Review Summary: Trashy isn't necessarily a bad thing
Anyone expecting Funtcase’s
Doomed EP to be anything different than the trashiest kind of brostep should change those expectations now. At the most basic level, it’s a case of appealing to the lowest common denominator with so-called “music for the masses” - it’s entirely plausible to argue that there is nothing redeeming whatsoever about this. After all, this is the guy who named himself Funtcase because he could switch the “f” and “c” in his name to make “c**t face.” He has the gimmicky habit of wearing a mask while he performs, a la Slipknot or Deadmau5, and he tends to start his performances with a vocal sample that goes “My name is Funtcase, and you can f**k off.” Most importantly, he’s a part of Circus Records, a hit-or-miss dubstep label famous for the likes of Flux Pavilion and Doctor P that prides itself on how aggressive and abrasive every single one of its releases is. This is a man who is famous for having songs without any melody whatsoever, just tuneless wobbles, and if anyone goes into the EP expecting something subtle, beautiful, and intricate, they’re in for a rude awakening.
However, anyone worried about the lack of intricacy and subtle beauty on
Doomed is missing what’s probably the most important question: is this fun? Funtcase isn’t even pretending to compete with artists like Burial and Four Tet - he’s attacking a different sphere altogether. This is not music for the future garage addict with thousand-dollar headphones who has a good wank over every listen-through of
Untrue. This is music for a sweat-drenched group of teenagers and college kids bouncing around and/or headbanging at a massive concert, wearing neon clothing and getting high off drugs stashed in Camelbaks under their shirts. And, viewed in that light,
Doomed sort of succeeds. At best, you have songs like the title track. With the tuneless wobbles Funtcase is famous for, a stereotypical, almost boring half-time 140 broken beat, and its vocal “ohs” and “yeahs,” it’s a horrifically trashy tune - and I mean that in the best way possible. For what it’s worth, Funtcase knows how to craft a party song, and in some ways that bodes well for him.
It’s difficult to rate this any higher than “average”, though, since that’s basically how Funtcase plays the game. Half of the EP is essentially a rehash of what worked well in the past, like his massive tunes “Gorilla Flex” and “So Vexed,” and while that half is indeed good, it’s a bit unoriginal. More importantly, this half is weaker than Funtcase’s previous work - “So Vexed,” for example, is a far stronger case for the quality of Funtcase than anything here.The other half is pretty weak - for example, “Invaderz” is just about as cookie-cutter brostep as it gets. The fact that a Funtcase song finally has a melody notwithstanding, “Invaderz” is boring. Its nasally synth lead has been used thousands of times before and the beat is utterly uninteresting, and it’s a shame that Jakes’ talents weren’t put to better use. But, to be honest, analyses of what worked and what didn’t work on every song are kind of pointless here, because the answer to the “Is it fun?” question I asked earlier is hesitantly yes. I hate to sound like a condescending a**hole here, but what really matters is the kids at the standard-fare faux-rave will like this well enough. As for the rest of us,
Doomed arguably succeeds in what it sets out to do, albeit shakily, and if anyone can stomach trashy wobbles for a while then it’s a decent listen.
