SOUNDTRACK REVIEW: Kid Reno - In Your Dreams

Kid Reno's soundtrack to Laura Obermeyer's short film In Your Dreams is a successful artistic detour that captures a new kind of beauty in Reno's music.

Reviewed by Alex "Ash" Han

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a review that was originally written in early 2023, but due to various unforeseen challenges (read: life) remained unpublished until today! Although the project has been out for upwards of a year at this point, I want to remind you all to support Kid Reno and stream the project! The links to the project can be found via Kid Reno's Linktree. My previous review of Kid Reno's preceding LP, Techno for Children and Dogs, can be found here!

 

Also, don't forget to check out the film for which the soundtrack was written! Laura Obermeyer's In Your Dreams is available to watch on YouTube.

 

FOR THOSE OF US IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY, the prospect of eventually finding work in the film industry is not an unrealistic one, and in many ways, us musicians are just as tied to the world of film as we are to the world of music. Our skills as audio engineers are in heavy demand, and the fact that our graduation requirements stipulate that all of us must take Audio for Video serves as further proof of this; in my own time in Audio for Video, I actually seemed to have somewhat of a knack for ADR and even Foley, which was a pleasant surprise! In my time in MTech, I've seen a healthy amount of undergraduates come out of that Audio for Video course and start working on student productions all over campus, armed with a newfound passion for the world of film music. That said, I myself still have yet to take a gander at actually composing original music for a film; it seems like a decidedly scary endeavor I haven't plucked up the courage to attempt yet. Thus, when Reno Haas told me he was working on the score for Laura Obermeyer's short film In Your Dreams, I found myself rather excited for him—not least because I was hyped to see him gain some work experience in this context, but also because I was secretly very intrigued to see how the brand of off-the-wall, high-octane techno-house I associate with Kid Reno would translate to a film scoring setting.

 

I went into this soundtrack album unsure of what to expect, and sure enough, the result I got was certainly very interesting! Kid Reno's soundtrack to In Your Dreams marks a significant artistic departure from the established sound of the Renoverse. Whereas Reno's previous body of work, the full-length LP Techno for Children & Dogs, was defined by its heady, spirited, and wildly energetic techno sound, In Your Dreams embraces a softer, more ethereal aesthetic, resulting in a collection of songs that skirts significantly closer to alternative pop and indie rock territory than anything I've heard from Reno so far. The new sound is hugely fitting in context; I also watched In Your Dreams, the film, in preparation for this review, which I very much enjoyed. The film plays like a cross between a skiing stunt montage and an extended music video in which director Laura Obermeyer follows the thrill-seeking adventures of a group of female skiers; coupling some genuinely insane stunts with beautiful footage of the Utah Rockies, I thought the film was a wonderfully endearing piece of work that captured a really special bond and mutual camaraderie between the group of friends depicted in the film. Reno's music underscores a good portion of the film's runtime, and makes for a wonderful, emotionally impactful addition; Reno's sweeping, majestic soundtrack manages to capture both the desolate beauty of the Utah backcountry as well as the adrenaline-filled, youthful exultation of tearing down the mountainside alongside friends cheering you on. In short, while I think In Your Dreams works best when consumed alongside its parent film, it's still an incredibly enjoyable body of music in its own right, and it makes for an excellent showcase of the kind of head-spinning creativity only Reno can pull off.

 

"I reached out to [Reno] about using some of their music back in 2020, when the project was first taking shape. Since then, they've become my best friend and biggest supporter during the process of making the movie." –Laura Obermeyer, director of In Your Dreams

 

We begin with "Aetherian (Intro)", a one-minute intro track which opens up the album on an icy, reverb-heavy synth pad that feels like a bird's eye view soaring over the snowcapped alpines of the Rockies; this synth pad soon becomes layered amidst other pads that convey a similarly spacious feeling as a spoken-word poetry sample enters over the top and a heavenly, blue-tinted synth lead plays a sparse, major key melody. I thought Reno's sound selection was absolutely perfect here; he conveys the cinematic buildup of this moment extremely well without hitting the listener over the head with a wall of sound, and the soundscape manages to feel immense and vast without being overstuffed with elements, which I thought made for a nice parallel with the duality of In Your Dreams' mountain-range setting: vertigo-inducing heights and towering peaks juxtaposed with huge empty space in between. I haven't been skiing in a long time, but for me, this track felt like the moment just before pushing off from the peak, like standing at the top of the mountain and taking in the view for a second before beginning the thrilling plunge downward into the rest of the soundtrack. "Aetherian (Intro)" was a wonderful way to set the stage, both on this album and in the actual film, and I thought it made an excellent showcase for Reno's expertise in sound selection and design.

 

 

Pictured above: Kid Reno (left) and Doggy Collar (right) performing together at Moodring on April 19th, 2024. Photograph by me.
 

The second track, titled "giribaldi's party (street) [kill the landlord]", begins with a muffled, distorted sung vocal sample that leads us into an electronic indie four-on-the-floor drum groove propelled by a crunchy snare and glassy hi-hats. We're dropped right into a killer chorus, led by digitized and slightly robotic-sounding feminine vocals in two-part harmony; I couldn't quite make out the lyrics underneath all the processing, but the melody and the chord progression combine for a lethally catchy combination that kept me tapping my feet and enthusiastically mumbling along! Reno also does some really nice work meshing together caterwauling synthesizers alongside a ripping electric guitar melody in a combination that feels impressively natural. The ensuing amalgamation sees Reno's uniquely edgy sound design and electronic/dance-centric sensibilities recontextualized inside of a pop-oriented framework, which is a combination I hadn't expected to enjoy so much! After the first chorus, we lapse into an arpeggiated tonic bass line and a subdued, moody vocal refrain of "don't listen to girls when they want you" that makes this section almost feel like an edgier, crunchier take on Billie Eilish. From here, Reno gifts us one more screaming, soaring chorus before the track ends. I feel compelled to once again revive my most common (albeit slightly tongue-in-cheek) criticism of Techno for Children and Dogs here and point out Reno's tendency to gift us hugely catchy tracks that I feel end too soon, and "giribaldi's party" is no exception! I feel like I could have listened to this track for another verse or two and not gotten bored. For what it's worth, though, the two minutes of runtime we did get were super enjoyable, and Reno's zany production hit as hard as always here.

 

The short, 37-second "Aetherian [Overture]" follows next, reviving the frosty synth lead from the intro track and pairing it with a set of loosely vocal-sounding synth pads that make me picture wind blowing through massive, resonant stone pipes on a mountainside somewhere (almost like the stone statues from "SpongeHenge"… never thought I'd make a Spongebob reference on this blog like this!) in a combination that takes us right back to the mountaintops. I love the little vocal notes and synth textures that periodically ornament the soundscape; otherwise, we stay on a simple major triad for the duration of the piece, which gave this short track a decidedly ambient feel. For whatever reason, the master seems to be really quiet on this track, and came in several decibels lower than the previous track, which did diminish the impact of the track's opening for me somewhat.

 

Pictured above: Kid Reno spinning at Kittypool, a party that took place at Ginger's on April 19th into the early morning of the 20th, raising funds for the humanitarian crisis in Palestine. Photograph by me.

