Review Summary: Not your typical, generic dubstep/EDM album. Give this guy a listen; you'll be glad you did.
If you're one of the many who are concerned about the increasing lack of creativity in the electronic music scene, you might find something more rewarding if you dig a little deeper below the surface, i.e. get away from VEVO, UKF, Beatport, Spotify, etc. and have a look at what's cooking underground.
What I'm about to present to you is not the typical dubstep/EDM rip-off that you might expect from most unsigned electronic "producers," and by "producers," I mean those insufferable teenagers who bought a copy of
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, then spent a week screwing around on a cracked copy of FL Studio before posting those dreaded "I know most of you won't read this, but..." comments on YouTube, begging ever-so-modestly for subscribers to their sh**ty dubstep channels with even sh**tier artist names.
Rain Storm Jackson, an 18-year-old starving artist based out of Port Orchard, Washington, never bothered himself with spam comments on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter, begging for subscribers, likes or followers. While big names like Datsik, Borgore, Krewella and countless others were working together molding a massive sh**-pile of all types of noisy, formulaic electronic music into one massive generic genre now known as "EDM," and their adoring fans (and bronies) decorated it with less-than-professional-sounding, uncompressed, un-mastered rubbish, Rain was in his basement, making love and making music, all day, every day, diligently developing his own sound releasing music only to his friends on an obscure Facebook group dedicated to fans of Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Venetian Snares, Boards of Canada and other similar artists.
In a span of less than 4 years, Rain, under the moniker
Subliminal Stimuli, has gone from experimenting with V/Vm-inspired, stroke-inducing noise, to glitchy unmixed dubstep with mostly IDM influences, to what you hear from his latest 2 EPs - heavy bass over eardrum-pounding beats, accompanied by mental, soul-stealing synths and wobs, along with some of his own special effects – all created from scratch. And while there are numerous blatant voice samples, there are, in fact, plenty of subliminal stimuli within his works.
In his “official” debut LP,
W32.MyDoom@MM (the title being a nod to a track from AFX's Analord series) Rain Storm Jackson, with the help of his former girlfriend and a piano, takes his unique sounds and creates an epic continuous mix of experimental dubstep, every once in a while taking a crack at house, IDM, trap and even speedcore, with his own twist.
The beginning is, admittedly, rather lackluster, fading from silence into the mellow yet inviting "Check It Out," then picking up the pace in "Garden of the Gods," whose odd harmonics and subtle glitches set an almost cartoon-like tone, which suddenly explodes into the aggressively emotional third track, "Watch My Every Sound". From this point until the end of "The Time Grew Wings and Flew Away", it's a fairly consistent wave of fluctuating hysteria and melodrama, combining a solid mix of catchy melodies and impressive experimentation. Nearly every track is blended in such a way that the whole album resembles one hour-long electronic symphony, only taking a short break before "that other fire", co-produced by one of his other unknown friends, and before "Disposable" and "There Is Something I Need To Say", two piano pieces dedicated and written in part by his now ex-partner Ramona Thomas.
While it might be noted that Rain’s sound is still in the developmental stages of production, it can also be noted that musical evolution is a journey without end, and for Subliminal Stimuli,
MyDoom is a brilliant beginning for such a journey.
