This week 8static continues the trend of events-team-turned-label-owners
with the release of their first EP, Storm Blooper’s debut ‘Jawn-Dis’ (an
incredibly appropriate name considering both artist and label’s Philadelphian
loci). With mastering by DJ Cutman and
artwork of animal styleian quality (actually done by SB himself), the whole package drips
professional intent. But is it worth the
four dollar asking price in a scene so built on the ‘pay what you want’?
‘Jawn-Dis’ is an EP in two halves. The opening two tracks, ‘The
Captain Is Dead And So Are We’ and ‘Good Luck’, both suffer from the same
compulsion. The former has a great, euphoric ending and the latter
sounds full 8bc; sweetly sick melodies and melancholic atmosphere, however, both tracks
often use the same motif so much it becomes overdrawn and thin. Storm Blooper
explores one theme for far too long, until it’s so ravaged even he seems lost
in the resulting mess.
The other half of the release is consistently fantastic,
however. ‘Ginger Quest 64’ highlights a leniency towards influence from
chiptune’s past, but doesn’t sound dated. It also serves to extrapolate the
fact Storm Blooper has the uncanny ability to make the sounds of 8BP’s heyday
still resonate in exciting and refreshing ways. Elsewhere, ‘Fathoms’ sounds curiously
polka, threatening to jump into Eurotrash at any second, and made only better
when it drops itself into an offtime swagger whilst sounding closer to DKSTR and
KODEK than Nullsleep.
‘Tritanopia’ deserves specific mention, too. It’s
jaw-dropping; melodies stutter and glitch over each other but with obvious forethought
and motive, landing eventually on its feet into a surprisingly groove-thick
dancefloor killer. And its tracks like this which make this five track slice of
mostly gold worth the small asking figure. Whilst a mere four dollars shouldn’t matter, in a scene so used to
free downloads it will, and it’s an
honest shame that the oversight might cause such a substantial debut to be
overlooked. Don’t flinch, it’s worth the contribution.
Favourite track: Tritanopia