 

"I Remember the Gloves On Your Hands [british columbia]" opens with a snippet of the same poetry sample that kicked off the album in "Aetherian (intro)", looped and progressively mangled more and more until it becomes unrecognizable. A heavy synth bass overlays itself with a bass guitar and peppy, doubled major key vocals as the track's instrumental comes crashing in; this song is based on Finom's "Water", a track which is heavily sampled and augmented with Reno's trademark, hard-edged electronicisms. It sounds to me like Reno's added additional synth parts and drums, which layer over each other and interweave themselves seamlessly into the original track's squealing, doubled electric guitars. As the track builds to its peak, Reno layers multiple drum kits over each other, combining a halftime drum pattern with another drum pattern at regular tempo to create a sideways-listing groove that takes us to the climax, wherein the vocalist asks "why is there water in my eyes?" over and over again through an increasingly unhinged vocal timbre as the drums bang out tumultuous, complex fills and the guitars articulate some heavy, chromatic metal riffs. We emerge from this brief moment of chaos as the track collapses back into the major key and ethereal, panned, staggered vocals close out the track in a decidedly heavenly manner. In the end, I ended up not being a massive fan of this track; I think the original track sampled here might have had a bit too much presence in the final mix, and I would have loved to hear Reno add more elements and mess with the sample some more to create something that felt more congruent with the wild creativity I normally associate with his music. Nonetheless, though, I do love the additions Reno made to the track, and I think in context with the rest of the soundtrack, it works well.

 

The fifth track, "In Your Dreams [freeride]", opens with some distant vocal notes hidden behind a layer of reverb and crackle, which lead us into a heavy arpeggiated bassline and faraway indie electronic drums; the overall vibe of this section is distinctly meditative and astral, and loosely reminds me of late 2000's retro-influenced indie synthpop acts like MGMT and Passion Pit. This track marks another point in the album where I grew really impressed with Reno's sound design, as he once again manages to evoke the lonely, hyperborean, windswept beauty of the Utah wilderness through a meticulous combination of scintillating, far-flung vocal chops and icy, howling reverb. I'm not in love with the mix on this track; the bass arpeggiator comes through kinda loud and masks over the drums, which end up feeling somewhat obscured and distant throughout the song, resulting in a pulse that felt sort of indistinct. Maybe the bass-heavy mix is an intentional creative choice, but even so, I felt like it detracted (albeit just a tad) from the listener's ability to latch onto the rest of the instrumental and appreciate its beauty. Nonetheless, though, the vibe of this track is absolutely there, and it channels the imagery of the Utah mountains exceptionally well.

 

After the brief, twelve-second "some[interlude] (where)", which I thought was a serious candidate for the most cleverly named album interlude I've seen in a hot minute, we segue into "In Your Dreams [director's cut]", a reprise/alternative cut of the title track that gives us a longer, more drawn-out intro and a different, slower-paced arrangement that sees us spend more time in drumless territory, led by ethereal and dreamy (get it? because it's… in your dreams) synth arps, majestic vocal chops, and a slowly-building kick drum. After a long buildup, we drop into a sparse drum pattern with plenty of hard-panned elements and gated reverb; the resulting vibe feels much clearer and more polished than the earlier "In Your Dreams [freeride]", and perhaps more indebted to the stark, reverb-heavy minimalism of the 1980s than the computerized electro retro-fantasy emulation of the 2000s. I really love this alternative version of "In Your Dreams", as it embraces a much more wide-open aesthetic that feels like it gives the track a lot more room to breathe, and all of Reno's little bits of ear candy and production choices get space to shine. Reno even gives us a totally new drum pattern during the track's final moments before letting the creatively-arranged vocal chops take us out.

The final track, "outer(bonus track) [limits]", feels like a loose nod to the aesthetic of Techno for Children & Dogs, mixed with a healthy amount of retro synthpop to boot! The track opens with some celestial synth pads alongside some pitched & mangled spoken vocal samples layered on top of one another to form a chattering chorus of voices; the aesthetic of this moment felt very much like Dog Collar's Jungle Fairy Tale EP from last December for me, as well as being a callback of sorts to Reno's sample-based roots. A fast-paced, building synth arp takes us into the drop, which gives us a synthpop 2/4 drum groove complete with pounding toms and a bright, animated major key melody swallowed behind a veil of reverb and delay. Reno does some entertaining stuff with the drum programming on this track, swapping out the established rhythm for a D&B-esque double-time groove and regularly subtracting and re-adding elements for a consistently dynamic feel. In contrast to the rest of the soundtrack, "outer" felt like a means for Reno to freely express his own artistry outside of the context of the film, and its aesthetic feels a lot more electronic and synth-heavy than the rest of the album does. On the whole, I thought it made for a strong addition to the record, and it was a nice way to end things off with a fun extra track!

"Reno executed my challenging vision and intense direction with impeccable grace and attention to detail, particularly on the last track. Sampling the children's choir song used in the early interlude as an "intro into the dream sequence", the final track… brings the viewer back in to end the experience in the same space… Reno spent hours and hours on FaceTime with me while I sat in isolation over the summer staring at my computer screen, and helped shape the creation of In Your Dreams into what it is in a big, big way. Forever grateful for this one." –Laura Obermeyer, director of In Your Dreams

 

At the end of the day, this album really threw me on first listen. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about the new sound, especially in comparison to Reno's previous works. I felt like there wasn't as much in the way of cool production tricks and sheer harebrained creativity for me to grab onto as there had been on Techno for Children & Dogs, which consistently threw new sounds and progressively expanding ideas at me for pretty much the whole duration of its runtime. Additionally, I developed another point of contention with this record, which mainly has to do with the mixing and mastering. Mixes on tracks like "I Remember the Gloves On Your Hands [british columbia]" and "In Your Dreams [freeride]" feel a tad unbalanced to me, and the sampled preexisting sounds don't always feel totally congruent with the new instrumentation Reno's added. Additionally, I felt like the mastering work was a bit uneven in terms of level; "outer(bonus track) [limits]" and "giribaldi's party (street) [kill the landlord]" sounded significantly louder than the other tracks on the record, and I found myself having to constantly adjust my monitors while listening to the project in order to maintain a consistent listening level, resulting in my feeling a bit like I had to arm wrestle with Spotify in order to hear the music at an appreciable volume without damaging my own hearing!

 

All that said—while In Your Dreams was definitely a curveball of sorts, and it subverted my preconceived notions of what I should expect from a Kid Reno album in a big way, I ended up coming away from it with a newfound love for the music. Despite the fact that Reno's previous penchant for serrated, edgy, unapologetically breakneck electronic dancefloor bangers is mostly absent from this new soundtrack, and is replaced with a more mellow aesthetic that takes us away from the nightclub floor and sends us deep into nature, I found myself quite taken with this new collection of songs. That said, it took me until I'd gotten around to actually watching In Your Dreams, the film, before it really clicked for me. Though the emphasis on the spirit of dance is definitely toned down a bit, Reno's sound design and selection is no less integral to the final product here, as his carefully-chosen synth patches and sample choices manage a truly impressive evocation of cold mountain air and snowcapped bluffs that for me is impossible to divorce from the film's strikingly beautiful imagery. Whereas Reno's existing work in the sphere of techno is more about making the listener want to dance, I feel like In Your Dreams is less about providing suitable background music for a dance floor and more about celebrating youth, companionship, and the process of finding joy. Laura Obermeyer's artistic vision has a lot to do with that, of course, and I'm not sure Reno's soundtrack would evoke these deep, thought-provoking themes for me without Laura's kinetic, sweeping cinematography and expert direction. In short, the soundtrack captures something very special to me, and communicates the imagery of its parent film as if it's an aural painting of friendship. And even beyond the context of the film, the album brings us some relentlessly catchy pop earworms that even now remain stuck in my head, looping over and over, proving that Reno can absolutely bring his uncompromisingly ingenious production and excel within the sphere of vocal music—so I suppose at the end of this review, the only complaint I have that matters is that I wish Reno gave us more songs like the ones on this album, and I wouldn't complain if these songs were to signal a broader artistic shift towards a more pop-adjacent sound for Kid Reno! In Your Dreams thus becomes an earnestly beautiful, ferociously creative body of work that made me develop a newfound appreciation for Kid Reno's artistic prowess and versatility, and as always, I remain ever more excited for what he does next, whether we return to the dance floor to headbang until the sun rises, or forge ever deeper into the icy mountain wilderness, that exciting uncharted territory where we make new friends and celebrate life.

