Review Summary: I’m definitely not biased at all.
Bellovddd is a Sput fellow that I’ve known over the past couple years. With the realization that we both liked crunkcore, we kept sharing music, until we ultimately shared our own track demos to each other. Bellovddd was inspired to make noisy music, and I happened to be a crunkcore artist myself. It was a marriage made in Heaven, and thus this new EP has come to pass. Still, Bellovvddd has a clearly unique style that is shown in this first, rather rough sounding EP from this new music producer.
O-K ep sounds as you might expect: like a collection of experimental tracks, as this new artist attempts to find his footing. The EP has great energy, though it’s clear production could be better. The bass is not pronounced in the EP, and even the drum kicks don’t have much boost. Let’s just say that Bellovvddd very much sounds like a starting up SoundCloud artist. They seemingly attempt to resurrect the sketchier side of MySpace music, and it works. If you’re nostalgic for crunkcore adjacent music, this may just float your boat. iKickedMyToe has retro, dinky beep boops straight outta early 2000s electro pop.
Interestingly, this debut EP is quite varied. The opening track has a strong hip-hop flavour thanks to pizzamachine’s feature, and is the most conventional crunkcore track, serving growls, raps, and singing. niceHatLarry is a weird AF track that attempts dissonant piano and demented growls, creating the chillest of background music whilst demonic growling ensues. It’s weird, but it works. StuffedCrust turns up the noise, with an industrial/drone sound. Joints4eva falls in line afterwards, with a wobbly dubstep backing. The music is noisy, it’s sketchy, it’s in-your-face, and everything you would expect from a crunkcore inspired artist. That doesn’t prevent personal lyrics from taking center stage, though.
For all its experimenting, this EP has a fairly pronounced electro pop vibe. Millionaires seems to be an influence, and (obviously) pizzamachine’s music. However, the overall sound is fairly diminished in comparison to its loud, cheese grater vocals. Simple, catchy pop beats are the generally chosen beats. It’ll be interesting to see what direction Bellovddd will take their music in, because it seems they are at a crossroads. Will they go louder or strip it back like in the track niceHatLarry? We’ll have to wait and see…
