Spring break brought lots of great new music from across the MTech program.
Written by Ash & Reggie Katz in collaboration
Hi all and welcome back to Singles Spotlight! I hope you all have been weathering midterms well, and that you had a restful spring break (I could have used another week myself, but oh well). In any case, our community is at least slightly more well-rested than the norm, and we've got a really high-caliber batch of singles this month to look at as a result! As always, make sure to stream all of these artists' songs via the links we've provided below, and I will see you all further down the page!
&seb - Colorblind
Reviewed by Ash
Stream "Colorblind" by visiting &seb's Linktree! Also, don't forget to check out the track's associated (AI generated!!) music video on YouTube.
Lots of you have probably already met Sebastian Brunner-Stolovitzky already; as one of the ever-helpful studio monitors on the eighth floor, he's had plenty of opportunities to get acquainted with those of us in MTech. Sebastian released "Colorblind" at the tail end of last month, under his artist moniker &seb. I was a newcomer to the world of Sebastian's music—having known him solely as a studio monitor and not as an artist, I was excited to see what sort of thing he'd put out. Sometimes, when someone I know, but whose music I'm unfamiliar with, releases something new, I like to make a game out of trying to guess what genre it's going to fall into based on the person's personality; of course, I'm usually wrong, but I feel like it validates my people-reading skills on the rare occasion when I manage to make a somewhat decent guess! For what little it's worth, I'd guessed that the music of &seb would fall somewhere in alternative R&B territory, like a cross between Joji & Giveon. If any of you have already listened to "Colorblind", you already know I was completely wrong; instead, the song takes a lot of cues from modern disco-pop that embraces a certain brand of retro nostalgia, and ends up feeling more like Ellie Goulding crossed with Prince than it does Joji and Giveon. "Colorblind" is catchy and funky, and showcases an impressive level of polish that definitely helped it to stick in my mind over these past few weeks; go listen to it, and I'm sure it'll stick just as firmly in yours as well!
"I initially wrote ['Colorblind'] for a gig I had at the Mercury Lounge back in July 2022—my band's set was one song too short, so I needed to add one more original. I only had two weeks before the gig, so I wrote it in two nights, the fastest I've ever written a song." –Sebastian Brunner-Stolovitzky a.k.a. &seb
"Colorblind" opens on a summery, peppy disco-flavored guitar riff over a shimmery soundscape of warped guitars and upbeat synth lines. Sebastian's vocals inhabit a low bass register that lends the whole song a distinctly mellow feeling that synergizes nicely with the funky pop presentation of the whole shebang; where a typical retro-pop disco revivalist affair like this might employ a tenor vocalist for some soaring falsetto passages and high belted lines, Sebastian's tender bass vocals make for a nice subversion of the usual vocal qualities typically associated with this genre of music. The prechorus brings some funky guitar chords interwoven with tasteful, muted synthesizer stabs that play off of each other in creating a rhythmically complex groove that carries plenty of soul. I found myself really taken with the synthesizer work in this track; all of the synth sounds used here are pretty subtle, and I had to start really listening for them specifically in order to figure out what they were doing, but they nonetheless make for a restrained, yet charming addition that does a lot to elevate the track's sense of scale beyond that of just drums, guitar, and bass. The chorus is announced by the arrival of some really nice octave-doubled backing vocals from Sebastian as he delivers a syncopated, descending hook over sidechained guitars that pulse in sync with the kick. The hook is definitely pretty simple, but I think that's part of the reason it lodged itself in my head so readily while I was writing this review; even on first listen, it was quite firmly stuck in my head, which I guess just serves to showcase Sebastian's understanding of the fact that sometimes, less is more—which applies to melodies just as much as other things!