Personal enjoyment score: 8 out of 10

 

Standout tracks: "giribaldi's party (street) [kill the landlord]", "In Your Dreams [director's cut]", "outer(bonus track) [limits]"

ALBUM REVIEW: 3rd Ave - Cyberbully

3rd Ave's long-awaited debut LP, CYBERBULLY, is a testament to the collective's commitment to innovation, eclecticism, and fun.   

Reviewed by Alex "Ash" Han 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before reading this review, please support 3rd Ave and stream CYBERBULLY on all platforms! You can find the streaming links to the project via 3rd Ave's Linktree.

 

Please also feel free to check out my previous reviews of nickwuh's us against the universe, TypeOh's Seeker, Jaden Tyler's Sadfish, and Thai Thai's TELEVISED SUICIDE! Also available are my reviews of 3rd Ave's previous singles, specifically "Gottem", "how u like", and "ackerman".

 

AUTHOR'S (OTHER) NOTE: An earlier version of this article misattributed Mathias's guitar solo on "LSD" to Jaden. This has now been corrected. 

 

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME since I made my first foray into Music Technology. I was a wide-eyed prospective transfer student coming from the anthropology department at CAS, coming off of an impromptu pandemic-induced gap semester during which I'd seriously considered dropping out of school altogether, emerging into a COVID-stricken eighth floor that was rarely anything other than desolate & deserted. Those initial months in MTech were difficult for me. Going from the massive, sprawling anthropology program to a much smaller community in which I knew no one was hard enough. Add to that the scattered nature of the MTech undergraduate student body during that late-pandemic era, and suddenly I found myself in a landscape in which it was prohibitively difficult to make friends and meet new people. Much of the students I met during those first few classes seemed to be operating on a solitary basis; things were insular and closed, and it seemed to me that most people preferred creating music alone to working collaboratively with those around them. Of course, it was a long time ago, in a social landscape that was vastly more cautious and restrictive than it is currently, but I remember worrying very much that I'd made a mistake transferring into MTech. It didn't seem as open or collaborative as I had hoped back then, and I remember wanting a greater sense of community than I was able to access at the time. I certainly wasn't about to spend $35,000 a year just to make music alone on my laptop. I wanted to meet more people and work with folks and create art I never would have created otherwise, and for a variety of reasons, I did precious little of any of those things for the first stretch of my journey.

I emerged from that first semester a little demoralized, and a little bruised & battered on account of the B– I'd gotten in Analog Electronics (I did blow up an op-amp, but in my defense, I had literally never done anything electronics-related before, so there). Things began to blossom a little more the following semester, when I started taking the first actually music-related courses in MTech. I took CMS with Adam Rokhsar, which was where I worked with Rain Edward for the first time, and where Mel Fisch inspired my initial exploration of hyperpop and drum & bass. I met Chris Sanders in Analog Recording Technology; the two of us would end up taking the stage at MTech Invasion 2.0 a year and a half later. Still, things felt quiet and somewhat isolating; nobody seemed to be really looking to work together, or perhaps I was just looking in the wrong places. Either way, there was a definite paucity of MTech bands and collectives that I wished would be filled. It seemed like an incredible waste of potential for all of the artistic skill on display in this program to go towards solo projects rather than working alongside others to create things one could never make by themselves.

That brings us to last fall, when I started this blog. I did so because I wanted to create a space for people to engage critically with each other's music, and I thought that anonymously offering my own opinions might be a good way to generate discussion. At the time, the blog was very small, so I was relatively desperate for content to review, and I wanted to stay away from reviewing the music of people whom I knew personally in order to avoid being affected by personal bias. Luckily for me, there were a bunch of then-freshmen who brought with them a prolific and sizeable catalog of solo work. This random dude from Chicago named nickwuh was the first to land on my radar; the article I wrote reviewing his hyperpop LP us against the universe was just the fifth album review I wrote on this blog. TypeOh's Seeker, Jaden Tyler's Sadfish, and Thai Thai's TELEVISED SUICIDE all made it into my queue over the subsequent couple of weeks. I found a great many things to enjoy about all four projects, and I spent much of the semester getting acquainted with the artists and their music from behind the comfort of my pseudonym-derived anonymity.*

 

*There's a couple of funny stories resulting from this. I remember meeting Mathias (Thai Thai) and Luke (TypeOh) for the first time on the eighth floor, and trying really hard to act natural given that I knew them already and was a huge fan of their work, but they had no idea who I was at all! About a week or so after that, I almost straight up blew my cover during a Collegium listening session; I was onstage presenting a draft version of "Pathological (Who I Am)", one of my own songs, and Jaden raised their hand to give feedback, and I called on them by name despite never having met them in person before. Oops. Definitely seemed a little sus after that.

 

 

Pictured above: The members of 3rd Ave, pictured here during the original MTech Invasion last spring. From left to right: Suzie Sanford, nickwuh, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo Saha, TypeOh, Thai Thai, Milk Duds.
 

When the announcement came that these four, along with Suzie Sanford and Anshoo Saha, had formed a band together, I was really excited. The new group was called 3rd Ave, and the release of their debut single, "Gottem", felt like a big event. People were hyped, myself included, and the consensus seemed to be that it was just really cool to see all of these artists come together and make new music. For me, 3rd Ave felt like the first post-pandemic breath of life into MTech. Watching them come together was like seeing the first green shoots sprouting after a forest fire. For the first time in a long, long time, people were putting their heads together and pushing each other to new heights. I've eagerly followed the group's trajectory all the way from "Gottem" at the beginning of this year to the subject of today's article: CYBERBULLY, their full-length debut album. It's been a long road getting to this point, and there's certainly been a lot of anticipation leading up to this release, especially considering 3rd Ave's prolific run of pre-album singles—"ackerman" broke 100,000 streams on Spotify not too long ago! Going into this album, I was anxious to see how 3rd Ave's existing strengths would carry through this new project, and whether or not they'd make any daring new decisions to push towards a new sound for the group.

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave performing "CYBERBULLY", then titled "Woppy", at the original MTech Invasion on April 13th, 2023. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, TypeOh, Thai Thai, nickwuh, & Anshoo. Photography by Alex Ehasz.
 

The album opens with the title track, "CYBERBULLY", which begins with the swelling, cinematic synth intro 3rd Ave customarily uses to open their shows, beginning as a quiet drone before rising to a gale-force howl.* The epic swell concludes with a sudden drop into silence and a flip of a sample from the Bleach soundtrack, setting the stage with a dark industrial backdrop ornamented with slamming, distorted bass and dusty, digital crunk drums. Thai Thai kicks off the performances with a bang, spitting an agile hook with plenty of braggadocious spirit. His rapid sixteenth-note flows whiz by like a boxer's fists, highlighting his athletic rhythmic chops and raw, confident vocal delivery. He sounds hungry here, eager to prove 3rd Ave's tenacity & grit, which is a good note on which to open the album. His verse pulls back a little, dropping into a bellicose triplet flow that finds a really nice pocket. TypeOh's aggressive second verse follows shortly thereafter, his lean, taut delivery making for a nice contrast with Thai Thai's more textured vocals. The two trade lines back and forth near the end of the song, which I thought was a really cool moment that served as an effective introduction to the relationship between the two rappers. Opening the LP like this, with what amounts to a duo piece between TypeOh and Thai Thai, was certainly an interesting decision, but I actually really like it given that these two anchor much of the record. It's a compelling intro track that gives us a peek at two of our main characters, while also serving as a tantalizing preview that doesn't reveal too much.

