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badmammal carrying a deranged gospel choir [review]

lord knows i miss good idm. badmammal, aka chris matule, is a cat i had only known as doing drum & bass (his track "rickshaw" on this ohm vs. offshore 12" is epic). he hit me out of the blue one day, with a gutter idm/hip-hop hybrid that will see the light of day in the future on rock the dub, and then sent me this cd. carrying a deranged gospel choir is dope, plain and simple. oh, and since he wrote nothing in capital letters on the cd packaging, i am choosing to refrain from hitting the shift key to capitalize any letters in this track-by-track review.

"commando"
a lot of idm cds usually come off with some subtle track that builds to a fever-pitch. "commando" isn't a normal idm cd intro. a cavalcade of guitars, stuttering drums, piano twinkles and loads of other sounds bring on a frolicking, summer day in a dark park kind of vibe. it's almost, dare i say, happy.

"french conversation"
ok, what gives? where is the "techno-nerd trapped in the box" vibes of so many other idm releases? here i get found vocal snippets of someone introducing me to a french convo, and all of the sudden some glitched-out jungle breaks and heavy subs come floating in. the percussive elements in this one bring on a slick groove.

"gonna move"

that guitar in the beginning sounds like the intro to some eye-liner rock song about revenge. but, in typical badmammal flavor, dude brings in the fuzz. damn, the melodies in this one are what intrigues me the most. dude is almost on some aphex twin shit, really working some hypnotic, ear-catching melodies into his otherwise 'out-there' cuts.

"broken amp"
deep drop on that bass when it comes in. i love the horn in this one! very bouncy track, while still maintaining some somber washes in it. one of my favorites on this. downright jazzy in some spots, too.

"beach song"
this is the first song i could truly hear vocals over. some jarvis cocker, tongue-in-cheek ditty about fat people on a beach or some shit. i also see some guitar chick with 80's hair (remember wendy & lisa, who used to play with prince? i don't remember which one played the guitar, but her) playing that riff.

"skydive"

this is that trapped in a box idm vibe i used to get off of autechre tracks. cuts like this are perfect for playing claustrophobic or outer-space levels in games like doom. another fav. i dare someone to make a dubstep rmx of this.

"orange"
do you think dude purposefully made this track 3 minutes and 33 seconds long? doesn't matter. i love the drums in this one. the snare roll gets me every time. i also dig the start-stop throughout this sneaky trip.

"big hills"
this one has garage band written all over it. not in terms of it being crap, it's far from it, but it reminds me of sitting on speakers at my cousin's next door neighbor's house, while his band would be working on their demos and shit. this is like "that jam". really heavy, road trip scenery soundtrack music.

"song s"
this is one of the tracks that was written in austria. i know fuck all about austria, but more people should go there and write dark, drum-drenched ditties like this. that kick is like a heartbeat... on weed!

"redbank"
heavy electro jam. this is like electro-dub, and i love it. dude has a real feel for space within his songs.

"aging digital hero"
that instrument in the beginning transports you to the dojo of a mighty, gray-haired sensei. this is one of those jams that is a sparring match with your master, making sure you still have it...

...and with the way this cd rolls out, badmammal better not lose it. this is an interesting trek through a genre that many might not be checking for anymore. i know i wasn't. now i have to go hunting for more stellar idm like this... or just go buy more badmammal release.

rock the dub gives carrying a deranged gospel choir 4.5 out of 5 stars. it's that damn good. loads of feeling within this release, and it's not just a boy and his pc - real live instruments are played, adding to the digital soul that badmammal has produced.

burn deez: "broken amp", "song s", "skydive", "orange"

carrying a deranged gospel choir is available now for $10 from the goodluck/badluck online store, as well as on cd baby. it's also available on itunes.

www.goodluckbadluck.net
www.myspace.com/badmammal
goodluck/badluck podcast
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i've been listening to this non-stop since i got it, amazing cd

highly recommended