"…I really liked the song so I came back to it in November. I re-recorded all of the vocals, rewrote a couple of lyrics, got my sister to make the art (@_natashawho), had my roommate Cascina add guitars to the chorus (@cascinacaradonna), commissioned my friend Freddy to record a bassline (@_knaptime), and finally sent it out to mastering with Bill Hare (the mastering engineer for Pentatonix!)." –Sebastian Brunner-Stolovitzky a.k.a. &seb
The second verse strips things down a little, as most of the other established elements save for Sebastian's lead vocal and the electric bass take a step back. It was at this point, with the bass front and center for the first time, that I took notice of how nice this bass tone is. It's got a lot of high-mid grittiness to it, which helps it cut through the mix just right, but it doesn't sacrifice that solid, rounded low end either. I'd be remiss if I failed to point out that Freddy also went absolutely crazy on the bass; there's all sorts of cool little trills and rhythmic switchups that listening to it never makes me feel like I'm listening to the same few seconds of bass audio looped over and over again. However, Sebastian's vocals also occupy the spotlight here, and it was at this point that I started to wish for a tad less processing on that front. His vocal chain results in a hyper-polished sort of sound that ended up feeling a bit robotic, at least to me; I feel like part of disco's appeal has to do with its free-spirited expression of human joy & exultation, and while "Colorblind" is certainly a more modern song that is more regimented and less wild than the bell-bottomed dance music of the late 1970s disco era, I still felt that it could have used a more organic vocal performance with a greater degree of expressiveness, or perhaps a vocal chain that let the moments of expression that are already there shine through a little bit more. Even so, the hook remains as catchy as ever here, and is sure to get stuck in plenty of heads before the song finishes up! After the second chorus, we break into a bridge section that sees Sebastian repeat a looping vocal refrain over the drum pattern stripped down to its basic four-on-the-floor kick and snare as some distant handclaps and synth lines make momentary visits at different points in the stereo field. On first listen, I found myself wishing for a more substantive bridge that did more things aside from repeating the same vocal line, but it mostly ceased to bother me on repeated listens; it does its job well enough, and the outward explosion of sound into the track's bombastic final chorus is still immensely rewarding as is. The song ends with a reverbed clap and residual synth whine left over from the preceding chorus that gently fades out until we're left with silence.
"Ever since I wrote ['Colorblind'], I knew I wanted to make some sort of animated music video. I used AI to make the entire thing using Stable Diffusion… which generates images based on the text that you give it. Using the Python code… I could generate thousands of images to make a full video." –Sebastian Brunner-Stolovitzky a.k.a. &seb
"Colorblind" made an impression on me basically immediately once I'd finished listening to it; even amongst the very high standards set by all of the supremely talented folks in our program, it's typically a bit of a struggle to find something that feels as polished and radio-ready as "Colorblind" does. The immediate vibe I got from the song was that I could hear it on the radio, sandwiched between Dua Lipa and Justin Timberlake, without batting an eye. I think that speaks to the artistic prowess displayed on the mixing and mastering front as well as the production side of things; this master is loud, in the way that lots of Top 40 songs are loud, and forces my senses to give it my full attention without getting too overwhelming. The mix is super polished and affords everything lots of clarity while also maintaining a solid feel for the big picture and overall balance. Sebastian absolutely establishes himself as a vocalist and songwriter here as well, and he matches the level of industry-standard polish set by the mix and master in every respect.
However, in spite of all the myriad strengths of "Colorblind", at the end of it, I still found myself wishing that the song had embraced a less polished presentation. As it stands, "Colorblind" is professional-sounding and carries a definitively catchy tune, but I actually found myself being drawn quite a bit more strongly to Sebastian's debut, the 2020 single "New Blood". "New Blood" embraces a lilting, druggy ambience propelled by 12/8 downtempo drums, chill fingerstyle guitars, and a truly stunning vocal performance from Sebastian that sees his deep, sonorous bass timbre utilized to its fullest; the song also helped me feel somewhat vindicated in my initial guess of a Joji/Giveon sort of sound! Don't get me wrong—the two songs are completely different, and the scintillating darkness of "New Blood" stands so at odds with the peppy cheeriness of "Colorblind" that it teeters on becoming an apples-to-oranges sort of situation. Nevertheless, I felt like I learned a lot more about Sebastian as an artist from the cloying, encroaching twilight of "New Blood" than I did from "Colorblind"'s ray-of-sunshine presentation. I suppose that's the cost of making something that sounds so Top 40 radio-ready—listening to "Colorblind", Sebastian almost feels like he's one of those untouchable pop megastars that live at the top of the charts, so far away they almost cease to feel like real people. If that's what he's aiming for, then this newest &seb single is a definite job well done, but in any case, it leaves me waiting to see whether the next song he puts out takes him even higher out of reach—or brings him back to earth.
Keyfauver - Knock
Reviewed by Ash
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Stream "Knock" via Keyfauver's Linktree!