*Listening to it for the first time, it felt weird to hear the intro to this track without Anshoo screaming "MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE" over the top. I suppose I've seen it live one too many times lmao

The second track, "ALASKA", kicks off with a sparse synth line that almost sounds like it could have popped out of an early-2010s Pitbull track. The Europop influences that poke through the surface in the two-voice sawtooth harmony make for an interesting blend with the track's bouncy Southern trap instrumental. TypeOh's first verse is an excellent lead-in, as his flow begins as a relatively sparse staccato affair before gradually speeding up faster and faster until it reaches peak intensity right at its end. It's here that I hear the trademark "Luke's dorm" vocal sound for the first time, as the lead vocals bear some weird proximity effects and squelchy mouth noises that come through a little too much, but it's nothing too distracting. Anshoo makes a surprise appearance here, delivering a high sung chorus that sounds unexpectedly angelic. The melody is insanely catchy and gives him a chance to show off his excellent singing voice, augmented with some tasteful Autotune that elevates his already-great performance to the next level. Thai Thai takes the next verse, coming in with his trademark breezy triplet flow before we return back to the hook. Even with two choruses, it feels a little too short to me; on first listen, I remember being really annoyed that the track didn't keep going! Anshoo's work crafting a hook here was truly exquisite, as he successfully managed to put together a chorus I just want to keep replaying over and over. I love the track’s embrace of pop aesthetics in its presentation, especially its supremely hooky nature; this ranks as one of 3rd Ave’s best choruses ever, and its straightforward approach to pop rap cements it as one of my favorites on the album.

 

Pictured above: TypeOh (center) daps up Anshoo (right) from the crowd while nickwuh (left) delivers vocals at MTech Invasion 2.0 on November 17th, 2023. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"FREAK" brings a guest verse from MACK, one of Jaden Tyler's old collaborators from high school. MACK’s opening verse flows over a drum pattern that reads like a modern spin on Miami bass, with flurries of rapid-fire hi-hats, distant siren-like synth leads, and smooth 808s evoking comparisons to Rico Nasty and 112; this is as quintessential Jaden Tyler production as you're going to find anywhere on the album. MACK's flow is nimble yet nonchalant, striking a nice balance somewhere in the middle that lends him a certain flippant, easygoing confidence. The back-and-forth interplay between Jaden’s stereoized backing vocals and MACK’s lead vocals coming down the center works really nicely. After a short drum ornamented by little conga runs and fun percussion loops, Jaden’s middle verse maximizes the comedic potential of their deadpan delivery. Thai Thai’s third verse is a bit more mixed for me—I'm not a huge fan of the more nasally delivery on this one. However, TypeOh’s closing verse flows really well over a loosely old-school beat like this, calling back to his "Gottem" flow for a second, name-dropping Andrew Luck in a verse that references his Bay Area roots. This track was a bit of a sleeper for me; I wasn't a huge fan of it on first listen, but MACK's verse has grown on me a lot in the time since, and the overall fun-loving vibe of the track is a nice break from the darker & smoother cuts on either side of it in the tracklist.

On "HIEROGLYPHS", rage drums and thick 808s provide a relentless driving pulse underneath a muted, chantlike synth lead. Thai Thai’s slightly distorted vocal processing and more low-down vocal delivery on this one works really well with the track’s edgier vibe. While not his most larger-than-life moment on the album, in retrospect, this might be one of my favorite verses from Mathias on the LP. Anshoo's smooth Autotuned hook channels Gunna in a big way, which is an interesting cross-section I really like. TypeOh's verse fits well, but I'm less of a fan of the distortion when it's on Luke's voice rather than Mathias's; it seems to give Luke some slightly weird frequency content in the upper mid frequency range. Like its predecessor, "ALASKA", this track definitely feels a little too short to me—which I suppose only means it's ripe for a future remix!

 

Pictured above: 3rd Ave performing "BOP IT" at Invasion 2.0. From left to right: nickwuh, Jaden Tyler, Anshoo, Jaden Tyler. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"BOP IT" saw a release a few weeks ago as one of the lead singles from CYBERBULLY. Admittedly, I missed this one when it first came out, but in the context of the full album it's really grown on me. nickwuh’s kinda hilarious take on bouncy Jaden-like synth rap works really well, giving TypeOh a slinky foundation for him to flow over in a cross-section that again calls back to “Gottem”. Jaden’s appearance here is one of my favorite performances on the whole album, bringing a supremely catchy chorus with a super fun flow; their verse is also loaded a bunch of hilarious punchlines ("I'm doing laundry all the time 'cause I can't keep my sheets clean", "Donald Trump starting five, I'm on his basketball team/I'm shootin' bricks to build a wall, but still got racks in my jeans", and "Never catch a felony, I'm Mr. Misdemeanor" being some of my favorites) that cements them as an excellent wild-card addition. The pacing of this track is one of its strongest points, with Jaden’s wild card middle verse bookended by TypeOh and Thai Thai’s more straightforward approaches. Speaking of Thai Thai, he definitely has a good amount of fun with his verse, playing with his inflection and delivery to switch it up and give his performance a little more spicy variation. Jaden's hook returns one more time at the end, supported by some pitched-down doubles. This track is another one that was a big sleeper for me, and it's definitely unique amongst the other cuts on the album in its at-once retro and modern dance-rap vibe.

The second of two guest appearances on the album, "TAMAGOTCHI" features River Hooks, marking the album’s shift into a heavier hyperpop slant. The track opens with an agile hook, performed by River; her nimble flow switches and thick, luscious harmonies instantly set the vibe of the track as being both chilled out and frantically energetic simultaneously, which is an interesting blend that somehow works really well. The frenetic synth arpeggiators and flickering drums communicate a ton of astral, feverish energy that synergizes really well with TypeOh’s really nice melodic verse. TypeOh brings a bunch of great melodies throughout his verse, merging his lithe & quick-footed rap flow with his penchant for catchy sung alternative rock melodies, last visible on Seeker. Anshoo’s more lowkey approach during his own verse also works really well to steadily ramp up the energy as the flow picks up speed. Eventually, we drop into nickwuh’s verse section, which is amazing and is a huge high point for me. This verse marks the first time he takes the spotlight on the album; the wait was well worth it, as he brings some beautiful tenor passages that lend the song a really incredible emotional climax. His lyrics deal with regret and existentialism, as he sings about having to "…pretend I'm a grown-ass man when I don't know what the fuck I'm doing", and "using anxiety as an excuse" to "suffocate" a past love interest; the steadily-climbing melody and growing harmony texture do a lot to make this verse feel like a true soul-baring confessional. He also brings some stunning high notes in an impassioned lead vocal performance that helps cast him as 3rd Ave's emotional core, an unguarded heart that languishes hidden behind TypeOh's bluster and Thai Thai's swagger. "TAMAGOTCHI" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and its cross-section between headbanger hyperpop and genuine vulnerability makes it one of my favorite things 3rd Ave has ever done.

