Review Summary: these ray guns shoot clouds of sugar.
Every so often I find myself trapped in a musical rut. No matter what I do, no matter how much music I attempt to listen to, nothing grabs my fancy. Unfortunately, for quite some time, I’ve found myself trapped in this dark hole that some people call musical depression, and have only recently climbed out. Of course, the remaining question is a simple one in which the answer can easily be found by looking at the album this review attempts to talk about. Or in other words, this EP (not even a full album!) completely changed how I felt music (at least temporarily), and continues to impress after endless listens. There’s no ifs ands or buts about it, the music within Egyptrixx’s
Battle For North America is so good it just might drive you crazy.
In
Battle For North America, you’ll find a mix of dubstep and trance that should put a ton of dubstep artists to shame. There’s also a house influence there with its deep beats, but the genre collision is executed effortlessly and therefore utterly smooth. Since the mix runs so smoothly, namedropping influences is difficult, and almost pointless. There’s trance-like synthesizers occasionally, a few voice samples, etc., yet the overall focus is on complete cohesion. If I knew nothing of stylistic differences in music, my gut reaction would be to call this a solitary genre. This is because Egyptrixx takes funky, and expands upon that genre into new, exciting territories.
The expectation, of course, is that the combination of dubstep and trance would sound pretty awesome, and thankfully, it really is as awesome as you would expect. With heavy beats and memorable sounds made to be catchier than the human mind can comprehend, this truly is mindbogglingly good. Sometimes I feel like pinching myself to make certain that this is real music I’m listening to, that I’m not stuck in some fantastic, synthesized dreamland. That’s the kind of effect that the music has, it surprises, it shocks, and it’s generally addictive. If clubs were not so keen on playing the most blatantly mainstream dance songs they can get their hands on, they might play something like this instead.
“Alright, so it’s catchy, who gives a rip?” asks the stubborn musical consumer. Well, I’m glad you asked. Although Egyptrixx seems to construct music to be brazenly catchy, there is an intelligence behind it. Truth be told, this EP could have been a lot more aggressive, in a style similar to Skrillex. Although it isn’t purely minimal, the blips and screes never overwhelm, adding to the enjoyment. Futuristic and absurdly silly, the dubstep womps that comprise all songs sound alien in the funnest sense. Much like old computer game sounds from, say, Commander Keen,
Battle For North America sounds more like a pillow fight in candy land than what its title suggests.
