I'm... not familar with Mr. Raczynski. I think I've probably seen his name at some point, considering that apparently he was on Rephlex Records, but generally he's not someone I've listened to until recently in memory. So, how I got this release was that I was on the Internet Archive a couple days ago of writing (9-23-2021), downloading just any IDM I thought was interesting, and I saw this release, along with "Boku Mo Wakaran", apparently this means "I don't understand either" in Japanese, which, I'm gonna get back to that in a second. Based on the description of this one, these are probably renders of tracker files (Impulse Tracker specifically) which is quite interesting. And by "quite interesting", I mean, "I'm going to steal samples from this man." (I'm kidding, but admittedly I'd been in the rump when it comes to my sample library as of when I had wrote this paragraph.)It's sort of odd for me to review this just because like, it's so... weird. But I was so intrigued listening to it that I decided to write a review on it. I meant to do this sooner, specifically first-listen because that would be a much better review, but I slacked off as usual. This is gonna be like that Frederik Schikowski review, in that some tracks get their own sections, but some don't. (Like three of them get their own section.)
The EP starts out with what one might call the complete opposite of music, hilariously enough. "Adjust" is... noise. Then you get a breakbeat. The end. A lot of the EP is like 10 seconds or so, which I think might be because of the modules. I haven't gotten a good look at them cos I didn't download the ZIP with them, but I might nab 'em and see what's going on inside them at some point. But yeah, "Adjust" is just... neat, to put it simply. I keep going over myself, that's because it is hard to describe 4/7ths of this EP. "Clamb" is the first song to give us more to it, although it too is pretty noisy. If I had to guess, this is all coming from a gabber viewpoint (and I'm right, based on the other songs.) You have this odd structure to it, that's cool, along with a high-pitched synth, that's always fun. The 4th track, "grcobu" is... well, in a way, you could call this more IDM than a lot of IDM. It's weird, experimental crap with some neat percussion. This just ends with a hardcut after it introduces a break beat into the mix of the soundscape. Probably another hard cut due to the rendering. And to finish up the forgettable section of the EP, we have "icec".
This song is... beautiful. When I first listened to it, I could feel all the worries and regrets pouring out of my brain, I felt enlightened. My IQ, when I took a quiz, had apparently gone up tenfold due to listening to this song. I invented all the necessary vaccines for the present and future, solved world hunger, made peace with all nations (even North Korea and Britain), got rid of death row, made the world a better place entirely, stopped climate change, discovered a new universe. I then saved the world of the Ka'ala'tooatoids, a race of green, well-assetted tall 400 pound aliens, from the planet Djafknatala. They were under attack and being enslaved by the Prifanzonicenis, from the planet Jdariian, but apparently they only did it as they were all collectively under interspecies heat, and they couldn't ask the Ka'ala'tooatoids out. Then, Donald Trump and Barack Obama's ten sons (who were all gay and in a relationship with eachother,) collectively known as the Trumpabama Rammers, came to this planet to thank me, and give me the remaining Nobel Peace prizes that were previously given to some old white scientist before they realized that said old white scientist was actually a Soviet spy robot, unearthed from 1965, a brain encoded with the lyrics to "A Taste of Honey", "Yest Na Volga Utess", and "This Land Is Your Land". He was melted.