 

Pictured above: Mathias Quilon (center), also known as Thai Thai, one of the centerpieces on "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES", pictured here at Invasion 2.0. From left to right: Jaden Tyler, Thai Thai, nickwuh, TypeOh. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

"HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" is a two-parter track that slows things down a little. Opening with a woozy, trem-heavy guitar line and tender vocals from Thai Thai, this piece calls back to Thai’s folk-inspired work on wait for me, stranger, and in many ways feels like his resident magnum opus on the album. He very much feels like the centerpiece of this track, delivering heartbroken couplets from behind a veil of airy pads and melancholic vinyl crackle. Following Thai's verse, there's a brief section where TypeOh and nickwuh trade lines back and forth—not a huge fan of the hard panning here, nor the slightly abrupt pop-ins on some of the lines, but the vocal performances are really strong and sell the emotional content really well. From there, the track hits a tempo speedup, bringing in a drum & bass breakbeat as TypeOh begins to spit, once again merging pop rock melody with his rapid-fire flow. Eventually, we hit a massive drop outlined by formant-shifted vocals and huge saw chords over a distorted trap beat in a moment that feels very much like classic nickwuh. I think the mix here suffers a little; the different elements feel like they crash together, and there's not a ton of space left for the listener to breathe here. Still, the sung melody here is catchy, and the formant shifting is really cool. The slowdown & reversal of the guitar parts, plus the switch into a new key that leads us into the "PIECES" half of the track, comes a bit out of left field, and felt a bit sudden to me. We're not left with a lot of time to absorb the new soundscape, as a downtempo moody trap beat comes crashing in as Thai Thai brings a Kid LAROI-esque half-screamed half-sung emo trap hook. I don’t love the aesthetic, but Thai’s vocal performance is really cool, and it’s nice to see him combine his tender singing voice with his screamed, raw delivery from some TELEVISED SUICIDE-era tracks. nickwuh and TypeOh both contribute sung verses, buoyed by distant harmonies and the occasional beat cut. The koto break at the end of the song is a really nice touch, with Thai’s subdued background vocals taking us out. I'm not the biggest fan of this track, but I do think that the artistic vision here was really ambitious, and I'd love for 3rd Ave to try more genre-bending long-form experimental tracks like this in the future!

"FACETIME", chronologically the first track the members of 3rd Ave worked on together, began as a TypeOh solo track before growing out into a 3rd Ave affair. A synth-heavy rage-rap banger that combines the poppy, hooky ethos of “ALASKA” with the rage aesthetic of Ken Carson and Trippie Redd, “FACETIME” ended the year in the number 5 spot on my Spotify Wrapped. TypeOh's hook is wickedly catchy, supported by lush, textured synth pads and economical trap drums. TypeOh and Thai Thai trade melodic verses that see both of them exploring new territory; both come up with some really catchy lines along the way and sound great overall. The track does feel a little short, and perhaps a bit less involved than many of the other tracks here, but I suppose that as the first 3rd Ave song ever, it's understandable for it to feel a bit less fleshed-out than some of the newer tracks. Still, the track is no less catchy for it, and nails the pop rap/rage crossover very well.

Atonal, outlined with various blips and beeps and mechanical sound effects, “???” is one of the most forceful tracks on the whole album. Distorted and angry, Thai Thai's first verse feels like "CUT UP" Part 2, as he brings an ultra-aggressive delivery. Thai’s lines are kinda hilarious (“I got an emo bitch, she like to kill herself” and "Walk in the room and the pussy get Gucci/I ain't bilingual, I only speak coochie" are the two that come to mind the most). TypeOh brings a similarly strong performance, though his voice seems to get swallowed by the bass on occasion. The mix on this track is another minor point of contention, as it feels to me like there's a lot of high mid stuff going on that can tend to take away space from the vocals. Either way, though, there's plenty here to focus on, and the track is a perfectly good bar track for its two minutes of runtime.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler's chaotic-neutral energy, pictured here at the CYBERBULLY release party on December 1st, 2023, at Highside Workshop in Bushwick. Also visible is nickwuh staying hydrated in the back. Photograph by me.
 

"ECSTASY" feels like another experiment with rage, embracing a sound palette that reads like an ethereal crossover between the works of Playboi Carti and arkangel, with distant leads and airy synth pads creating a floaty, somewhat metallic vibe. The presentation of the chorus on this one is a little… weird, and I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the way the subject matter is depicted. nickwuh's second verse also feels like it takes away some momentum from the progression of the track to me. Still, the sound design on the track is really nice, and I really like the densely-packed, thickly-textured beat on this one. The moment when everything except the drums drops out to start off TypeOh's verse is really cool. The following chorus seems to lose a lot of the mix, as much of it disappears into these huge synth pads that enter around that point. The outro makes up for it, though, as Jaden Tyler busts out an absolutely sick synth/guitar solo that employs some really nice bends and ornaments. I'd wished for some time that Jaden would make more use of his guitar skills on 3rd Ave's songs, and I suppose this song delivered on that front at least! While I wasn't a huge fan of some of the decisions that were made on this track, the overall framework of "ECSTASY" is very strong, and I very much like the soundscape and texture the members of 3rd Ave were able to achieve here.

 

On "'05 ACCORD", a warped chordal sample takes us into a sparse drum pattern accompanied by occasional orchestral hits and reversed swells. TypeOh’s delivery is really nice on this one, while Jaden’s lackadaisical flow makes for an interesting transition that goes across rather well. “I get to the green like a motherfuckin’ Shrek/Money so big like an ogre” is hilarious and might be the funniest line on the album. I think Jaden's slower eighth note flow on this track might be part of the reason why the zingers hit so hard; the slower flow allows a lot of time for the listener to gravitate towards his lyrics and punchlines, which are both as good as ever this time around. Jaden's verse is super fun and transitions into Thai Thai's breakneck flow in a really nice way. The contrast between TypeOh, Jaden, and Thai Thai is managed particularly well on this track, and the pacing gives everyone just enough space to do what they do without ever wearing out their welcome or growing stale.

"LSD" is a 100 gecs/underscores-flavored pop punk/hyperpop crossover track buoyed by heavy guitars. TypeOh takes the first verse, and he sounds fucking great over this pop punk vibe. His vocal melodies are consistently excellent, and his performance makes for a surprisingly natural fit over the chugging power chords and cut time, uptempo drums. Thai Thai takes the hook, bringing a tender rendition of the singable chorus melody; his performance here is genuinely amazing and ranks as one of my favorite performances of his on the album. The backing vocals also do an excellent job translating Thai's performance to a larger-than-life scale; he sounds truly titanic, which works really well for this track. nickwuh’s verse feels very us against the universe to me, taking full advantage of his soaring tenor range. Thai's guitar solo in the middle section also absolutely rips (Dear Mathias: please play more guitar). I really admire the restraint exhibited by the group insofar as not giving the track's chorus to Nick, which seems like the obvious choice given his pop punk tenor voice. Instead, Thai takes the hook for much of the song. We get to hear Nick sing the hook eventually, but the group makes us wait until the very end, which I thought was a great choice. Finally hearing nickwuh and Thai Thai sing the chorus in harmony with each other was a great emotional climax on the back end of this record. I'm a huge fan of the production on this one, and I really enjoy 3rd Ave’s forays into pop rock. I can only hope that they decide to do more songs like this in the future!

 

Pictured above: "JAE CROWDER" goes crazy in a live setting, seen here at the CYBERBULLY release party. Photograph by me.
 

An ethereal, heavenly flute & piano sample opens "JAE CROWDER", before suddenly switching key and veering into a super dark, menacing trap instrumental. The intro switchup goes insanely hard and might be one of my favorite curveball moments on the album. TypeOh’s relentless hook goes crazy, with a driving staccato forcefulness that feels like he's pummeling a punching bag, and is a standout moment for him on the LP. Thai’s opening verse is a really nice change of pace for him, as he breaks into an Autotuned falsetto. He sounds smooth as hell, and makes a great vibe switch from his usual rapped delivery, as he channels Anshoo's characteristically slick, controlled style for a second. (I actually mistook this verse for being one of Anshoo's on first listen, which speaks to how well Mathias adopted this style!) Jaden’s verse is also amazing; the “red paint/blue paint” line is hilarious, and Jaden's deadpan manages to sound properly menacing on this track, which goes really well with Thai and TypeOh's vibe. I do think the mix isn't perfect—Thai and Jaden both sound ever so slightly canned, and there is a bit too much mouth noise, especially in Jaden's vocals. Still, "JAE CROWDER" is one of my favorite tracks on the album, and in my personal opinion, it's the hardest "bar track" on the album. Its strategic usage of Luke, Mathias, and Jaden makes it feel like a fully-realized version of the "ackerman" lineup, employed in a way that fits them together perfectly.

