The Bolstad Rating System.

I borrowed this awesomely concise rating system from a Rate YourMusic user named SamBolstad, which I shall refer to hereafter as The Bolstad System or Bolstad Rating. I will use it in future reviews on this blog, applying my scores to the albums based on the following criteria, taken from SamBolstad's RYM profile:

"From my all-time favorites on down, ranking all the albums I have rated based on the rating system I use. 

Rating System 
I rate albums by giving out up to 5 points for various combinations of the characteristics listed below (increments of 0.25), then calculate the rating on a 5-star scale. The ratings, however, are in no way intended to present an objective analysis of the music--art is a highly subjective field, and I allow my favorite albums to mingle in with truly great albums, with the intent of reflecting my personal taste in music. I am always open to suggestions for how to improve this rating system! 

Catchiness - How catchy, approachable, and aesthetically appealing the album is. It can lose points for particularly grating or annoying songs. 

Lyrics, topics and originality - How consistent and coherent the lyrics are over the album, as well as how original or insightful the message is. 

Flow, wordplay - Rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, clever phrase construction, good punchlines. 

Vocal expressiveness - Knowing how to emote or use your voice effectively with the rest of the music. Can also simply mean being a great singer. 

Musical originality, creativity - Inventive use of sound and a clearly individualistic musical persona. 

Instrumental expression - Emotive use of instruments to express. 

Songwriting, movements, layering, musicianship - Quality of the songwriting, lush (or appropriate) instrumentation, more than verse-bridge-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus, good intros and outros. 

Variation over the album - Changing the approach with each song, diverse sounds through evolving instrumentation. You lose points for filler or styles/sounds that drone on across songs for the back half of an album. 

Structure, pacing and strength strength over the album - Transitioning through high and low energy phases, intro and outro songs. Instrumentals and interludes between some songs. Dud tracks can ruin this aspect also. 

How does it compare to the canon? - Community opinion, as well as how much the album has influenced future works. 

Cover art - Aesthetic appeal of the image, consistency with message and sentiment of the album. 

Personal bias -  Essentially my most basic attitude and general stance on the album, beyond what can be justified by all those other attempts to quantify the music.  Based partly on the feelings I get when I recall the album at times I'm not listening to it, the taste the album leaves in your mouth, its reputation, and so on. 

My rough rating scale for allocating points: 
5 - Perfect, genius, classic 
4.75 - Practically perfect 
4.5 - Near classic 
4.25 - Mostly genius 
4 - Excellent 
3.75 - Very good, few big problems 
3.5 - Good 
3.25 - Moderate success 
3 - It mostly clicks 
2.75 - A bit above average 
2.5 - Average 
2.25 - A bit below average 
2 - Okay… 
1.75 - Not so good 
1.5 - Pretty bad 
1.25 - Annoying 
1 - Bad 
0.75 - Almost offiensive 
0.5 - Disrespectful 
0.25 - Repulsive 
0 - Worth nothing"

Video x2: Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II.

Here's another set of old reviews for the sequel of Selected Ambient Works by The Aphex Twin.

Album: Selected Ambient Works Volume II

Artist: Aphex Twin

Released: March 7, 1994

Genre: Ambient

Obtained: 3 years ago, purchased US CD at HMV

Favorite Tracks:

1. Blue Calx

2. Track 25

3. Track  3

4. Track 19

5. Track 1

Double Feature: Polygon Window / GAK.

Two quick videos, here you are:

Album: Surfing On Sine Waves

Artist: Polygon Window

Released: January 11, 1993

Genre: Ambient acid techno

Obtained: 2 years ago, ripped off YouTube via Freecorder

Favorite Tracks:

Polygon Window, Audax Powder, Quino-Phec, Quixote, Quoth

Album: GAK

Artist: GAK

Released: June 6, 1994

Genre: Techno

Obtained: 3 years ago, ripped off YouTube via stereo mix drive

Favorite Track:

GAK 4

Video: Introducing...KRÝTIKA

The Infected Mushroom Series Is Finished.

Hello everyone. I regret to tell you that due to time restrictions on my part, I will not be doing any videos for the last three Infected Mushroom albums. I will, however, provide a link to my review for Vicious Delicious on sputnikmusic.com, along with two other fantastic reviews from fellow Infected fans (hint: click the pictures), plus some awesome remixes by YouTube/SoundCloud users. Enjoy =)

Album: Vicious Delicious

Released: March 26, 2007

Genres: Psychedelic trance, trip hop, industrial

Obtained: 2 years ago, purchased CD at HMV

Favorite Tracks:

1. Heavyweight

2. Vicious Delicious

3. Suliman

4. Becoming Insane

5. Special Place

Remixes:

Becoming Insane (BLEH Remix)

Suliman (White Noise Remix)

Forgive Me (VOID Remix)

Album: The Legend of the Black Shawarma

Released: September 8, 2009

Genres: Psychedelic trance, industrial, psy-rock

Obtained: 3 years ago, purchased CD at HMV

Favorite Tracks:

1. Project 100

2. Bust a Move (Infected Remix)

3. The Legend of the Black Shawarma

4. Saeed

5. Franks

Remixes:

Smashing The Opponent (SynSUN Remix)

Project 100 (Jenovation Remix)

The Legend of the Black Shawarma (Darphesh Remix)

Album: Army of Mushrooms

Released: May 8, 2012

Genres: Psychedelic dance

Obtained: 4 months ago, received CD as a birthday gift from my girlfriend

Favorite Tracks:

1. The Messenger 2012

2. Drum N Bassa

3. The Rat

4. U R So F**ked

5. Serve My Thirst

Remixes:

U R So F**ked (Spaze Remix)

The Rat (Sultana Remix)

Nation of Wusses (TRojans Duo Remix)

Skrillex - Bangarang [A Musical Revolution Might Be Well Underway...].

