TMobotron
User

Reviews 27
Approval 97%

Soundoffs 20
News Articles 7
Band Edits + Tags 102
Album Edits 86

Album Ratings 1091
Objectivity 66%

Last Active 02-26-22 4:33 am
Joined 12-13-08

Review Comments 7,253

 Lists
01.03.14 Tmobotron's 2013 Tracks ♦01.01.14 Tmobotron's 2013
11.13.13 Real Trap Shit? ♦05.05.13 Classic Dubstep Ranked ♦
08.04.12 2012 Electronic Eps ♦04.14.11 What Does Varg Do With Churches?
08.31.10 Calculus Rock ♦

Real Trap Shit?

The modern EDM trend of "trap" is one of the worst things to ever happen to music. It's almost entirely based on gimmicks and a focus on creating a "big" beat over anything of actual substance. It's actually pretty similar to brostep in that a lot of tracks that get focus (and even praise) are just gimmicky and (literally) ameteur tracks that focus on dance-floor potential and completely ignore putting real substance behind the output. So if that was the whole story, I could easily ignore it as just another party trend, but the fact is that a very few artists have shown that the genre has a ton of potential. But unfortunately, almost no one seems to have picked up on their talent, and they exist as completely unique artists in a sea of terrible monotony. Here they are:
1TNGHT
TNGHT

This EP is, to me, the definitive trap release at this point. When it dropped, I had high hopes for future releases following in their
footsteps. But unfortunately, despite TNGHT being a huge name for almost anyone involved in the scene, most producers have been
content to completely ignore what TNGHT did here.
The huge, bassy kick drums and stuttering hi-hats of trap actually got some real, interesting melodic substance to flow over the top
of them that worked even better as a hook than the genre's framework. Instead of relying on the dance-floor appeal of the bassy
drumwork associated with trap that almost everyone else uses as a crutch, TNGHT made the genre something much more interesting
that could've thrived entirely on their interesting textural approch, but with the low-end backing of trap's formula, the EP became
something that could absolutely rip dance-floors in half, to a point that has really never been touched by anyone else.
2Rustie
Glass Swords

So this is a full-length album, and it only truly has one trap song on it, "City Star". But as far as I'm concerned it's the best trap song
to date. Glass Swords on its own is an incredibly textured and layered album with a futuristic sound, and while "City Star" starts out
the same way, it drops most of the polished glam to focus entirely on the monstrous beat potential of the more aggressive textures
located on the rest of the album, and while the horns on TNGHT's "Higher Ground" provides strong competition for the most infectious
melodic aspect of any trap song, "City Star" trumps it with the unforgiving, hammering glimmer of Glass Swords' futuristic sheen.
3Rustie
Triadzz/Slasherr

It's a bit surprising to me that Rustie's follow-up to Glass Swords is an entirely trap-based release,
considering that Glass Swords was mostly something else.
Both tracks here are inarguably trap songs. But they're very different in overall style. Triadzz shares its
sound and is split halfway between the euphoric glow that he's known for, and an unfortunately traditional
trap sound. A lot of this sounds like Rustie's trademark sound, and that part is great. But when the track
drops into the trap section, it loses a bit of Rustie's otherwise unique sound. Yes, it does retain some
credibility for Rustie in that it's a much better sound because Rustie's signature wonky-ness still exists in
that segment of the track, but it suffers from the genre's pitfalls much more than previously released "City
Star" and the flip-side's "Slasher".
Speaking of "Slasherr", HOLY SHIT. If "City Star" worked as a different but functional track on Glass Swords
that had to separate itself from the ordinary sound provided on the album to fit the swagged-out stylings of
trap music, "Slasherr" would fit almost unbelievably naturally into the glossy packaging of Glass Swords,
despite still functioning as a trap song. It's about the only thing that can compete with "City Star" as a
track, and it falls very slightly short of pure dance-floor power, but wins for its great aesthetic.
4 TNGHT
Acrylics

Not really better than the EP in any way, but it actually shows a more textural approach to the appeal of trap
as a whole in a way that no one else has done or copied since (unfortunately). It's still just a huge track that
displays the fact that so much potential exists in the form of providing a unique melody to thrive over the
already unavoidably danceable sounds of trap's big bass beats.
5Starkey
Orbits

Like Rustie's Glass Swords, this album has one track that falls into the trap category, and that's "Command".
It's a good track, but I honestly think Starkey holds a lot more potential in his wonky style to produce some
great trap music in the same way Rustie does. Still, "Command" is better than 99% of trap music out there.
6Danny Brown
Old

Ignoring the amazing quality of this album as a whole, DB's spastic delivery fits perfectly over the stylings of Rustie's trap music, of
which he uses perfectly for tracks like "Dope Song" and "Break It (Go)". The tracks (especially "Dope Song") show potential as
instrumentals alone, but their functionality as backing for an MC's rapping is undeniably as well, which will almost definitely lead to
a lot of trap-backed beats in the near future. Speaking of trap-backed beats...
7Kanye West
Yeezus

"Blood on the Leaves" uses a watered-down version of the previously unreleased TNGHT beat "R U Ready". It's in a way a great
showcase for the potential of trap music to work in modern hip-hop, but "R U Ready", in my opinion, held a lot more weight.
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