~|Everything's a memory
With strings that tie to you
In my dream I'm often running
To the place that's out of you|~
Okay everyone, so I apparently don't have many artists in my library with the letter X, so today we'll be taking a look at a contemporary electronic artist from Florida, USA. As he's only released two full length albums, todays review is also a bit shorter, however, tomorrows review is a big one to make up for it!
XXYYXX is the pseudonym of Marcel Everett, an artist that has been influenced by the grimy burialesque mood and mixed it with the "Vaporwave" sound that rose to internet fame around the same time. His music has a heavy layer of psychedelia layered on top of solid beats and samples from pop culture with an almost indie/electro-pop feel. The first album we'll take a look at is the debut record, "Still Sound".
Still Sound
The album starts off with the intro track, a casette being flipped followed by a floating wave of synths soaking you. Following this is a track that has a definite dance vibe to it, whilst still being relaxing, this is a recurring theme in his music. This feeling of overwhelming calm in the middle of this distorted psychedelic landscape.
Another thing I enjoy about this record is the lush textures on the sounds, on tracks like "Drug Life", you can really feel the rugged textures as you hear the play button getting flipped during the transition from the previous track. And the instruments on this track feel like they're all dripping with reverb.
The track I wanna show you from this record is one of the more mellow tracks on the record, "Rad Racer"
Rad Racer
XXYYXX
The second release and by far the one that got the most hype. A lot more accessible and a heavier focus on recognizable samples, makes it easy to see why. It's a great record, especially if you grew up in the 90s like me. The production quality is also a lot higher, with a more clear soundscape. The music also feels more inspired by the garage/jungle beat, whilst still keeping the sound design and style of the"vaporwave" genre.
Tracks like "Good Enough" show off the use of samples on this album, it's a rework of the TLC track "No Scrubs". This works surprisingly well, due to the chopping up of the vocals and lyrics, to make it something new entirely.
The track I want to show you from this record however is a slow dark jam, starting out in a cold windy landscape before it unlocks and takes you on a short but intense journey
DMT
All right, that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed todays edition of Alphabetical Order, a blog series where I write my opinions on parts of an artists discography. If you liked it or if you hate it, let me know! And if you wanna keep up to date, you can follow me. Until next time, peace out!
You can get more info or support the artist by checking out these links:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/2738165-xxyyxx
https://xxyyxx.bandcamp.com
