Misc. Day – WHAT A SWEET TIME

The name Death By Sheep should mean something to you, especially after having one of the most glorious displays of electronic performance with GOLDEN BOY’s I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN.

While Death By Sheep is the label that brought GOLDEN BOY’s attention to me, the impressive catalogue becomes this poster child for in-depth approaches to drum and bass as well as these blended genres into one mix.

I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN becomes the internet’s golden prodigal child, Paris Alexander who went under the moniker GOLDEN BOY quickly made a stance for aggressive sampling, breakbeats, and intertwined the already blurred lines for jungle and cybernetic practices for sound.

Opening with  “My type of girl,” I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN is going to be a hard-stepping, fast use of friction in production. With a LL Cool J sample of “Back Seat (of My Jeep)” that creates the hook or consistent melody of vocal approaches, GOLDEN BOY also introduces some Death Grips vocal sampling over drum and bass in this culmination of internet growth.

The continuous 808 that punches the audience is belligerent enough to keep a BPM far beyond 200 as the clasping hi-hats and chiming elements cascade over the audience. Isolation is never the name of the game on I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN as instead, the instrumentals are layered beyond belief, and “Connect the dots” especially is frantic but can be somehow beautiful in its sequencing,

GOLDEN BOY is adept in particular at adding and constricting around factors of music, their layering is specifically one of the reasons I wanted to cover this record. “Connect the dots” is sonically a raging mess, but one of the better tracks because of how well they thrive in the chaos that is created.

The rapid machine gun of stomping bass that coincides with the midi claps becomes a symphony. The elements of drum and bass push against the audience as tension wheels forward to a boiling point. At the track’s near end, the speakers are practically dissolving and succumb to being nothing but ashes when “Brain aneurysm” pulls into frame.

If previous tracks “My type of girl” and “Connect the dots” were rapid fired, then “Brain aneurysm” is night core on triple speed. The ripping and raging instrumentation makes for one of the best displays of just how fun and challenging a piece of music can be both to follow and groove to. GOLDEN BOY is not only an architect here, but also does fantastic crowd work with these arpeggios that resemble a factory running at max capacity.

Another highlighted notion comes in the form of “Amen Therapy” where the entire mix of I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN is less of a deadly attack on the audience and instead is s push toward some unrelenting pulse of creation. “Amen Therapy” has a gorgeous progression from start to finish and the drum and bass elements not only carry the track, but GOLDEN BOY is a master of control here.

I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN continues to be a record that I revisit not just for the unique sampling and sounds that can be discovered with each listen, but for that initial emotional wash, it gave in the initial listen. It was this instant smile on the face, represented by blitzing performance and production enough to shake any foundations between basements and center stages.

Listen To I NEVER MEANT FOR THIS TO HAPPEN Here!!! – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes