Eight tracks of mostly-instrumental playful beats and breaks, occasionally with a high-bit chiptune flavor to them. Some circus-like flavor leaks in at times, thanks to the jaunty rhythms and high-pitched peeping, which makes for an odd mix with the more heavily hip-hop-styled portions. Generally entertaining, but the lightness of it all makes it feel unfortunately low-budget, without much fleshing out of the song ideas, or balance between the high and low ends.
Over the course of the six songs on this EP, Saskrotch turns out fast-paced chiptune breaks, with pulsing bass, tinny snare loops, chattering beats, and bloopy synths. “Beats of Rage” brings in a guest (or sampled) rapper, which puts a fairly large twist on the usual Saskrotch dynamic, but also brings higher energy and tightness than any of the other tracks, though “I’m the Fucking King of Chipbreak” gives it good competition with its bursts of almost Venetian Snares-y break jumps. “I Guess You Didn’t See The Irony Of Our Situation” provides a nice midpoint breather of mellowness, before ramping back up to a lower high for the last two songs, and a return to rap sampling in the closing title track. All together, enjoyable, but outside of “Beats of Rage”, nothing that really stands out as unusual for the artist.
Opening with the sound of 8-bit beach waves before launching into flares of chiptune percussion and tone-drags, this concept album keeps things upbeat, crisp, and colorful, whether wobbling along on pitch-shifting warbles, bouncing along on rainbow-like arpeggios, or driving hard into the breaks. Track titles like “Solar Beam // Unicode Dream” and “Glitch Love Fantasy” provide an extra sense of direction to the (mostly) instrumental tunes, and while the composer keeps things compact (with just the last song, “Everlasting Magic Sea”, breaking the four-minute mark), there’s a nice feeling of depth to each piece.
The effects, tones, and beats are layered extensively, but they’re kept from muddying the clarity and impact of each other with some capable channel-juggling. Pleasant and lively, and successful to a surprising degree in accomplishing its aims of merging the vibes of a hot summer day at the beach with early-’90s entertainment electronics.
Scrambled Brains 