Hello, friends. I have noticed that Sonny Moore (known more commonly nowadays as the infamous Skrillex) has been getting some rotten ratings and reviews on some well-known review sites, which surprised me, considering how many people I know that are absolutely in love with his music, and not in that obnoxious “OMG Skrillex is the god of dupstep!!1!” kind of way either. Although I will admit, I’ve seen plenty of those kind of people around lately, too, and that might be why so many are looking for reasons to hate him.

In any case, I feel the need to go further in depth with his latest album, Bangarang, and give a review that contains as little bias as possible, and maybe figure out what all the hype is about.

Album: Bangarang

Artist: Skrillex

Released: December 23, 2011

Genres: Dubstep, electro

Obtained: 6 months ago, purchased at Walmart

I don’t need to go into who Skrillex is, or what he does – chances are you already know. How he managed to infiltrate the music industry with his orchestrated trainwreck music, however, is anyone’s guess. Since the release of Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, I wasn’t expecting it to be topped by Bangarang. I watched Skrillex post the entire Bangarang tracklist on his YouTube channel the day it was released, and it received only a moderate response – that is until the title track’s music video dropped. It made #1 on the MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and MTV countdowns for awhile, and by summer, the single was being played everywhere – I mean, EVERY-F**KING-WHERE. Bars, clubs, school dances, amusement parks, shopping malls – I even heard it blaring out of a lone middle-aged man’s minivan at one time. I’m starting to think if that’s not a sign of musical apocalypse, I don’t know what is.

The trademark synth growls and ear-piercing chip-shrieks are ever prevalent in this 7-track EP, and so are his famous voice sample molestation solos, although those seem to have been put more into moderation here. The first track jumps “Right In” to the high-energy moshpit-friendly style of dubstep that was made famous by Skrillex to begin with, but it’s important to know that Skrillex does not specialize in just dubstep. This mini album is a testament to that fact, as each track seems to be of some different branch stemming from the electro subgenre (This variety is sometimes referred to as a genre all on its own, known as “complextro”).

Two tracks, including the single, “Bangarang,” and “Kyoto,” another remix to Skrill’s unreleased 2009 track, “Ruffneck Bass,” both feature the vocal “talents” of a white female “rapper” who goes by the name Sirah (SIGH-rah). Just gonna put this out there: I’m not a fan of Sirah. At all. Her flow is awkward, her lyrics are wacked, and she sounds like a 15-year-old boy when she’s flapping her gums around. It didn’t help that I could her chewing her food loud and clear at the end of “Bangarang.” It is apparent to me that her only role in these tracks is to act as a voice that drunk kids can sing along to at parties and dance clubs. There, that was my hater moment for the day.

All 5 other tracks feature cameos of legitimate artists of all kinds, from pop singer Ellie Goulding, to house producer Wolfgang Gartner, to fellow dubstep magician, 12^th Planet and Kill The Noise, to rock-and-roll legends The Doors.

Anyone that can get enough attention from these guys to have them volunteer to play in his/her songs, especially when their musical styles are not related in the slightest, and then take those two styles, fuse them together and make something listenable out of it, has my immediate respect.

“The Devil’s Den” took a while for me to get used to. The dance part was nice, easy to jam to and such – your basic hyped up electro house music. The “dubstep” break, however, would have been exponentially more ear-friendly if not for the screeching whistle sounds that droned on for seven lifetimes before switching back to the dance part again. After that whole ordeal, I found myself wondering why most people, especially those who always used to complain about my “psychotic” taste in music, would be so willing to embrace this particular brand of noise…

“Right On Time” is, for lack of better words, confusing. It may take a few listens to warp your head around the fact that while the melody seems to be constantly building up, without ever actually coming to a climax, the beat, with its consistently changing velocity and tempo, seems to be going off in a completely different direction. Only when you can embrace the deviant nature of this track will you realize just how well everything fits together.

By track 7, the noisy parts are over, and it’s time to relax. Lush, flowing pads, light-hearted melodies, and soft vocals reminiscent of the old days of From First To Last, are what you can expect from Summit, the conclusion of the CD version of the EP. Those who have bought the iTunes version will be greeted afterward with a classical medley by Varien, in tribute to the works of the past, from Scary Monsters to More Monsters.

By now, I was hoping to have figured out why Skrillex has managed to turn the current techno-pop-infested music industry on its head and reach out and make fans out of even the most unlikely listeners. I suppose it could be the way he can take almost any type of music and manipulate it to not only create a sound that is brand new and uniquely his own, but also use that sound to take the energy on any dance floor and amplify it ten-fold. Or he could be a member of the Illuminati. That is always an option as well.

I hope this review has given you a new perspective. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend. =)

Favorite tracks: Kyoto, Breakin' a Sweat

Video: Mindless Self Indulgence - Making Pedophilia Cool Since 1997.