SINGLES SPOTLIGHT: November 2022 - RED_E¥E, Deadbeat Girl, Kudu, Cynnoh, sillybronco

This November batch of singles from the MTech community showcases a handful of artists with a lot of promise.

Written by Ash

Hello and welcome back to Singles Spotlight, the series where we take a short-form look at some of our favorite singles from the month! This is the November issue, and this month was definitely a really good one for MTech music. A ton of new releases dropped this month, and paring down this list to the five singles we've chosen to spotlight today proved to be a really difficult task. In any case, we've got some really great music for you today! Please take a moment to go stream the music via the links I've provided below and support the artists involved, and we hope you enjoy the songs!

RED_E¥E - Hail, Hedona

Links to this track on all platforms can be found via RED_E¥E's Linktree page, which can be found here.

RED_E¥E, known to friends and classmates as Rain, is a relatively recent addition to the MTech community, but has made a gargantuan splash with his latest efforts. He kicked off 2022 with two projects, Through the Hole in the World... and DREAMS, both excellent showcases for head-spinning rap production and insane creativity. Released at the tail end of last month, RED_E¥E's new "Hail, Hedona" is the first follow-up to DREAMS, and heralds a dark and apocalyptic new direction. He has built himself quite a reputation as a creator, riding on the back of his edgy brand of hip hop flavored with dark psychedelia and towering production. While "Hail Hedona" mostly builds on this sound palette, this new single also marks quite a shift from RED_E¥E's established sound, drawing influences from techno and industrial in its pounding electronic backbeat and heavy, sidechained bass to create a distinctly woozy, abrasive sound.

 

The track opens with dark, minor key synth plucks over a steady, simple drum pattern. As the four-on-the-floor kick drum lays down a foundational rhythm, RED_E¥E enters with a woozy, drugged-out lead vocal, proclaiming "The mask on my face is starting to slip" with a haunting, detached delivery as reverb-heavy breaths fade in and out in the background. The first verse sees a heavily-processed, slightly telephonic-sounding lead vocal spitting tight triplet flows. While I love the vocal sound in this first verse, I find myself wishing RED_E¥E's lyrics were a little easier to pick out; I had some trouble discerning the exact wording of certain lines here and there, but otherwise I love the sound. In any case, the song is hugely catchy and takes the listener on a thrilling ride from start to finish. After the second chorus, the track goes into an extended instrumental break where the breath noises convey a great sense of sweeping movement; I catch some influences from Death Grips, New Order, and Pink Floyd in the track's slow buildup and creative arrangement. After a final chorus, the track closes out with the sounds of cars zipping by and a distant scream. I loved this track overall and it teases an exciting new direction for RED_E¥E; I hope he explores this sound more on his next project!

Deadbeat Girl - She Loves Me

Links to this track can be found on Deadbeat Girl's Linktree page, which I have linked here.

If you caught last month's edition of Singles Spotlight (and if you didn't, you can read it here!), then you know how much I fell in love with Deadbeat Girl's debut single, "Another Day". Deadbeat Girl, a.k.a. Valentina Olson, achieved an achingly poignant level of pathos that synergized perfectly with the track's themes of heartbreak and loss. This month brings her second single, "She Loves Me", which makes for a meteoric follow-up to that first song that capitalizes on Deadbeat Girl's established strengths to create something arguably just as heartwrenching.

Mournful, folksy acoustic guitar passages open this track. Raw, quietly emotional lead vocals enter during the first verse; Deadbeat Girl's prowess as a vocalist never ceases to amaze me, and her brand of vulnerable, expressive, slightly tortured vocal performance works very well in this stripped-back context. The building acoustic guitar layers that continually get added over the course of the song provide nice countermelodies that crop up during select moments in each ear. The song never feels stagnant; it's always building and progressing. In particular, I really enjoy the entrance of the subtle electric piano and the suitably twangy, tastefully detuned banjo that enters in the back end of the track. The mix generally sounds great; it sounds polished and professional without losing its DIY charm. My only real gripe with the mix is that the lead vocals can sometimes get a little loud during the chorus sections, which perhaps presents an opportunity for some heavier compression. Otherwise, though, this was a wonderful listen that further cements Deadbeat Girl as an artist deeply skilled at conveying her unique brand of heart-shattering pathos.

Kudu - Lagoon

Links to this track can be found on Kudu's Linktree page, which I have linked here.

Leon Peter Dominic Sleator, known in musical circles as Kudu, released his latest single at the beginning of the month. The song is called "Lagoon" and inhabits a sonic playground loosely defined by chill techno and dance influences; it also marks my first foray into Kudu's music, and it made for a pretty exciting one! The track opens with a major key synth riff over a funky sub synth bass and danceable drums, backed by watery, sweeping sound effects that give the track a very wide and spacious feel. The short sustain time on a lot of the drum samples here really makes the groove stand out and gives everything else lots of room in which to sit. The sound selection on the synths reminds me a bit of Owl City, with the metallic plucks and watery major-key arps conveying a distinctly nostalgic vibe. Halfway through, though, we get a bit of a vibe switch, as these really nicely-arranged, trippy vocal chops enter and the track modulates to the relative minor, where we stay for a minute or so before the track eventually swings back around to the major key. I really dig this middle section, and I thought it lent the track a really great sense of movement that firmly stopped it from getting old in the slightest. I also love the consistent evolution of the synth sounds on this track; nothing stays totally unchanged, and the lead synths in particular frequently undergo gradual changes in timbre that help a lot to keep the song interesting. Overall, this was a cool piece of techno-adjacent electronica that successfully captured a feel-good vibe, evoking nostalgia for simpler times in the process.

