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😄 seb torgus / pressure review

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but first, the news

yes that’s right, news time! a short selection of links to all things going on in the music biz:

• wicked, explained

• spotify wrapped is coming soon → and is spotify themed, who knew!

• pitchfork top songs → argue in the comments

more i’ve been listening to

not the twos / haha

kinda feels like the sort of song that’s played in those lil cinema screens in art museums with weird animations playing

snowmen / you can’t relate

god i love this weird little angry band

clothegod, lola young / outta my mind pt. 2

lola young coming along once again and showing how it’s done alongside clothegod who i had never heard of before but damn she is good too and you know who wins there? literally us, we get to listen to it, and them too i suppose, they get to listen to it too

genre: pop / dance
release date: 14/06/24
runtime: 2:00
video: no :(

contents

• 😄 seb torgus / pressure review

• but first, the news

• more i’ve been listening to

  • clothegod, lola young / outta my mind pt. 2

    • what i like

    • what i don't like

    • my drunk opinion

    • for fans of

    • should you listen to more

• next edition out next tuesday!

this weeks review is going to be a quick one! not the review, the review is normal sized, the song however, is 2 minutes flat. but what does it fit within those 2 minutes? well, it’s 2 minutes in heaven with a certified freak. shout out to the freaks, it’s freak issue this week, get freaky freaks! merry christmas. but before we get into that, we need to stop for a second, and pay attention to me a little bit because i have a confession to make; i have not been keeping up with the playlist writing this here newsletter requires and for that i am sorry. which is why this is actually the last review of the year. instead, i’m going to be spending the rest of this year working on playlists! there will be several, some backlog, some best of the year stuff, and on my 30th birthday, 31st of december, i will be sending you something brand new. a playlist with every song that’s been submitted this year, reviewed or no! you’ll be able then to listen to all those tracks and then yell at me about what should or should not have been included. anyway, enough of that, back to the freaks. meet certified freakazoid; seb torgus, and his song, pressure. listen if you dare!

in 2 minutes, this song takes a really simple set of ideas and develops the hell out of them and that’s what i want to spend some time really focusing on. you see, development is something i talk about a lot on here, and i think this song is a great instance and example of what that actually means. the opening few bars of this, all you hear is bassline, percussion and vocal. and that’s all it needs, that’s your on ramp and your statement of intent, from the jump you really get exactly what this song is all about. half way through that verse, we start to layer in a little bit of synth, which steps things up a touch into the second chorus. this time, exactly the same, but layered on top is a bit more percussion. then, we switch it up a touch in the second verse, take the established idea, pause it, and then do something a lil different. only for a second, enough to shake you out of what you were being roasted within, to totally turn you on your head. then blammo, back for the final chorus, this time, even more elements layered on top and we’re away baby.

this band does a thing which is super super common in a lot of bands early on in their development and i can see this band growing out of quickly, but i think it’s a useful thing to talk about for those new artists out there. it’s a bit of a tricky thing to get your head around, but if you listen closely to this track you’ll start to spot it. in essence, this is an act that needs to relax into the song they’re performing a bit more. most of the song is great, sounds and performed really really well, but there’s a few sections where things are just a little bit stilted, a little bit janky where they could be a lot more smooth. for a really really great example of exactly this kind of thing, go listen to vampires will never hurt you by my chemical romance, and then listen to i don’t love you. the difference is noticeable in the tiny details of those songs. the biggest difference you’ll hear on first inspection is of course the tones and qualities of the recording, but i’m not referring to that. what you’re listening for is in how the song flows from section to section and how it handles introduction of sections and segments of the song. in this song and lots of songs like it, there’s a certain blockishness that’s quite subtle, and isn’t always there, but makes some sections feel like going a and then b and then c, whereas a song that is by a band with a bit more time behind them feels a lot more cohesive as a single song. and that, my friends, is the review.

i hate that this song is 2 minutes. i actually do, i really love this, and i want more of it. but i don’t want more of this, i want it to take the lil switch up moment and go do something totally off the wall with it. like if for example, it threw caution to the wind and went all in on a sax solo, that’d be so sick.

i’m going to a festival next year that features both the dare and lcd soundsystem, and i told my friends i’m going to blindfold them and lead them to both to see if they can tell which is which. this act meanwhile i could tell from a mile off because they’re so much sexier.

won’t lie, a lot of this artists songs sound nothing like this, but they do all sound really really good. so, alls well and ends well, but i do love a bit of a freaky freak and i really love a song that’s a bit insane, so i shall be taking my little weirdo with me thank you very much

or better yet, reply to this email! what did you think of this song? have you been listening to anything good lately? any gems i’ve missed?

next edition out next tuesday!