Today marks the release of Rezz’s debut artist album Mass Manipulation. What a glorious day.
Rezz has quickly become a favorite for tens of thousands of people, and her appeal grows day by day. There’s no doubt that a debut album from one of the fastest rising producers in the game will help her grow and discover new fans across the world.
In promoting her album, Rezz released a single every Friday for four weeks leading up to today’s release. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, those singles are the first four tracks on the album: Relax, Diluted Brains, Premonition, and DRUGS!
Since we’ve already written extensively about each of those tracks, let’s start with the first new one, “Livid.” This track starts off with those kind of tinny synth notes that Rezz has used so many times before, but the drop does a complete 180 and drops with intense ferocity. The kicks are hard as diamonds, and the tempo is wild and frenetic. It’s a crazy ride that we never want to get off.
Next up is “Green Gusher,” the spiritual successor to Rezz’s “Purple Gusher” from her Something Wrong Here EP last year. That, or Rezz just really likes Gushers. Whatever the case, “Green Gusher” is an interesting experiment in record scratches throughout a track. They’re used in such a way that they help to carry the rhythm rather than to interrupt it, like a typical record scratch would. Of course, it’s used in conjunction with the main melody so that makes sense, but it’s still an interesting exercise to see carried out to fruition and used effectively. Plus, it just sounds great.
Next up is “Synesthesia,” which we already expect to be insane before even hitting play. Synesthesia is “the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.” In other words, you can feel the color blue. As for the track, I’m gonna take a guess and say this is crimson red. It’s discordant and follows a very loose rhythmic structure, opting for sound design and effect rather than pleasant melody. It’s chaos.
And while we thought “Synesthesia” was going to be the wild track from the album, it’s actually the final track “Ascension” with Kotek that completely drives us up the wall. It’s somewhat of an amalgamation of all the previous tracks, bringing in that dark electro, melody, and discordant song structure but pushing them all up to 110%.
We’re going to be honest, after having had the first four tracks available for a while now, we’re quite tempted to just skip over them when listening to the album now. Of course, in a week or two when the album is fresh again, we’ll listen to it all the way through and see it for what it really is. But even with just the four new songs on the album being revealed today, Mass Manipulation is already one of our favorites of the year.
Of her album, Rezz says, “‘Mass Manipulation’ is a commentary on how easily our minds can become manipulated by the things we consume in society. We consume heavily through the media, which, in turn, tries to curate our thoughts and dictate how we as humans are supposed to live and behave. This album plays off this idea and invites people to become hypnotized, allowing their brains to be manipulated by my music in the hope they might see things through a new perspective (perhaps an outer world viewpoint). One where everyone is free from the unrealistic expectations planet earth has drawn for them. A world of acceptance and hypnosis. @[email protected]”
Check it all out below.
Image via Rukes.com