During my time in MTech, I've become more and more cognizant of something which I'm starting to suspect is a universal experience in our community: namely that of crossing paths with someone on the eighth floor over and over again, enough to recognize them by appearance, but somehow never actually speaking to them! Prior to the start of this semester, when we ended up in class together, Greta Olsen, also known by her artist name, Keyfauver, was one of those people for me; I'd somehow seen her around all the time, but I don't think I'd spoken to her more than once or twice until now. Little anecdote aside, Keyfauver's debut single released early this month, and I was really excited to get a chance to properly review this one. Reviewing debut projects is always really exciting for me, since it represents our first chance to dive into the sound of an artist who's only just opened the proverbial gateway to their universe. In this respect, Keyfauver's "Knock" made one hell of an impression as a debut, blasting out of the gates with a haunting presentation of pandemic-era darkness that I hope heralds the arrival of a really exciting artist amongst our community.
"I wrote 'Knock' in May of 2020 during the height of the pandemic when I was super depressed and was just drowning myself in music and doing everything I could to stay afloat… I remember keeping my windows open as much as I could during that first pandemic spring to keep myself from feeling so suffocated, which is where that line 'as the cool May breeze runs through' comes from. I also just really liked using the metaphor of depression knocking on a window, because for me whenever I get into a depressed state I can almost see it coming on first, as if I'm seeing it blow through my window before it sets in fully." –Greta Olsen a.k.a. Keyfauver
Equal parts The Cure and The Black Keys, "Knock" embraces a stark, scintillating ambience that conveys an enveloping sense of existential dread. The track opens on an ominous, reverb-heavy swung piano riff alongside wintry, distant vocals that also showcase some subtle doubling an octave down. The piano caught my ear right away; I'm not sure if it's a live acoustic piano or a sample or even some really well-done MIDI, but I love the timbre Greta managed to achieve here, and there are some really cool accented notes panned off to each side that lend the piano part a distinctive, wide, ping-pong sort of sound. We sit in this space for a little while, and it's not until a full thirty seconds in that we come to a bit of a stopping point on a big half cadence before the first verse enters. Greta's voice comes to the center here, bringing a nicely-textured vocal performance that embraces a sort of striking vulnerability in its presentation. For some reason, Greta's lead vocal performance really reminded me of Adele; although Greta definitely showcases a certain rough-around-the-edges quality that contrasts with Adele's meticulously composed, poised presentation, she manages a similar brand of soulful openness that for me helps solidify "Knock" as a thoroughly earnest expression of her feelings, human flaws and all. Some subtle washes of guitar also enter at this point, flickering in and out of focus behind layers upon layers of reverb. The re-entrance of the "there's a knock at my window" hook later on is heralded by the arrival of a massively dark sub bass and some subtle, reverbed synth notes in the left ear. The soundscape maintains a gradual build for much of the track's first act, resulting in a slow, inexorable upswelling of bleakness that parallels the song's themes of depression and overwhelming sadness; the result is thoroughly hair-raising and unsettling, but also truly catchy and striking, which I feel only speaks to the strength of Greta's artistic vision, as well as the decisive and skillful rendering of that vision which she managed here.
"One of my favorite bands growing up has always been The Cure because of my parents… they're my mom's favorite band and they were actually my first concert. They've always been a really big comfort band for me, so during this period of depression I listened to their stuff really heavily, specifically the albums Faith and Disintegration. As a result, a lot of the music I wrote in that period is very much inspired by The Cure, which I think is really evident in the guitar tone I went with and the heavily reverbed snare… the drums I used were very inspired by 'Fascination Street', a track off of Disintegration." –Greta Olsen a.k.a. Keyfauver
The second verse brings some more haunting vocal passages from Greta, this time accompanied with some backing vocal layers that create some really nice harmony. In spite of the gradually-expanding soundscape, Greta's vocals never lose their sort of apathetic bent, which I thought was really important in terms of cultivating the track's vibe of existential dread. Even the harmonies manage to sound unlike a group of supporting voices the way most backing vocals do, and instead create a sensation as if they're pushing down on the listener, just another part of the oppressive soundscape weighing down one's mental state; it's like the internal voice that endlessly spouts depressive intrusive thoughts and never seems to go away. I think it might be Greta's choice of reverb and delay that helps to create that feeling here, where the whispered echoes of backing vocals coalesce into a massive wall of sounds that crash together all at once; I remained consistently wowed by the clear intentionality and strength behind Greta's creative choices in the production and mixing stages of this track, and the resulting vibe is incredibly vivid as a result. I did, however, feel like I started to lose the groove a little somewhere in this second verse. The track's intro and opening verses gave me the impression of a very 12/8, swung sort of feel, but by this point, some of the eighth notes start coming out a little more straight and 4/4-esque, and I found myself a little disoriented on first listen as I tried to figure out where the pulse of the track was. The crashing entrance of the drums that takes us into the next hook solidifies the impression of common time, and the pulse of the track once again becomes clear. The drums bring a lot of reverb, resulting in a surplus of thick low end frequency content that results in a slightly overwhelming listening experience, but considering the song's subject matter of being stuck in a declining metal state, the more I thought about it, the more appropriate I thought it was. In any case, we also get some heavily-reverbed guitar licks and little pizzicato string touches surfacing from the sea of guitar/drum reverb, which added some nice little ornaments in the background. Greta's vocals exit after this last hook, and are replaced by some crazy lead guitar passages that break out into ominous two-part harmony as the drums slowly fade out and the track ends.
