Hollywood Video Game Kill-Bot is a one man electronic project based in Lawndale, CA (USA). He has an EP out, called “Ocean”, which is a blend of video game music and EDM, featuring the use of synths, samples and guitar sounds. With its pulsing, pneumatic beats, its favor for geometric rhythms, and its utterly vibrant sound sources, one thing this recording cannot do, is pass for office elevator music. At the same time it is an EP that requires your patience. The music is repetitive, and overwhelming when you first listen, but beware, the more you listen the more you crave that repetitiveness.
And there are certainly melodies in the music, though hidden at times. They’re just buried inside the dense layers of rhythms. Once you find the melodies, it is easier to appreciate and immerse myself in the brilliant rhythms. This music is addicting and absolutely unique sounding.
Sure, “Ocean” does share some similarities to other popular EDM/IDM music, but it really stands on its own two legs as one of a kind. There is something creatively perfect about this EP, the right amount of unusual rhythmic constructions, the right amount of melody structures, and everything sits perfectly in the mix.
I find a sense of comfort in the clanging rage of the opening track, “Machine”. It is certainly difficult to revert back to regular mainstream music immediately after switching off a track like this. It is like a drug, a stimulant, a natural high. It’s a sound that inspires motivation in whatever you are doing. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who can make chaos sound so beautiful.
“Trickster” slows things down half a notch, with rich synths and voice samples coloring a powerfully insistent and banging beat. Chiming keys and swirling lines of synth and ambience, layered intensely over a dominant rhythm are played out in complex time signatures. It’s listenable and enjoyable but still as mind-expanding and thought provoking as you could expect from the genre.
The edge of cold, otherworldly beauty which distinguishes “Delay” is once again dominated by an insurgent drum beat. The music moves to a fairly breathtaking, straight-in-your-face sound, characterized by a groove rhythm, high frequency oscillations, and damaged synth patterns.
The EP closes, as it opened up – with relentless motion on “Traffic Stop”. The sounds and stutters that form the foundations of the track are complex and geometrical in a roller-coaster sense – with the chord progressions running up and down – able to give even the most well-adjusted listener, a good case of musical vertigo. Once you become acquainted beyond first impressions, it’s actually quite alluring. In fact it is indisputably resplendent.
I’d recommend this EP to just about everyone who wants to expand the horizons of their musical tastes. There’s bound to be something that will make your mind and ears perk up here. For anyone who has been looking for something unique and undeniably original to add to their electronic musical collection, this is certainly an adventure worth taking. “Ocean” will seriously alter your perspective.
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