Cynnoh - Revolution

This track can be found on all streaming platforms by its Ditto page, linked here.

For our next track, we're taking a look at another song that first saw the light of day in Collegium! This is Cynnoh's "Revolution", a loosely-indie pop piece of work that takes on a distinctly industrial, metallic, minimalistic soundscape in a manner that belies its superficially peppy and upbeat presentation. 

While writing this review, I took a moment to ask Cynnoh, a.k.a. Danielle Strassberg, about their process behind creating the song. They wrote that "Revolution" was their attempt at "captur[ing] a moment in time through music" in the immediate aftermath of a friend's suicide attempt. The song grew out of the anxiety, guilt, and dread of the experience and became somewhat of a point of focus for Danielle, as they sought to emerge with an optimistic spin on things. I feel like the song's presentation absolutely nails this vibe; it's a careful balance between hopefulness and detached apathy that makes total sense considering the circumstances behind the song's creation.

The song is built on a simple major key two-chord progression, rendered through a clanging, repeating bass pattern and backed with understated, low-key, driving drums. Cynnoh sings through a heavy vocal chain that results in a strikingly laconic, robotic sound; singing about loss in this rather detached way lends the song a super apathetic bent that suits Cynnoh's performance really well. While the drums and bass mostly remain a constant foundation, various instrumental elements enter to double the vocals at various points; a warped synth flute thick with vibrato mimicks Cynnoh's sung melody during the chorus, while an equally warped synth pseudo-guitar sound does the same during the second verse. The song's bridge sees Cynnoh break into falsetto, delivering some interesting melodies before the chorus reenters for a final time, this time sung an octave up; though Cynnoh's singing the chorus an octave higher than it used to be, the performance remains remarkably disaffected and the aesthetic of the song is never compromised. The emotional takeaway from this song is a really unique one, as the constant pounding bass and lack of variation in the drum pattern suggest a spiraling mental state that doesn't progress anywhere, which I thought was an intriguing perspective from which to write considering the song's optimistic leanings. In short, the emotional resonance of this track absolutely sold the whole thing for me. Although "Revolution" may not be the most superficially "complex" song, I find that it doesn't need crazy ear candy and multilayered wall-of-sound production in order to scratch an itch for me. Its complexity comes from the conflicting aspects of its presentation to create something really, truly striking. Cynnoh's debut was a really good one and I feel there's a lot of potential in the detached and disaffected spin on pop they gave us with this song.

sillybronco - u Kno

This track is currently Soundcloud-exclusive and can be found here. Please also feel free to check out my recent review of sillybronco's latest EP, THANKFUL 4 THA SLO LIFE, which you can read here!

Coming off of his recent EP, THANKFUL 4 THA SLO LIFE, Jackson Barada a.k.a. sillybronco seems hungry for more. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to review Jackson's last project near the beginning of this month, and I was particularly impressed with his kinetic, R&B-influenced production and unique, formant-shifted vocal stylings. The EP cemented itself as a powerhouse soundtrack for good times and parties, and I found myself looking forward to what sillybronco would give us next.

 This new track, titled "u Kno", continues the feel-good, carefree vibes of that last project, riding on a bouncy trap beat and easygoing vocals. The track opens with what sounds like a '90s R&B sample built on flickering synth arps and a grimy-sounding Rhodes keyboard. The sample here is an excellent one that has a great sense of movement and rhythm to it; sillybronco's sample choices remain consistently great and the sample once again anchors the production here. He chooses to augment the sample with bouncy, West Coast trap drums; the 808 bass hits some really nice syncopated rhythms with the kick drum that give this beat a very distinctive, fun groove that feels indebted to the production of 21 Savage and YG. sillybronco's vocals are as laid-back as ever, and his breezy, confident flows suit this beat perfectly. The entrance of the first verse is also accompanied by some subtle vocal chops that add pleasing bits of ear candy. I only wish this track was longer, as the outro always feels like it comes too soon for me, and I'd love to hear this track augmented with a proper chorus and some extra verses… which I suppose only means it's ripe for remix territory! Either way, this was a great solo effort from sillybronco that capitalizes on the strengths of his last EP and renders them into a new song that feels even more focused and artistically confident than his prior works. "u Kno" will definitely make for another solid addition to the partygoer's playlist!

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That's all for this edition of Singles Spotlight! Lots of really exciting music came out this month and it was my pleasure to review it! Please feel free to hit us up via email at NYUMTechMusicReviews@gmail.com, or slide into our Instagram messages at @NYUMTechMusicReviews to submit your own music for review in next month's edition. Tune in next month for the final issue of the fall 2022 semester!

Ash