"I just wanna give a shoutout to my family for being super supportive and excited about my music every step of the way, and for always pushing me to make what I want and express myself. Another huge shoutout to my friends Steven Broun and Jess Maltzman, who helped with the creative process. Jess helped work out a lot of the kinks in the early stages of the mix with me, and Steven really helped polish it with me and give input when my ears were fatigued from working on the track for too long. And lastly, shoutout to everyone who's listened to the track and given me support!" –Greta Olsen a.k.a. Keyfauver
If it's not clear already, I was really, really struck by Greta's poignant evocation of depression, to the point where I actually struggled quite a bit with writing this review—not because I couldn't come up with things to say about the track, but because it raised a lot of complex feelings that I had a hard time articulating. Even so, I think it's rather safe to say that the end result of "Knock" is a resoundingly successful one. Greta's songwriting, production, and mixing abilities collided in explosive fashion here, creating a haunting rendering of depression imbued with a ton of character and personality. That's not to say I don't have my points of contention with the track—I suppose I might have wished that the drums entered less abruptly and had more of a buildup, or that the time signature felt like it remained more constant throughout, or that we got a longer outro with a front-and-center guitar solo that got a bit more stage time with which to soar, but ultimately none of those relatively pedantic nitpicks of mine should take precedence over Greta's creative vision, because holy shit, it's a good one, and it brought to the surface a lot of very vivid memories I carry from my own experiences with mental health struggles and depression. Unfortunately, I think that means I won't be putting this track on for casual listening too often, but nonetheless, I came away from "Knock" with a healthy amount of respect for Greta's myriad skills as a lyricist, singer, songwriter, producer, and engineer. Even in the relative aftermath of the pandemic, something tells me we'll be getting plenty of pandemic-era depression songs for a long time to come, and if Keyfauver continues to gift us tracks like these, then I'll be more than happy to listen!
aonhe, RED_E¥E, JAYTIDE, Yuxin Ying - Consciousness
Reviewed by Reggie Katz
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Stream "Consciousness" via RED_E¥E's LinkTree page!
Hi everyone! I’m so excited to share RED_E¥E, aonhe, JAYTIDE, and Yuxin Ying’s latest single, “Consciousness”, with you all this month! After reviewing Through the Hole in the World… and “Dance With Me”, two projects from RED_E¥E which I thoroughly enjoyed, I was thrilled to find out that he dropped another track this month with 3 collaborators that did nothing but bring out all of each other’s myriad strengths.
"…we had to record a podcast for one of our classes (but really felt like we wanted to make an experimental track), and I got very obsessed with the idea of consciousness. So I prompted the davinci model on OpenAI to write about why consciousness is violent and what consciousness is. It spit out some really creepy stuff, so we went on from there." –Anzhelika Nastashchuk a.k.a. aonhe
"The
song started as the final project for our Fundamentals of Music
Technology class with Professor Charles Mueller in Spring 2022… The
assignment was to make a podcast but I think we kinda just wanted to
make a song more than anything… Anzhelika generated a pretty interesting
AI script for the podcast that Elizabeth and I spoke in the track, and
before long Anzhelika had turned into an ambient electronic piece
sprinkled with her beautiful backing vocals." –Rain Edward a.k.a.
