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About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

The Theory For Our Revenge 'OBORO'

REVIEW: Japanese multimedia art duo make a great first impression with their mix of industrial, trap and operatic pop

The following is a paid for review and post, via humanhuman (see below). 

It is always an honour and a pleasure to receive new music to check out and review; especially when it's as enjoyable a listening experience as this first offering from The Theory For Our Revenge is.


The Theory For Our Revenge are COLD FAITH and Jhas; a Japanese music production, fashion stylist and visual art duo

The Theory For Our Revenge are COLD FAITH and Jhas; a Japanese music production, fashion stylist and visual art duo.

Their debut single ,'OBORO', is a slice of experimental electro-trap / operatic-art-pop.




Starting with an industrial sounding chugging and churning, the track moves into frosty, haunting melodies.

It's in these opening bars that the only potential hiccup occurs.

Around the 0:38 and 1:12 marks there's a jagged synth whistle which is potentially painful to an earbud wearing listener.

Admittedly I am very sensitive to certain high pitch frequencies.

However, to remedy this I would be tempted to do a mixture of, or all of the following:
  • Turn the volume of the samples / track down
  • Use notch EQ and comb through the sample, cutting the offending frequencies
  • Use bit depth reduction to take out some of these harsh frequencies
Aside from this, 'OBORO' is a memorable slice of electronica.

Lead singer COLD FAITH plays the protagonist superbly.

Singing in English, his vocals mix fragility and endurance.  The emotive phrasing keeps listener attention throughout and the vocals interplay with the synth melody and scattered drums nicely.
  ...his vocals mix fragility and endurance.  The emotive phrasing keeps listener attention throughout and the vocals interplay with the synth melody and scattered drums nicely.
The instrumental balances poise and chaotic, frenetic expressions very well.

The melodies twist and turn in a classical manner, whilst cleverly sequenced drums hammer on and off beat to create a heightened state of anxiety.

Occasionally the vocals can get a bit lost in this sonic assault, such as near the climatic ending around 4:14.

I would be tempted to EQ or sidechain the vocals in a manner to keep them 'on top of' the other tracks but, given the more experimental nature of the track, this may have taken away from the overall vibe.

Potentially arbitrary quibbles aside, 'OBORO' is well written, performed and mixed.

The track morphs between industrial, trap and operatic with a pop music sheen and is a great introduction to the duo.

About The Theory For Our Revenge  

I’ve paraphrased from the guys themselves:


The Theory For Our Revenge are COLD FAITH and Jhas; a Japanese music production, fashion stylist and visual art duo.

Their debut single ‘OBORO’ is out now on Spotify, Soundcloud and Apple Music and other platforms.

A Japanese word, ‘OBORO’ translates as ‘obscure’ or ‘unclear’.

Lyrics, vocals, production and mastering by COLD FAITH.

The track is an expression of Japonism, Midnight Tokyo, violence and delicacy hidden within.

The Theory For Our Revenge have collaborated with artists including 1-100 and Japanese professional photographer, Kenya Ishikawa.

The Theory For Our Revenge ‘OBORO’ Lyrics:

'Bizarre neon signs, street intersections and glacial fuman faces in this city. They are beautiful and vain phantoms for "us".
I will always keep pursueing them. Maybe forever.
The broken mirror and my bloodstained fist.
The flow of my blood melts into soil.
The broken mirror and my bloodstained fist.
Every night when "our" brain makes a noise.
I believe that only you who stand in front of me are the real. 

The moment I touch you, I get cold from my fingertips.'

Check out more from The Theory For Our Revenge: 


https://www.instagram.com/the_theory_for_our_revenge/
https://twitter.com/thetheoryf1111
https://linkco.re/CgPmXuxD

humanhuman 

'humanhuman.com: A bunch of music professionals and enthusiasts unearthing the most promising new music.'

The artist has asked for the review to be posted and promoted on thenewbeatmaker.com.  

To have your music reviewed - privately unless explicitly stated - by me please visit my humanhuman page: 

https://humanhuman.com/users/LeeTNB

Request a Music Review


Get confidential and personal feedback on your music from me, with a ten day turnaround time for less than 5 Euros.

My tastes range from jazz to house and hip hop and I love helping artists develop their sound.

Click the link below to be taken to my HumanHuman page:

https://humanhuman.com/users/LeeTNB

A hobbyist electronic musician for almost ten years and a music writer for almost 15 years, my CV includes DRUM Magazine and se7en (sic) Magazine, bboytechreport, Push Power Promo and HumanHuman.


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