, is what Smash writes in one of the info-files to the disk. I'm not too familiar with these movies, though I'm a great film-consumer, but it definitely sounds cheesy and late 60's. Like it, love it! Probably pretty much because of the lyrics in the chorus.
[GFX by Orome. Picture of a girl in some kind of sci-fi outfit. I can't help but thinking about Trillian in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.]
When I Died for the 7th Time
Weird title, and also a pretty weird tune. It doesn't have a "running" theme, a specific melody or however you'd like to put it. Still, the skill of Smash can't be denied in this one. The way the brass-samples are treated in this one is really cool, and gives the song a heavy/serious undertone. Taking a look at the track in FT2 you'll realise that the song actually doesn't "lack" structure, which it perhaps sometimes can give the impression to do. Perhaps not the strongest song on the disk, but it surely finds it's own place. I can quite clearly see some stoned afro-dudes dancing to this one... no problem at all. [GFX by Flood. Naked girl, but she's "hiding" all of the nasty stuff with her arms and legs. She looks a little sweaty, because there's a lot of light reflecting in her skin.]
Dwayne
Bonus track. Chip-cover of the song Dwayne from Day of the Tentacle. I don't know this song, as I never played Day of the Tentacle that much (which is pretty strange as I've played all the other LucasArts games a million times). I recognised the samples as Loonies, which they were. In fact I think they're from Loonies chip-song Gary & Denise (am not quite sure though). What can I say? It's a jolly chip-song, and no one can possible hate a jolly chip song... or?
End theme
Oh yea. Makke, just go ahead and review the end theme in the middle of the article. Very nice. Chip-doskpop that'll make you cry for more. Hehe. To be honest I've listened to almost too much Lizardking, and have become a bit tired of songs that sound like this, or are in this style. But I can't do anything else than love doskpop. I mean, even though you've tired of the taste of hotdogs you still eat it every chance you get... right? In my case, that's me with doskpop.
The title is the right one for this one. If it was a band playing you could see them jamming like crazy, only stopping for a few seconds in the breaks, then jamming away once again. This is - to my ears - raw, aggressive funk. Smash says that "quite intricate rhythm parts make up for the shortage of melody." I don't quite agree. In my opinion there's not a shortage of melody. The whole session is one big melody, which kind of makes it hard to make out any special "theme" in the song. The whole song is a compact melody with nothing sticking out, except for the brass-parts, and when the flute comes in and rips up a solo. This song almost sounds "angry" at something, as it hits you hard and keeps hitting till the very end. Though the aggressive part doesn't begin earlier than the scratch, but that's only approx. 20 seconds into the song. [GFX by Argus/Theralite. Not very "artistic" picture, but effective. Just the roof of a cab (?) and a picture of a bridge which are bouncing back and forth to the music. Fits the song 100%.]
Fudge
Yet another bonus-track. I actually think this one is boring. It's made from drums that play a monotonous beat, some strings that changes in various sad chords, an organ to play the melody and a electric piano, or something similar to play the accompaniment. It sounds like the music you'd hear in the background of a movie when a burglar is tip-toeing through a dark house to reach the jewels, and it would fit very well to just that. But not to listen to only because it then becomes boring.
Floating on Garbage
Very special song, I'd like to call the sound ethnic... haha... nah, just kidding. In fact that's exactly what Smash doesn't want us to call it, and he's right. It's not as ethnic as other trackers would make this track. The only ethnic part of the song is the jungle-like bongosih drums that continue throughout the whole song. Well, of course there's the "jungle-sound" and the didgeridoo which also could make you want to call it ethnic, but the main part of the song is more towards jazz. Acid jazz that is. The song is very relaxing at the same time as it carries a "tension". Ooooh. And I just love that didgeridoo. [GFX by Inferno. Pretty nice fantasy inspired picture with a, more or less naked girl. She looks a little out of proportion in the face...]