RED_E¥E
The song starts out with pulsating synth chords that gradually build until Rain’s voice comes in, speaking a brief monologue about consciousness and the problems that he sees in it, all voiced through a robotic-esque tone. Around the one-minute mark, a sweeping array of synths fly in and the use of panning makes them feel like they are swooping over you. This synth arrangement, featuring a plethora of different synths with very distinguished textures, builds for a little bit until they are stripped out partially. Here, aonhe’s voice comes in, with a robotic tone similar to Rain’s voice continuing his monologue about consciousness, what it means, and what it “really is.” After aonhe finishes her verse, there’s an interlude-sounding moment with a couple of the synths used previously, until the beat drop starts to build. The build into the beat drop and beat drop itself is so good that I think you should just go on your streaming service right now, listen to it, and then come back and finish the rest of this review if your brain is still intact! What makes this beat drop so great is that it really starts building as soon as the song starts, making the drop so satisfying when it finally happens. The drums on the drop have a really great stereo image and the sounds used to create the synths and risers sound like they were custom-made for this track as I have never heard anything like them before. The production is so clever and unique, and it flowed so perfectly. I would even go so far as to say this is the best beat drop I’ve heard from a music tech student in the last year. I loved how the main synth with the super crunchy sound was introduced and intertwined throughout the beginning of the song and it ended up being the most audible synth on the build to the drop. After the drop, the soft synths walking under us stay in a mellow place with various adlibs from aonhe. Some drums and bass come in that get us back in the groove of things. As if one incredible beat drop wasn’t enough, there’s a second one that’s just as great as the first! The track fades out with what sounds like a slightly varied version of the softer synths heard earlier in the track along with the occasional drum beat coming back in, and the glitchy adlib vocals similar to those that came before.
"…I started to feel like ['Consciousness'] needed something spicy so I produced and stitched in the first drop that you can hear in the final track. Then, I sent the stems over to Justin [JAYTIDE] who worked with my drop to structure a second drop. We turned it in and then sat on it… until last winter break, when I started mixing the track again. I added in my vocals and changed up the structure to make the track a little more dynamic… Overall, the track took nearly a year to actually complete and release. It feels really great to finally have it out." –Rain Edward a.k.a. RED_E¥E
The grungy electronic genre may not be for everyone, but I have no doubt that any music listener can respect what RED_E¥E, aonhe, JAYTIDE, and Yuxin Ying did here. This track is up there for one of my favorite releases I have heard from the Music Tech community, and one of the most brilliantly produced songs I have ever heard. Besides the production, which lives between experimental electronic music and grunge electronic music, the first thing that stands out about this song is how well it is mixed. It truly sounds like a mix that someone would pay thousands for. This group knows how to complement each other. Based on how great every aspect of this track is, it’s apparent that each group member knew how to work together to create the best possible final song. I hope that they eventually collaborate again, as this song was pure magic.
P.H.0 - Ascension 飛升
Reviewed by Ash
Stream "Ascension 飛升" through P.H.0's Linktree, and be sure to check out the collective on Instagram.
MTech collective P.H.0, an electronic music group comprised mostly of graduates of our program, first caught my attention this month with their new single, titled "Ascension 飛升". Its five members—Jun, SEN, Minghim, Chi-chi, and Zheyu—bring a wide variety of talents to the collective's work: Chi-chi is the group's resident "master erhuist", Jun plays post-rock guitar, Minghim specializes in modular synthesis, Zheyu plays drums, and SEN serves as the primary producer of the group's work. I'm not sure I've encountered a collective act before, at least within MTech, that embraces such a wide collision of talents from musical lanes that might seem unrelated to some, and this was a large part of the reason why I found myself so excited to write this review. Encountering artists who can break down the borders between genres to create something familiar but also fresh is perhaps the thing about reviewing music that brings me the most joy, and I'm pleased to say that P.H.0 was an extremely refreshing discovery on my end, meshing influences from a vast array of varying styles that come together to make something truly unlike anything I've ever heard before.
"A futuristic, cybernetic nomad riding across the vast Gobi desert in the dark, with the neon-lit cityscape of the monolith-looking Mongolian capital radiating from afar in the background—this Cyberpunk-influenced visual that I once saw in my dream eventually inspired the creation of this song." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. SEN
"Ascension 飛升" opens on a hollow, almost-vocal synth pad that articulates a loosely pentatonic texture as a massive synth bass enters underneath. The track's opening is truly epic, as the synth sounds used convey a massive sense of scale; there's also some traditional East Asian instruments in the mix, as there's a low bowed string of some sort (maybe a zhonghu?) in the left channel that's rocking enough distortion that it almost feels like a warped electric guitar, and a beautiful pentatonic erhu melody cuts right down the center of the stereo field. The weeping, singsong timbre of the erhu is used exceptionally well here, and Chi-chi plays it with a wonderfully expressive touch. I really like its placement within the piece as a lead instrument; it's a fantastic foundational element around which everything else can arrange itself. Soon enough, though, we get a frenetic, fast-paced, complex breakbeat that ratchets the track's energy up to 11 and swerves us into drum and bass territory in a fantastic beat switch. The instrumental texture here is sparse—none of the melodic elements are too busy, and there's plenty of space to breathe, but the frequency spectrum is utilized to its fullest nonetheless, and the consistent bed of background chords maintains its epic feel.
