Tom: Our reader, James, sends in this, saying “it sounds exactly like you might expect… tad repetitive and not lyrically adventurous, but what makes up for it is how fun it is to listen to”.
Tom: I do like it when people who send in tracks do the review for us. He’s not wrong.
Tim: No, it’s a good track all round. Might not be any particular moments to get massively excited about, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Tom: To be fair, ‘repetitive but fun to listen to’ sums up a lot of popular EDM. This seems to be a cut above most, though: it’s well composed and well produced. Sure, it’s by the numbers, but as ever from these two, they’re really good numbers.
“It’s five minutes long, and most of it’s build, but…”
Tom: I need you to listen to this one without distraction, Tim. Headphones on, sit back, and listen. It’s five minutes long, and most of it’s build, but…
Tom: …it has been a long, long time since a song has made me exclaim out loud, and this did that. That build, that drop, everything, absolutely bloody everything to do with this.
Tim: Good lord, man, do you need to go somewhere to clean yourself up now?
Tom: Oh, come on, compared to the gushing praise you’ve given tracks before, that’s practically restrained.
Tim: Maybe, though I do often need to go and clean myself up. You’re right, it is very nice. Pretty, almost. The sort of music a developer might use in a trailer to show off the beautiful artwork in a new game.
Tom: Ouch, that’s harsh. It’s pretty good to listen on its own.
Tim: Oh, it’s in no way a criticism – actually meant as a compliment, because some trailers are lovely.
Tom: Porter Robinson dropped this, his own track, in the middle of his two-hour, astonishing, genre-clashing Essential Mix a few weeks ago, and it’s been haunting me since. I don’t even want to listen to it too much, in case it spoils the magic. Right now, listening to it as I write this, it sent shivers up my spine one more time, and I don’t want it to lose that ability.
Tim: Hmm. I see exactly why it would do that, and why you’d feel that. Can’t say it grabs me in exactly the same manner, but I’ll grant you it’s a very nice listen.
Tom: This isn’t dancefloor EDM — this is the pinnacle of electronic music as art, and it’s beautiful.
Tim: This is not just music. This is Porter Robinson music.
Tom: I missed this when it came out in March. You might be tempted to dismiss it as another Aviici-alike when the melody line arrives, but stick with it: it kicks in beautifully.
Tim: I stuck with it, and it kicked in beautifully.
Tom: This is one of those tracks where I don’t have much to add: I’m talking about it not because I want to make a salient point, but because I just want to say this sounds amazing, listen to it. How about you?
Tim: Likewise, actually. I heard of him a while back but never actually bothered to invesigate his music, mostly because (and I’m slightly ashamed to admit this) of his name. I don’t why, but I assumed he be another Ed yawn Sheeran type person who wasn’t interesting, but as it turns out I couldn’t be more wrong.
Tom: As for the video: visually impressive, no idea what was going on.
Tim: My thoughts also. Naturally, my immediate thought was to check the YouTube comments for potential explanations, and apparently there are Illuminati signs all over this thing. (Really. There’s a lengthy conversation about it between INATRANC3 and tastycheese34.)