Here Come da Law
"Cheesy-ass brass and latino percussion" is Smash's own words. And yes, it is cheesy-ass brass and latino percussion. Just like a true police-theme should be according to me. Though it doesn't sound very 90's. No, we're still in the 70's. The decade of the funky cops, and the jamming bad-guys. I've got to let you in on this. The bass-line. It's just perfect for this song. And the trumpet solo isn't bad either. There's also an analogue synth just "marking" some chords which makes it fit just perfect to the sound. Even though this song isn't what I usually blast on my dads stereo I still love it. It's not often you'll get a track that is this well made and close to perfection. Then you can go on for ages if you like the style or not. The skill which this track was made of is undeniable. [Makke lifts his hat to Smash.] [GFX by Xhale/DCS. Abstract picture, which doesn't look like "anything" really... hehe... there's just a lot of brown and gray. I'd really like to have a more "copish" picture to this song.]
Michelle
Booooring! Sorry, didn't mean to put this song of with one word. However, this is not a song with much action. I kind of like action, which more or less means I want there to be more substantial changes in a song than there is in this one. But, I have to give it to you, I fancy that saxophone a lot. Mighty impressed by the all over sound of the song, and how well the guitar is fitted with the sax. I mean, even though there's not much "tracking technique" in this one it must have been hell arranging the samples to fit this well. Still I don't enjoy the song, for the reasons I've stated. But that is, of course, very much my own personal taste of music. It's still not a "bad" song as such. Somewhere I read that this one ended up 2nd place in a jazz-tracking compo. Which means there's got to be something special with the song. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad song. BTW. Have I ever told you how much I hate people who review songs in a style they don't like? Hehe... [GFX by Filter. Nice picture with a crying little girl with here teddy. This picture fits the song very well. And when looking at the picture and hearing the song it feels like a song you'd sing for your child before she falls asleep.]
There Goes the Neighbourhood
Absolutely one of my favourite tracks from the disk. The style? Hmm... horror funk. If funk can be horrific. Which I guess it can after listening to this song. There's an utterly dark touch to this song. With strings and brass playing dark and mellow chords. Fitting this sing into a demo would've been just awesome! Imagine the visual effects you could be able to do to this music. Wow! Uhm... oh... sorry. I forgot you were reading this for a second there... Not much to add. Just... listen to it... [GFX by Markus/DCS. Also and abstract image which is hard to make out, but that actually fits this song very well. It's a pretty "scary" picture which just makes the horror even better.]
The Girl with Stars in Her Hands (Stargirl)
Very calm and relaxing piece of jazz, with a "welcoming" feeling. The warm sound is probably because the whole song is mainly built up by synths. It's also synths playing the leads, which makes this song stick out from the rest of the songs. This one feels very round, and not so rough around the edges as the other "brass/guitar" songs felt. Instead it makes you sit back and enjoy a calm minute (actually four calm minutes). Even though only the leads are analogue synths the whole songs gives you an analogue feeling, which very well fits with the rest of the 70's feeling on this disk. [GFX by tmk/inf. The "usual" cute-girls-face-image.]
Ending the review
The download was pretty big, but I don't regret it at all. Though this style isn't the usual style for me, I'm still enjoying it very much. Smash is just a master when it comes to jazzy and funky songs, especially when it comes to adding fitting brass and guitars to the funk. I dare to say he's the best in the scene today... when it comes to tracking and arranging brass. Even if you don't like this style I still recommend you to download this disk. Especially if you're a tracker. Taking a look at Smash's tracks give you a great deal of inspiration and also a few new tips when it comes to technique. There's always something you can learn from it.
Smash comments on this review:
I've read a few reviews of my musicdisk now and it's been very interesting.. because it seems none of them can agree on what the best/worst tracks are. In fact I've read one review that had virtually the opposite opinion of which tracks they liked as this one. One person's groove is another person's lack of melody, one person's boring is another person's beautiful. =) [Well, see why I hate reviewers? hehe /Makke]
All I'm going to say now is, thanks for the review Makke, and everybody go download it and tell me what you think, I hope our efforts were worthwhile. =)
Get it from http://theralite.avalon.hr/ or Theralite's directory at scene.org.
Smash/Theralite/Jecoute