Review by: Alvi Bazlu
AlviB@undrgrndsound.com
Rusko has to be one of the most relevant artists related to electronic music, whether it is internationally or nationally, he’s played a pivotal part in bringing the dubstep genre to the masses, especially in the United States. He’s worked with other producers in the electronic scene as well as major signed artists like Britney Spears, even hip-hop group Cypress Hill, and to throw a random one in there, Andy Milaknokis. His latest EP “!” just released, and I was honored with the chance to review it. Coming up with a genre is a hard thing to do because most fans expect you to stay to your style, if you switch over and you get the “oh man this don’t sound anything like his old stuff I don’t like it”. With that thought process of the average listener, this brings a fear into record labels and even the producers in releases because you don’t want to lose your fans, they’re the ones paying your bills and letting you live your dream. But as an artist, a natural thing to do is evolve and experiment, at a point you owe to your artistic credibility to try new things, and that’s what Rusko did with this most recent EP.
An enormous amount of factors play into deciding on a song release or an album release, here are some to name a few. Timing is everything, so whatever is “current” in the scene plays a big part, for example right now big room house, trap, and twerk is what’s pretty “current” right now I’d say. If the songs you produced are DJ friendly matter too, for example are they in a tempo that most DJs move around like 100 for twerk, 128 for house, 140/70 for trap, that plays a part because if your song is DJ friendly it has the potential to get a lot of play by DJs on tour and all over. Also what genre is on the come up is a major factor, because that’s the current open field and open market to evolve with. At the moment I’m sure everyone can agree the “future” genre or “future bass” genre is the latest popularity. Artists that have been making future type music are Cashmere Cat, Lido, Stelouse, Stwo, Sevnth Wonder, Wave Racer, and many more. It’s changed the club scene for sure, still dance ready but it’s definitely not your shuffle music, but more so your grind/vibe music. But to bring everything together Rusko’s latest EP “!” can be categorized as future/future bass, and I hate categorizing putting a label on genres or sounds, but sometimes it has to be done. To some it may be a whole new sound, but to others it’s a familiar sound that’s been dwelling on the internet and clubs for a while now. Now when a producer experiments with a whole new genre, it always makes me consider if the style transition is natural or generic. Labels make the producers make the coming up genre and producers do the same as well because of the fact that it’s an open field so you have more of a chance to grow with the genre. I can’t count how many producers jumped on the “future house” scene after Tchami and Oliver Heldens started to pop, some did it naturally giving it their take being inspired by the future house sound, and some did it solely as jumping on the bandwagon, it’s a hard thing to tell. With Rusko’s EP I definitely wondered if this transition was natural or a marketing strategy, some believe he’s jumping on the future bandwagon, other’s feel he’s just naturally inspired hence the transition.
So let’s review each song.
The things I take into consideration when judging a song is :
1. Song Structure – Whether it’s following the basic formulas or not. (I.e. intro/ chorus/ drop / chorus / break / drop /chorus/ outro is a basic formula to me)
2. Sound Design – If the sound design is new, old, or over used. Some artist can use old sounds and still structure great, some create new ones but can’t use them correctly, and some sounds are just way too over used and need to be stopped (i.e. animals synth). The mixing and mastering matter of course but when your EP is being released on Universal I’m sure you don’t have to worry about the mixing and mastering.
Full Stream of “!” EP - https://soundcloud.com/rusko-3/sets/e9i64ophsqgk
Like A Boss - Like A Boss I believe is around 85 bpm and was one of the first releases off the EP. To me the sound design is good but not new, it reminds me of some Griz or Gramatik type glitch-hop, & structure seems very formulaic. It has a great bounce and sound which is undeniable, but I’ve felt that bounce in every 85bpm glitch-hop song. Still a good tune, just not something I would play on repeat.
Happy Chords - Happy Chords is at 150 bpm I believe and is definitely one of my favorite tunes from the EP. The sounds are familiar of course, but to me it keeps to the Rusko style, and the song structure definitely makes me happy, although it follows a formula, the percussion breaks and the percussion work itself gives it a great twist with the melody. Great tune, great sounds, something I’d play on repeat.
