Missqulater sits in a particular bubblegum bubble. This Rainbow Raver takes two fistfuls of Skittles, downs one and pounds his machines with the other. The result is an animated, at times hysterical, caffeine addicted Nintendo romp.
School days are the best days of your life. I’ve never really went for that cliché. There were some good moments though, well memorable ones. I remember being in C.D. class and the teacher asking about music tastes. C.D. class you ask? Christian Doctrine. Feel free to say yikes! Teacher you ask, priest. Feel free to insert expletive before that yikes! Fr. Bennet’s inquisition landed on young townling.
“And what kind of music do you like Johnathan?”
“Rave Farder, and Happy Hardcore.”
I’m not sure either of them knew what either genre was, nor myself to be honest. Rave and Hardcore were bandied about as Dance music medallions but nowadays these styles, or the better parts of them, are having a revival. Polybius Traxx has flirted with “ravy” sounds and The Sound of Belgium collected some of the best tracks from the smiley era. Others like Ceephax, FAH and EOD have tweaked Acid aggression into playful chip charms. Missqulater is part of this new generation of glow stick carriers.
Now I had not heard of Missqulater before Central Processing Unit picked up the Japanese artist for his first vinyl outing. Kirze Keydey has been doing the digital rounds for many years and it’s only now that his mish-mash style is getting set to wax. Hyperactivity is merged with hi-energy. “Tempest” speeds on broken beats, its wheels spinning on axles of smoothed synth. The brash light and screaming neon of Tokyo’s Shibuya district is clear to hear. Pink streaked Punk Rave bursts with the title piece. The tempo is not screechingly fast, the content does the racing. Mock Altern8 melodies are bounced against scratch and chip tune medleys. It feels like Keydey has grown up on a diet of Aphex Twin and Pepsi. Twitching chords blur with rapidity. But there are cerebral moments. “Everything I Know In The Streets” is a much more laid back melodic affair, well comparatively so. Keys are scattered and recollected for a piece that sits somewhere between Analord and Gimmik, though I’m not sure about the miaowing. For the finale the blood sugar levels surge. ADHD beats judder against a backdrop of conversation snippets and vulcanized 303.
Missqulater sits in a particular bubblegum bubble. This Rainbow Raver takes two fistfuls of Skittles, downs one and pounds his machines with the other. The result is an animated, at times hysterical, caffeine addicted Nintendo romp.
They Rave Us is available on Central Processing Unit.
