- Do classic-inspired tracks need to bang?
- When you make music using classic templates, does it become more important that your tracks are well produced? Presumably there'll be many others out there making roughly the same music as you, so is rattling speakers harder than your peers a key way to stand out? The Australian artist Assembler Code could be an example of this. He's an artist who, most frequently in collaboration with his compatriot Jensen Interceptor, produces classic electro that never deviates far from the formula, yet the sheer force behind the execution means he's continually worth seeking out. (See the recent "Turnin' Headz," among many others.) Brendan Zacharias is a mixing and mastering engineer, and on Write Pulse, his solo debut for Cultivated Electronics, his tracks sound as powerful and fascinated with the past as ever.
Digital DJs are likely to download just one of the three originals here, as "O.Y.M.," "Write Pulse" and "BIOS" each tick roughly the same box. They're all led by super-sized arpeggios, crisp beats and retro-futuristic atmospheres, the sum total of which is wholly unoriginal but still difficult to say no to. "O.Y.M." might be the highlight, a banger whose booming drums, whispered "open your mind" vocal and robot synth bursts work pretty deliciously together. Jensen Interceptor and Cultivated Electronics boss Sync 24 remix the track. We're in the realm of tweaks rather than wholesale changes here, but no matter: the drama of the breakdown alone, where the reconfigured arpeggio is allowed to shine before the beats smash back, makes it a worthwhile venture.
TracklistA1 Oym
A2 Write Pulse
B1 Oym (Sync 24 & Jensen Interceptor Remix)
B2 BIOS