OPM: A Unique Situation

Christopher Price – The Invitation

A lush, cinematic take on the primal electronica of electro and chiptune. These tracks are driven by simple, muscular breakbeats rather than a four-on-the-floor pulse, and many of the accompanying sounds are of the raw and even rudimentary variety. The sound design encompasses a lot of classic, early sounds of a certain type – the dirtier, more rough-edged end of the pool. 

It’s the sound of the arcade and early electro records, not Tangerine Dream records and Vangelis scores: heavy square bass, lo-fi FM “brass” that sounds straight off an early Zelda soundtrack, that kind of thing. Almost as if synthwave had embraced a very different palette and aesthetic of early electronic music and sound.

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Suburban Death March – Deny Defend Depose

Anarchic and engaging polygenre collection of politically themed tunes that’s full of surprises. Not many records can encompass sloganeering EBM, prickly ambient and post rock, weirdo psych, and the more esoteric strands of industrial yet still maintain a coherent aesthetic and themes throughout. 

The wide open approach to genre and steadfast commitment to being weird (and reiterating its message) no matter what make for a pretty solid combo. You never know what’s coming next, but you know it’ll be out there. Fascinating all the way thru.

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Humanoid No More – The Life Robotic

Chilled out and laidback takes on deep house, downtempo and trip hop. Yeah, I know those are already pretty chill/laidback genres, but it’s all a matter of degree, isn’t it? And this is of the chillest, most laidback degree. 

The production, whether lush or lo-fi, is always appropriate to the moment and the arrangements, sample selection, and sound design are all quite nice at times. Breezy, self confident and eager to please, this is a great little collection of mellow delights.

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Vern Carson – “Oppress the Oppressors”

High energy dancefloor banger that twists a little old-school trance into its propulsive cyberpunk synthwave. With a breakdown that wouldn’t have felt out of place next to early BT tracks and some suitably gnarly synth lines wending thru it, it’s a nice little hybrid that works well. Kudos to the chef.

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Zoyya – Zoyya

Absolutely wild blend of elements – hip hop and trap, pop, industrial, extreme metal, electro, showtunes, gods know what else – that combine into a unique, and uniquely vibrant, whole. It gets pretty explicit from the get go, so get your pearls ready to clutch if that’s an issue. If you can get past that, there is so much to love here. 

It’s just the most bewildering fusion of weird bits and pieces – is that fuckin pop country bit I’m hearing? — into even weirder shapes. Reminds me of early Ween in spirit, and to a lesser degree in sound. I think a lot of people will hate this but I think you also owe it to yourself to find out if you could love it.