The album’s last track, "MAWILE", drops us straight into a tender nickwuh hook. With co-production from nickwuh and Charlie, the elusive seventh member of 3rd Ave, this track leans into a soft indie hyperpop/Midwest emo vibe that feels like a true embracing of everything that makes 3rd Ave great. The guitars do some really cool tapped open-tuning riffs articulating a very pretty chord progression that also uses one of my personal favorite music theory tricks (namely, the minor iv chord in a major key! Try it, it sounds fucking great). The entrance of a bass guitar and some additional harmonies on top solidify the sensation of building to a peak, as filtered drums ratchet up the energy. The chorus hits with a wall of guitars, huge acoustic drums, and formant-shifted vocals for the hook. The hook itself is insanely catchy, incorporating bits of the melody of "HOLD MY HAND", which I thought made for a nice callback. We drop down a little into a sonic landscape carried by organic acoustic guitars and some really beautiful sung vocals from TypeOh, who turns in an achingly heartfelt performance for this middle section that proves his prowess as a vocalist. A fakeout buildup sets up another chorus, but instead drops us into a richly-layered bridge sung by Thai Thai over a J-pop-esque piano part. The second drop, when it does hit, sounds absolutely massive, with guitars and bass and synth pads and arpeggiators coalescing into a gigantic wall. Thai also completely sells the emotion of this part of the track, singing some beautiful passages; I also love his lyric of "sticks and stones/Will build a home", which I thought was a touching way to end off the bridge. The last hook is absolutely titanic, with every single member of 3rd Ave (minus Jaden) contributing to a huge chorus of voices that all melt together into one colossal texture. Even Charlie makes a cameo appearance, as he sings the last few lines of the song before we drop down and out. Ending on this track was an interesting choice—it's probably the most pop 3rd Ave has ever gotten, but as an emotional vehicle, the song is unassailable, and works remarkably well as an earnest closing statement from the band's members. All of them turn in some of their best vocals on the whole album, and Charlie and Nick's production sounds beautiful. Part of me wishes it were easier to pick out the voices of the individual members in the ending harmonies, but even so, that's a relatively pedantic nitpick, and the overall result is still wonderfully heartfelt and captures something intangible about youth in a really beautiful way.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler (left) and nickwuh (right) performing together at the CYBERBULLY release party.
 

CYBERBULLY, as a body of work, makes for a uniquely compelling showcase of what makes 3rd Ave great. The LP's production ranges from the simple, hard-hitting bounce of songs like "ALASKA" and "JAE CROWDER" to the heady, blippy maximalism of "LSD" and "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES". Each and every member of 3rd Ave turns in a string of inspired performances, culminating in a consistently strong body of verses and hooks rife with inspired flow switches and catchy melodic shapes. Everyone gets a chance to shine on this album, and the album is loaded with some all-time great performances—Anshoo’s buttery-smooth hook on “ALASKA”, Jaden’s tongue-in-cheek middle verse on “BOP IT”, nickwuh’s angelic bridge on “TAMAGOTCHI”, TypeOh’s forceful uppercut of a chorus on “JAE CROWDER”, Thai Thai’s surprisingly sweet hook on “LSD”… even Suzie’s backing vocals on “MAWILE” are a really nice touch. Most of the members have never sounded better than on this record, with all five main vocalists delivering confident raps and soft, tender singing in equal measure. Special shoutout goes to Luke here, whose singing performances were a consistent pleasant surprise. Anshoo also gets a nod from me, as he unveils his unexpectedly effortless singing voice to great effect on "ALASKA" and "HIEROGLYPHS". I really admire everyone's commitment to versatility in their vocal performances, and hope that they continue to push themselves and try and get new and interesting sounds out of their voices from here forward.

 

 

Pictured above: "DOWN, ONE… DOWN, TWO!" Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

The album is also quite representative, showcasing stylistic bits & pieces from each of the individual members' solo discographies on the way—perhaps most notably the lean & mean, forceful, bounce-heavy, battle rap-flavored bluster of TypeOh's Seeker, sonic characteristics which appear in spades across CYBERBULLY's tracklist. The colorful, sweeping grandiosity of nickwuh's us against the universe also makes for a visible presence on this record, with Nick's trademark thickly-layered VST synth sounds, emotive melodic sensibilities, and texture-based mixing philosophy coming to prominence on tracks like "TAMAGOTCHI" and "MAWILE". While those two albums are probably the biggest contributors to the final sound of CYBERBULLY, the clever, tongue-in-cheek, wry humor & lighthearted spirit of Jaden Tyler's Sadfish is a key component of tracks such as "BOP IT" and "FREAK". "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" and "LSD" call back to Thai Thai's acoustic folk-flavored wait for me, stranger EP from earlier this year, and even his TELEVISED SUICIDE-era screamed-raw vocal delivery makes a cameo appearance on the hook of "PIECES"! In this way, the album does manage to be something more than the sum of a bunch of solo projects; it manages to find the crossover points at which all of its members' styles intersect, and create art that lives within that space and pushes its members to new heights.

 

Pictured above: Jaden Tyler, 3rd Ave's resident comedian, performing at MTech Invasion 2.0. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

However, once I'd had a couple full listens through the album, I did start to realize that CYBERBULLY… has a bit of an identity crisis. There are points at which I felt like the album was unsure on how to present its mood, or realize the tone it was going for. I think part of this has to do with the album's sense of humor, or lack thereof; it seems to go back and forth as to how hard it wants to commit to being funny. Jaden's off-the-wall punchlines and deadpan delivery are probably the funniest aspect of this record, and I generally think their contributions are well-integrated and usually make for a nice, middle-verse vibe switch. This album is loaded with hilarious lines, some of which I've noted above, and the existence of those lines definitely positively factors into my overall enjoyment of the album. On the other hand, though, there are just as many lines that seem like they're supposed to be funny, but for whatever reason, aren't presented in a way that makes their humorous intent obvious. For example—"I got an emo bitch, she like to kill herself" is an outrageously funny line, but the aggressive vocal delivery and the dark instrumental of "???", the track on which it appears, completely siphons all of the humor out of it. A similar thing happens with the chorus on "ECSTASY", where the lyrics detail sex in a way that's so over-the-top and gratuitous that it could have been really funny if presented differently. Moments like these tend to get robbed of their humor and just sorta end up being head-scratchers, and I, as a listener, get pulled out of the experience while I wonder as to whether or not that line was supposed to be a joke or not. Luke's confident bravado, Anshoo's robotic panache, and Mathias's breezy nonchalance tend to come across in a way that belies Jaden's comical zaniness and Nick's earnest vulnerability, creating a certain narrative split between the different members. I sometimes feel as though I'm being pulled in a new emotional direction every time a new verse comes on! What I will say is that I've seen all of these songs performed live, and in a live setting, all the lyrics kinda just whiz by; in that space, the energy is what matters more than anything, and I never really picked up on these little idiosyncrasies. In fact, if I were judging this album strictly off of how well it works as a live performance, then it would be just about perfect (the album release show was lit as fuck). But listening to the songs on streaming, in a sit-down setting, wearing headphones, with a little more space to focus in on the lyrics, it starts to be evident that the album can sometimes struggle with how to present its subject matter. 

