Past the obvious sheen of speedy nightcore and sugary early-00s dance pop associations, this track emerges skewed through a prism of noise and angst that sees soft and brooding, crunchy and cute play together in a wild and simple fantasy of sound. It comes from the hivemind of a collaboration between Crapface, location unknown, and Amy Axegale, fka ZEN, who is from Melbourne, Australia.
Smooth syncopated chords boop bubblesome in a pattern that continues safely throughout, but then there's this heavy twist, a smudge of darkness on this candy gloss, pouncing out from the pastel fog like a tiger when the chords grow and distort, baring teeth, with kicks pulsing in time below and savage snare hits popping above, filling those formerly playful tropical chords with dread and frustration. This noisy electro sludge, the hardcore edge going on here reminded us of the rabid 'Dog' by SebastiAn, whereas its pairing of conventional and unconventional feels very Mr Oizo — cradling and destroying sounds. These two sprang to mind almost immediately.
However, 'Skype' is of course neither, but perhaps exists for similar reasons as these French artists' music: A reaction to the clean-cut in sound, simultaneously exhibiting that emotions can exist in electronic music with this howling wordless disconnect from physicality. Similarly the song title, an ambiguous summoning of Skype as an experiential thing that can mean anything to anyone, exhibits an aphysical source of inspiration. And as the track dances away in its closing 30 seconds, hi-hats ticking with the beat, the synth wonky and bleary, you feel that the Skype call went to plan, and the song's dynamic swing between a contentment and something verging on rage, a burning internal struggle, is quelled for now at least.
- This is an apparently one-off release courtesy of London-based entity Calm Records.
- Also, the artwork for this track, some fantasy palace in some fantasy garden, is by visual artist beeple (human name: Mike Winkelmann). It's called ISOTOPE. His Tumblr showcases lots of art and it's all imaginative and grand.
☟Amy Axegale Internet Presence ☟ SoundCloud • Twitter • YouTube •
☟ Crapface Internet Presence ☟ SoundCloud • Twitter • Instagram