"…I was listening to a lot of breakcore, mainly Sewerslvt, and decided to entertain the idea of combining the drum n' bass element and the synth-driven ambient washes in breakcore with progressive metal or 'cyber metal' in the kind of Northlane or 3TEETH…" –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. SEN
P.H.0 doesn't let us stay in this space for long, though, as we experience a meteoric collapse out of this first section into heavy metal guitar power chords and triplet hi-hats. There's a lot of sound effects here worth exploring, which I imagine are Minghim's contributions from the world of modular synthesis; I caught some scream-like noises, reverbed drums, and warbling synthesizer downers whizzing by in the background, which gives this section a distinctly cinematic feel. Soon, the drums begin to build once again as Jun's guitar comes to full prominence and we're into this section that feels like a Dorian Electra-style crossover between the aesthetics of dubstep and black metal, complete with halftime, pounding drum samples and distorted Phrygian guitar chugging. This moment was perhaps my favorite in the whole track; avid readers know that I love distorted guitar in electronic music, and its use here was exceptional, bringing an edgy yet organic element that never feels at odds with the piece's synth-heavy beginnings. The surrounding production was also really interesting; I caught some interplay between what sounded like a distorted electric bass and a rounded, heavy 808-esque synth bass that made for a very rhythmically diverse low end that I thought was really cool. Soon enough, we leave metal territory and the erhu returns, this time with some extra trills and ornaments that spice up this very austere melody just enough to keep things interesting. The tempo speeds up heading into the last leg of the track, where Jun's guitar and Chi-chi's erhu come together in a beautiful union, backed by what I can only assume is Zheyu on the drums. The track closes out on a beautiful punk-style breakdown, with heavy power chords and crashing drums backing Chi-chi's increasingly fast-paced erhu playing until the track explodes on a couple of snare hits that signal its ending.
"We… decided to replace the original morin khuur (known as the Mongolian cello) sample we stole from the Internet with Chi-chi's live erhu, which was recorded and engineered by our synth/electronic artist Minghim… Chi-chi decided to alter her usual playing style to mimic the kind of pitch fluctuation, a signature playing style of the morin khuur that is ubiquitous in traditional Mongolian folk music, as a way to connect to and illustrate the nomadic theme that we wanted to convey through this track." –Howard Ouyang a.k.a. SEN
There's a lot to love about "Ascension 飛升". Although it sounds nothing like what I'd conventionally consider hyperpop, it hits with the same sort of unhinged maximalism that is prevalent in the works of 100 gecs and Charli XCX, embracing a similarly insane mesh of crossgenre elements that come together to create something that itself defies genre. I really enjoyed the fusion of East Asian instruments and musicality with electronic music; Chi-chi's presence on this one brought so much melodic character and personality to the track, and really makes me wish I knew how to play erhu! Jun and Zheyu combined to give this already-crossgenre fusion of Mongolian traditional folk music & drum and bass a distinctly metal bent. I catch shades of Tony Iommi and Mick Thomson in Jun's heavy, percussive style of play, which synergized perfectly with SEN and Zheyu's work in creating a diverse drum palette that merges both samples and live drums into a colossal, momentum-driven package. Of course, Minghim's work in creating the sound effects and synth ambiences for this piece shouldn't be glossed over either; I imagine that much of the credit for the cinematic, sweeping feel of this piece goes to him. I truly have no constructive feedback to give—"Ascension 飛升" is a breakneck journey of insane proportions, approaching a listening experience that flirts with maximalism to the point of teetering on sensory overload in a way, but I think that's what makes it so perfect. At the end of it all, I think P.H.0 is positioned for something really exciting, and something tells me their crossgenre sensibilities may one day take us to places we've truly never been to before.
~~~~
That's all for this month's edition, but stay tuned for some very exciting stuff coming out in the near future! We've got an album review of Kai Banda's Days At Home further on down the pipeline. Secondly, the question of Ash's identity will finally be revealed—after which we hope to come back stronger than ever with artist interviews, concert reviews, and maybe even short-form video content. Safe to say that I'm really excited for how this is gonna turn out, and as always, I'm so incredibly grateful to be on this journey with all of you. In the meantime, reach out to us if you release anything new, and we'll be sure to give it a look! Thanks so much and Reggie and I will be back in April!
-Ash