 

The aforementioned was just one facet of a few things that led me to feeling disappointed by this album, especially in the first couple days after its release. Part of me felt like the 3rd Ave formula I'd grown to know & love during the group's prolific string of pre-album singles had perhaps grown a little stale. Another part of me felt as though songs like "HIEROGLYPHS" and "FREAK" retreaded the groundwork of "ackerman" and "Gottem" a little too closely, while songs like "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" and "???" strayed a little too far from 3rd Ave's established strengths. Yet another part of me wished we'd gotten more Anshoo, whose occasional killer verses and choruses dotted throughout the album really just made me want more. Still another part of me wanted to give this album a zero out of 10 on the sole basis of the fact that we never got the long-awaited Suzie verse I've been waiting a whole year for. In light of all of this, I had to reach the conclusion that perhaps I wasn't being entirely fair to this album. Coming off of the past year and a half, during which I've been a huge fan of not only 3rd Ave, but also all of its members, I've been itching to hear this debut, and my standards for it were definitely really high. It's tough to take a group with as many myriad strengths as 3rd Ave, and feature all of those diverse strengths in a single body of work. Especially in a collective as large as this one, any body of work is, by nature, a compromise. In this regard, the album is a largely successful one, even though at least a couple things out of the million things I wanted this album to do fell by the wayside in the process.

 

 

Pictured above: Thai Thai (left), Jaden Tyler (center), and TypeOh (right) performing at MTech Invasion 2.0. Photograph by Steven Pisano.
 

Perhaps CYBERBULLY is one of those situations where the answer is never quite as tantalizing as the question—in this case, the question being just what 3rd Ave were actually gonna sound like when their long-awaited debut finally arrived. Now, with the album finally firmly lodged in our brains, we can assess what the album does well. This album embodies fun as a concept better than almost anything else I can think of. Everything about it is wild and hedonistic, and its energy is genuinely infectious. When TypeOh is spitting, Anshoo is gliding over the beat, and nickwuh is singing his heart out, the emotional effect is truly something to behold, and the moments where this album works… simply work. The vibes are off the charts, the energy is immaculate, and the hip hop bangers on this album cement themselves as prime dancefloor rave material for a variety of social functions. Aside from those uptempo moments, the album boasts plenty of real emotional weight, and its moments of soul-searching and contemplation are honest and heartfelt. "MAWILE" is probably the clearest example of this, but "LSD" and "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" also provide plenty of emotional insight into the members of 3rd Ave that listeners can latch onto and relate to. Managing that dichotomy between 1) being invincible, shit-talking battle rappers who are levels above normal people problems and 2) being real, vulnerable, relatable humans is a hard task for anyone, but CYBERBULLY manages that split very well, and that in itself is admirable.

 

That's not even scratching the surface of what 3rd Ave represents as a symbol, a clean summation of all of the things I've grown to love about our little community. As always, the group remains resolutely committed to the pursuit of good sounds, and aren't afraid to take a few risks to get there. Mathias's contributions stuck out to me especially here—his adoption of Anshoo's glassy Autotuned sound on "JAE CROWDER", his tender rendition of the pop punk chorus on "LSD", even his long-form through-composed songwriting on "HOLD MY HAND // PIECES" all stick out as being good little experiments where he pushes himself outside of his comfort zone, often to great effect. It's clear that the group isn't scared to experiment, to grow and evolve, to push the boundaries of people's expectations as to what music they're allowed to make, and to have fun while doing it. And on the eighth floor, and to me, they're a shining example of all that's possible in our program, and the great things we can achieve when we put our heads together. In that regard, CYBERBULLY is a smashing success, and is an album I'll likely be listening to for a long, long time. Wherever 3rd Ave goes next, I am certain they'll continue to push the boundaries and create art that inspires both myself and many others, just like they've always done.      

 

Personal enjoyment score: 8.5 out of 10

 

Standout tracks: "ALASKA", "HIEROGLYPHS", "BOP IT", "TAMAGOTCHI (feat. RIVER HOOKS)", "LSD", "JAE CROWDER", "MAWILE"

 

 

Pictured above: Mathias's Invasion 2.0-era replacement for his iconic Milk Duds. Photo by Kat Yeaton. If you scrolled this far, thank you!

LIVE SHOW REVIEW: Moon Sand Land - Sundown Bar, 3/29/23

Moon Sand Land's live act showcases a uniquely spirited and soulful indie band at the height of their powers.

Reviewed by Alex "Ash" Han 

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Stream Moon Sand Land's existing discography via their LinkTree page!

 

LATE ONE WEDNESDAY NIGHT, I extricated myself from the anxiety-ridden depths of attempting to prepare for my Music History presentation (which was due that Friday, and prior to that Wednesday had not been started), and ventured across Brooklyn into Queens to see a five-piece indie band by the name of Moon Sand Land. Though I was unfamiliar with their work prior to the show, I was convinced to come by Moon Sand Land's synth specialist, fellow MTech senior Taylor Hurt, whom I already knew as the keyboardist and backing vocalist for the prolific MTech psychedelic indie outfit Strawberry Launch. As if my own personal soft spot for Strawberry Launch's existing discography wasn't enough, Taylor also occupies the unique position of being one of the nicest people I've ever met, while also possessing an insanely good musician's ear alongside a level of sheer musicianship that routinely has me questioning how I somehow managed to wander into the same undergraduate program as her! Suffice it to say, my academic duties could wait—the prospect of getting to see Moon Sand Land performing live had me genuinely excited and ready to watch what I was sure would be a wonderful show.

Sundown Bar, located in the heart of Ridgewood just off the M line, made for a really intimate setting. After a short detour down a warmly-lit staircase, I emerged into the performance space in the surprisingly spacious basement of the bar. Vibes in there felt good, even to a stone-cold sober soul such as myself, and the space felt small enough to be cozy without being so tight as to be claustrophobic. I got a distinctly homely vibe from the soft purple and blue spotlights and Christmas-like LED lights decorating the walls around the stage, in conjunction with the candlelit tables up and down the room; it made for a nice, intimate hybrid between a dance floor and lounge space. I brushed shoulders with a few bargoers as I made my way to the front of the floor, put on my earplugs, and waited for the show to begin.

 

Pictured above: Jason Ross, lead vocalist & guitarist in Moon Sand Land. Photography courtesy of @keeganbaroneart on Instagram!
 

“Any day that involves a rehearsal or show is a highlight of my week. I get such joy out of playing these songs for people and the best part is that I can get to share the spotlight with such immensely talented people. Playing music has to be fun, otherwise why do it?” –Jason Ross, lead vocalist & guitarist

 

The night kicked off in epic fashion, as the band took the stage and came blasting out of the gates with a blistering rendition of "Red Strangers", the third track on their 2021 LP We Buy Smiles. Armed with a pounding 7/4 pulse and forceful guitar riffs, Moon Sand Land left a crater-sized impression that immediately set the tone for the rest of the night. Jason Ross, Moon Sand Land's frontman and lead vocalist, had a hell of a stage presence that made itself known right away. His vocals were excellent, maintaining a certain tenderness that was right at home amidst the cozy purple & green soft lighting of Sundown Bar, and rising to a truly cathartic fever pitch during the setlist's climactic peaks. He was hitting dance moves all over the place, spinning and jumping around with seemingly boundless energy, leaving no doubt that he was having a ton of fun up there. Jason's performance was nothing short of magnetic, filling the room with a perpetual charisma that the rest of the band matched at every turn; the seamless transition out of the end of "Red Strangers" to the palm-muted opening lick of the funky, nu-disco cut "New Matters" saw the infectious chemistry between our guitarists and rhythm section propel us forward with an even-greater sense of momentum. 

 

Pictured above: Alex Scheitinger (front), Moon Sand Land's bassist and backing vocalist, alongside Kai Barshack (back), Moon Sand Land's enigmatic drummer. Photography courtesy of @keeganbaroneart on Instagram!

