Album Review: XXYYXX – XXYYXX (Self-titled)

Oh, man.. Them 808’s doe…

 

This album is laced with cyanide, LSD, Sine wave bass, and enough 808 kits to make the Beasty Boys jealous. 

Great sampling and wonderful subtle complexity. Marcel Everett (XXYYXX) did a great job with the vocal samples. 

The instrumentation and “genre” are old school, ground down to it’s simplest form, and mixed in a blender, “under water, on drugs.”

 

The reason this artist stands out to me is the fact that he is moving in a direction aside from “top 40 artists,” and yet remains relevant to the status quo. My status quo at least. 

If you enjoy hip hop influenced electronic music, this artist/album is for you.

 

At any rate, contemporary popular music is stuck in a hole, and I think the road that XXYYXX and his fellow electronic musicians with the Relief In Abstract label are taking is a good change in electronic music. Not that I’m suggesting other contemporary artists should necessarily follow that road as well, but rather they should be more ambitious in the movement that is Electronic music. The chord changes and rhythms are too plain – or maybe too overdone – in most popular music of the 21st century, and I think it’s partially due to the fact that there is such an expansive tool set available for contemporary musicians, that it’s taken until somewhat recently for those artists to begin really using those tools to their full potential. Big room synths and wobble basses are cool and all, but don’t make for much to build on. 

Overall, I feel that the electronic music industry is quickly approaching a revolution of sorts. Being a musician myself.. more specifically an aspiring electronic musician.. The songs we can potentially write is about as limitless as it can get. From sound design to rhythmic and harmonic combinations, it’s almost unlimited when it comes to what we are capable. Limited, of course, only by our own creativity.

Starting with “About You,” the album eases the listener into a droning chord sine wave-ish pad, followed by hard-hitting analog kicks and snares. The album follows the throwback theme to the end for the most part, which is both hip, and also, a bit tiring. I appreciate the rebirth of the classic 808 samples. After all, it’s the basis for about %90 of all popular music these days, and these “pop” artists have truly done the original no justice by resampling and redrafting the kit. However, I also do not appreciate the fact that it’s the basis for most of the percussion on this album. There are many other percussive samples of course, but the 808 bits were overused a tad on this one. No matter what the perspective is though, it is very well done.

In short, XXYYXX is refreshing for 808’s, hip hop, beats, sampling, and electronic music as a whole.

 

-fox

 

 

the aforementioned ‘Vsauce’ video

Living in the ‘now’

I have a habit of living in the moment. It’s both good and bad.

I don’t worry about my past, even though I can learn from my mistakes.

I don’t fear the future, I just do what is best in my opinion as I see it now.

 

However, I also don’t look ahead well enough sometimes. Which gets me into trouble.

 

All the while, I’m having the time of my life. It’s exciting here. It’s freedom.

 

Think about your state of mind.

Worrying about what comes next?

Burning over mistakes already made?

 

Living in the moment is exciting, and dangerous, and free.

And yet, I’m happy in my current state. Whether that state be sorrow, or bliss, I will endure.

 

– fox

My Music – inspired by experience

Here’s my most recent music post on soundcloud. I’ll be posting other artists as well of course.

 

https://soundcloud.com/unfoxsilver/hmngbrdxx

Everything is Nothing

 

So… Here we are. In “now.” I’ll probably post a vsauce video later about the concept of “now.” But for now… let’s just say we’re here.

Throughout my time posting on this blog I will mostly just talk shit on “reality” and throw semi-random video and audio posts of music and stuff here. But, my overall goal is to open a few eyes to the paradox in which we exist.

That being said, believe what you want, this is but a cross-section look at my opinion from my thin slice of the universe. My views are not specifically religious, political, economic, or social in nature. Rather, it’s the way I personally feel and understand the state of being I personally experienced.

To start it off, I’ll provide my own background info as a point of reference.

I am 19 years old, male, from the United States. Kansas specifically.

An only child, my parents are extremely liberal. I grew up in an extremely rural town until age five, and then moved to the city. My mother is a member of a liberal Jewish community, and my father is a practitioner of a hybrid “buddhist-wycan-taoist” philosophy. I fall into no religious category (not consciously, at least). I prefer to find “answers” on my own, based in common sense, reason, experience, and subconscious  exploration.

I have done a myriad of drugs in my past, which I admit have a moderate influence on my viewpoint. For the record, at the time of posting this, I have been “clean” for over 8 months.

My passion is music, and philosophy. Both of which are inspired and focussed on understanding, and ultimately “answering the question.”

If you have to ask what that question is, you should not be reading this at all.

 

– fox