My Style - The 100bpm track for the EP, I guess you can kind of say this is Rusko’s take on twerk? Every EP needs that club ready song to get the booty shaking and the crowd bouncing, and this is the track for it. The sound design is really cool and definitely gets you to want to move, but the song over all seems generic to me. The synths are different but the percussion seems like the basic drum work of any twerk song, that bass with the snare frequency. It kind of feels like he HAD to do a 100bpm song and this was his take on it. The song is great, I love twerk music and this goes great at 100bpm, but I felt he could’ve done without this track on the EP. Jersey club would’ve been a more interesting genre to experiment with for the dance floor but that’s just me.
Sunshower - Sunshower is another favorite from the EP, it’s at 150bpm. This is the style of Rusko I feel he’s comfortable being. His previous songs like “Thunder” remind me of this song, the synths are simple but destructive. The structure definitely seems a bit abstract and away from the norm. On repeat.
Rusko’s Theme - This is my favorite from the EP, if this is Rusko’s theme I hope this plays all the time and I hope he’s side scrolling fighting villains. The genre is chip-tune better yet known as 8-bit music. I never saw this track coming, would have never guessed Rusko would do it and with such taste too. The feelings of nostalgia automatically hit with this one, I definitely felt like I was playing back to playing mega man. This makes me wish there was a Rusko video game to play. On repeat and looking to play this every time I’m walking.
Overall in my opinion, the EP is cool, and the transition seems natural to me, but the EP as a whole lacks longevity. It feels very forgettable and doesn’t seem like some of Rusko’s finest production ever, it’s cool but most people will forget about this EP in a few months in all honesty. I feel like Rusko’s hinted towards changing his style up for a while now and he finally got do it, and if he’s influenced by the future scene then so be it, I’d rather one of the biggest dubstep heads pushing the future bass movement. I asked a few artists opinions on it to get producers points of views, these producers are from all different genres and fields but all very talented and know what they’re doing.
Check out what they had to say:
Harley from Mt Eden - “I liked it and thought it was original on first impression, I’ve heard lots of other people doing a similar neon type sound, I reckon he’s just inspired by it and you can’t hate on that!”
SteLouse -” Tracks such as Like a Boss and My Style seem to be something I would maybe expect to hear from Rusko. While the other three are definitely more “influenced” by the new movement in bass music. If a new scene is influencing an artist to try something different with their music, then more power to them. If it’s a move to get on top of a new scene that is expanding, that’s another story. Regardless of the motive behind the change in Rusko’s sound, I personally found the new EP to be a little lack luster. As a whole it doesn’t feel entirely honest. But at the end of the day you can’t hate an artist for trying new things, that’s what we do. That’s my opinion. Neither good nor bad. Just my scope on it.”
Victor Niglio - “Sonically, it’s still Rusko through & through, with more of an updated twist. I’m into it. Favorite track is ‘My Style’, the horns are sick.”
Kaos - “I feel that this EP is less bandwagon more natural progression.”
Aylen - “Upon hearing the new Rusko I was a bit surprised. The EP definitely sounded like a different Rusko which isn’t a bad thing. The standout track to me is ‘like a boss’ is appropriately named. Although it doesn’t sound like typical Rusko it has all the elements of what people grew to love him for. The track is fun and bouncy, but still has a certain choppy dirty feel to it. I’m excited to see where his music progresses to.”
Kayzo - “I respected the direction Rusko is going with the new EP. Sounds like he decided to really lock in that funk sound into lots of the tracks, as well as keeping a really electronic 8 bit feel. It was fun to listen to, although I did feel like some of the production could have been tied together a little better. Rusko is trying to reinvent his voice in this “scene”, and I can only respect an artist for trying new things. I really enjoyed “Like a Boss” and “My Style”.”
Sav from FIGHT CLVB - “I like the new direction. I still hear the signature Rusko wobbles. On the engineering side, the mix downs are super clean and polished. He’s slowly reinventing himself, however I really feel Rusko should focus on a solid single to make a comeback, and these tracks seem a bit weightless & forgettable. This is just my personal opinion of course. Sunshower is my favorite and Like a Boss is a close second. “
New EP ‘!’ out NOW!
Order here: smarturl.it/NEWRUSKO
Tracklisting:
1. Like A Boss
2. Sunshower
3. My Style
4. Happy Chords
5. Rusko Theme
Out on Universal / FMLY Records
Going on tour! ruskoonfire.com
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