I'm joking about all that, it's literally 3 seconds consisting of:
Alright, onto to the good stuff. This is the 3rd track on the EP, and it gives quite the impression, mainly being some odd gabber/breakcore/J-core. Yeah, remember how I mentioned the Japanese thing up there? I've been [trying to] listen(ing) to Sonic Dragolgo recently (found through Bandcamp) Anyways, you've got your loud hardcore kicks, all that good stuff. There's some interesting synths here and there, and all the metallic 8-bit percussion is a delight. For some reason, the last 10 seconds or so is just like a really high-pitched frequency, the loop holdout of a bunch of the samples. I don't know why that is, but whatever. I don't know why this track is so hard for me to say anything about, to be honest, you'd think that since it's the first actually interesting track on here I'd be rambling and rambling but I guess not. This one is like... okay, imagine you are a sort-of chibi bear. Y'know, think My Melody or some shit. So, you're doing your chibi stuff, when you proceed to get knocked unconscious, and you wake up clotheless in an alleyway in... like New Jersey. At 1 AM, in the thunder. This is what is playing in the small, underground, noise-hipster club next to you. Also yes, the noise-hipsters bang you, because you are just so so fucked in this scenario. Fucked. Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fucky fucky fuck-a-fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Fuck~! Fuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkkkkkk......I like saying "fuck". :D
The reason why I couldn't talk much about that last track, might be because of this one, although now that I've said this, I'll only be able to write like 2 sentences that are actually about the song. Basically, to sum this track up quickly: SEXY RAVE TECHNO PARTY TIME. Like, play this on a soundsystem at a club! The subwoofers will bleed bass! It'll be awesome! (Please make your patrons sign a contract to not sue you for any damages.) It starts out with a very low 909 kick, some hi-hats, with the kick proceeding to go up in pitch till it's an octave higher. That makes up our intro, as we introduce this weird synth-trumpet thing. The track adds more and more elements to it until it gets to...around 2:13. It starts teasing you with a new progression, just not giving you it until 2:30. This pattern is one of the best in house music, it's got this oddly ominous and foreboding feel, but it's groovily foreboding. There's not even like any real bassline, it's just done by the kicks! This is genius production in my opinion. (Now I'm worried I'm endlessly praising it in a fanboyish state, ha.) Bogdan builds up to more, some odd tricks here and there, before it just sort of... cuts out. This actually seems to be the version I downloaded in particular, as some other versions of this show that it's 8:14 (also you can tell.) But yeah, this is a great tune and I swear, if I ever play live I'm so playing this.
This comes after myyou, proceeding to switch back to gabber mode, like dangerda, however here it is much more cool and interesting, both have some shared similarities though, like metallic factory-esque percussion. In the beginning, before it actually introduces the good ol' gabber kicks, it has this very fearful quality to it, mostly due to THAT BASSSSSSSS that comes in, and the very staticy percussion (which is actually distorted by the bass. It's just that loud!!!). Bogdan has this interesting approach to structure on this track (and some others, like 18 and 20 on Boku Mo Wakaran, which I've been working through), in that it sort of... wanders around. Y'know, it's got like the bits that stay the same, with some random new elements, just sort of, switching around playfully and stupidly, with the stupidest high-pitched lead to accompany it. "Whoowheewahnawahnaweeeeeewoaheewoaheewoah," said the lead. "Dakadakadaka," replied the factory noises. "FWOOOOOOOOOOOM" replied the
But yeah, it sort of just ends with that lead, and the end. That's the EP. The end. You're left with silence and the violent self-loathing thoughts in the thick, useless skull of yours. And also, the Trumpabama Rammers are making collective love in your closet. Seriously. I have no idea how they are doing this. They are so loud and I'm pretty sure there is zero space in there, but I don't hear anything falling, plus one of my closet doors is open. But like, they're in there, banging, I can tell and if you were here, you could tell too, but it's just like... huh??? What?
So, that was Bogdan Raczynski's "Ice Climber" EP. Or, tracks Bogdan did under the alias Ice Climber? I have no clue. It's a bit odd to listen to this EP since, as shown, 4/7ths of it are just weird noise fuckings, but the remaining three tracks really make up for it, even if I have more preference towards the last two than I do towards dangerda. What are the weird facts I have this time? Not much. Uh, "myyou" was apparently released officially last year under the name "Compound Interest" on the Debt EP. I got done listening to Denki Shingon yesterday (it is 9/26 at 1 and a half in the morning as I finish up writing), which was also a neat experience, although I'm unsure what I'll do about the fact that that EP also has "dangerda" on it. Do I reprint the review? I dunno.
But, yeah, pretty good EP. Trackers really are one of my favorite things as of recent, and this shows some of the crazy shit that you can do with them as long as you have the samples. And also the medication.
Oh, you found this barely hidden part? Congrats!
Yeah, this is apparently belonging to Bogdan Raczynski, and I have both the S3M and the MP3 for it. Aren't I so cool? Actually, sort of, in a way. I don't know if anyone else has "jj2" in MP3 format but uh... what the fuck is going on with this song? Go download the module and open it up in just OpenMPT or something. Play it, I dare you. (I doubt you will, that's fine.) Yeah... that is insane. But the thing is, the MP3 I have sounds like actual music! It has beats and breaks and stuff! But, for some reason, when you play the module it sounds like a schizophrenic fucking nightmare! Why?!? I don't understand! Why are half of the sounds like 20 sounds in one, duplicated? It has comments that indicate it's copyrighted by the guy, "1995 Bogdan Raczynski". I'm confused!!! Is this what it was originally like? Is the file corrupt? I have no clue and quite frankly am completely uncertain of whether or not it is even real. Please, send help.