“The Sundown show felt really special since it was the first time we’ve played in front of a crowd in over a month since our Hartford show, which I consider one of our best. Don’t get me wrong, New England crowds are sweet, but building off that momentum it was so sweet to come home and play a gig on our home turf… The new songs really shined more than ever and I couldn’t have asked for a more receptive audience or more kind bands to share the bill with.” –Alex Scheitinger, bassist & backing vocalist

Indeed, it was with "New Matters" that I first got a taste of the intrinsic funk inherent to Moon Sand Land's style. The bassist, Alex Scheitinger, played what appeared to be a Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI, a six-stringed Jaguar-style bass guitar typically tuned a full octave below standard guitar tuning. He brought a ton of super funky rhythmic passages, combining with the drummer to form a lethally solid and infectiously fun rhythm section. His backing vocals entered the show sporadically, serving mostly as additional flavor in select spots, but when they did appear, it made for a wonderfully tasteful augmentation to the band's already towering sound. Speaking of, the drummer, Kai Barshack, kept a very solid pulse throughout with a ton of fun spot fills and extra touches that gave the groove a huge, larger-than-life personality. He also wore a massive grin on his face pretty much the whole time, which for me just spoke to the amount of fun they were having. Lead guitarist Daniel Lerner played a Gibson SG through a massive, complex pedalboard, combining creative use of wah, delay, and chorus into a simple yet incredibly effective modular sound that allowed him to slide from tight indie funk to all-out headbanger rock with ease. He played with masterful precision alongside an innate sense of soul, bringing a tightly focused, well-rounded performance that not only showcased a ton of technical proficiency, but also complemented Jason's performance on rhythm guitar and vocals in a powerhouse duo that largely stole the show and carried us through the night.

 

 

Pictured above: An instance of a uniquely common phenomenon throughout the show, wherein Daniel (left) and Taylor (right) moved so fast they started to blur! Photography courtesy of… well, me, actually, which explains the blur. Dammit, Jim, I'm a musician, not a photographer.
 

“This was truly one for the books… the Sundown Bar show felt like the most in-sync and connected show we'd played. It was one of those shows that served as a reminder for why we make music, why we perform live, why we exist in this industry and put ourselves out there. I really consider myself lucky to be in this band of close friends, where we get to share our sound with great people in really cool spaces. Wednesday's show was seriously special." –Daniel Lerner, lead guitarist

 

That's not to say that the synergy with the rest of the band was lacking at all, though, as they never seemed to be in danger of falling out of sync, and maintained a resolutely locked-in performance that radiated the feel of a group that's been playing together a very, very long time. This was perhaps showcased nowhere better than the band's incredible performance of "Burning", a new song that as of now remains unreleased. I hope the studio version, when it does come out, maintains the same raw energy as I got from the live version, which hit like a sledgehammer in the best possible way! This song marked the only point in the band's hour-long set where I got pulled out of the experience, though only because I was headbanging so hard I thought I lost an earring, and I had to stop dancing in order to make sure it was still attached! It was only once I'd stopped headbanging that I noticed that everyone else around me was still going. The entire basement was reduced to a sea of heads, thoroughly immersed and captivated by the music, bobbing up and down in perfect unison; the multicolored waves of hair, locked in sync with one another, made a rather definitive statement—it was Moon Sand Land's world, and we were just along for the ride.

 

 

Pictured above: Drummer Kai Barshack's signature stank face, captured here during the band's performance of "Table Tennis". Photography courtesy of yours truly!

“We’ve been using our most recent shows to test out new material and it’s incredibly gratifying when songs like 'Burning' and 'Table Tennis' can hold their weight against “Cut the Carpets”. In fact, [our show at Sundown] was the best that we played 'Burning' yet! Now that we have a baseline for how it should sound, I’m excited to see how that one flourishes at future shows.” –Jason Ross, lead vocalist & guitarist

 

We got a bit of a come-down moment a ways into the night, when Jason unexpectedly cued the band into a cover of The Spinners' 1972 R&B classic "I'll Be Around", which made for a vibe switch that felt wholly earned and natural. In contrast to the original rendition's upbeat horn sections, soulful layers of backing vocals, and vinyl-crackle warmth, the Moon Sand Land rendition embraced a sort of smaller-scale intimacy built on Jason's evocative vocals and Daniel's verdant washes of guitars. I hadn't expected such a hard-hitting, kinetic, force-of-nature band like Moon Sand Land to pull off a cover like this, but their humble, almost-rootsy approach, visible elsewhere in songs like "Slow Street", translated remarkably well to their rendering of an essential Motown classic.

 

Pictured above: Taylor Hurt, flying across the keys. Photography courtesy of @keeganbaroneart on Instagram!
 

“Our show at the Sundown Bar was hands down the best show we’ve ever played, at least in my opinion. It’s not about whether or not the songs were the tightest we’ve ever played them, it’s totally about the energy we brought to the room and the amount of fun we were having on stage. That night we were all locked in the same wavelength of enjoyment, and I think the audience felt that too. I always have so much fun playing these shows and I can never stop dancing when I’m playing with MSL!” –Taylor Hurt, keyboardist & synth player

 

Perhaps my singular (mostly tongue-in-cheek) point of contention with the show was the lack of a Taylor Hurt keyboard solo! No, Taylor's contributions to the soundscape were mostly pretty economical—but an extra pad layer here and there did a lot to beef up the sound of Moon Sand Land, which filled the Sundown basement with a sense of scale that for me evoked the feeling of a much, much larger arena. When Taylor's Juno-6 did break through the surface as a lead instrument, it never failed to put a smile on my face—sometimes, less truly is more, and Taylor's usage of the synthesizer as an occasional flavoring rather than as a core element of the Moon Sand Land sound made those moments when we got a taste of it that much sweeter.

By the time we reached the finale, the We Buy Smiles opener "Cut the Carpets", it felt to me like the energy in the room had carried us all the way to the moon and back, and yet no one onstage seemed tired in the slightest. The band proceeded to pull out a breakneck, earth-shaking rendition of the song from somewhere deep in their seemingly boundless reserves of energy, and the track's soaring, modal-interchange-driven chorus hit with the same sheer force of exultation that they'd wielded when they first made their bombastic entrance. Kai well and truly let it rip on the drums, imbuing the song with a kinetic, driving pulse that snowballed with Alex's relentless bass playing to create a thundering, unstoppable groove; buoyed by Taylor's touches of ambient sparkle, Daniel's guitar skyrocketed to a towering, meteoric wail, and Jason's cathartic, soaring chants of "so cut the carpets" took on this oddly freeing quality to them, as if, just for a few more minutes, we could forget about the rest of the world and enjoy this moment together. The show ended after a well-spent hour, but something tells me that it could have gone on for another full hour, and I still would have felt that it ended too soon.

 

Pictured above: Jason delivers heartfelt vocals during the band's performance of "Burning". Photography courtesy of yours truly!
 

Suffice it to say, there's a long list of things to love about Moon Sand Land's live act. It's been a long while since I've seen a group of artists locked in such perfect synergy with their audience, and Moon Sand Land delivered a truly ascendant experience that seemingly effortlessly swept up and captivated a whole room. It was clear to me that the band was having loads of fun, and that gave them a uniquely radiant stage presence that permeated the experiences of everyone watching; it was impossible to watch them, lost in the musical nirvana they'd created up there, without smiling or tapping my feet or moving in time to the groove. For what it's worth, the band seemed extremely well-rehearsed and experienced, but something tells me that each member of Moon Sand Land could have suddenly started playing in a different time signature than the next and I might not have noticed or cared; I was utterly swept up in the experience, lost in the music, that singular hour filled not so much with clear memory as it is colorful, vivid flashes of a full-body experience I suspect I'm not going to see again anytime soon. In summary, this little basement gig beneath Sundown Bar was one of the best live shows I've seen in a long time. Moon Sand Land did say they buy smiles, but that Wednesday night, they gave away a whole room's worth for free. Go see them, and perhaps you'll leave wearing one of your own as well.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Moon Sand Land is playing on Monday, April 17th, at Crossroads in Garwood, New Jersey, and again on Sunday, April 23rd, at the Windjammer Bar in Ridgewood, Queens! Go see them—I promise you won't regret it.