By: Daniel "Dahgrow" Reed

DJ Scotch Egg's album Drumized is what many who are savvy with the underground 8-bit/lo-fi music movement would call a "chiptune" release. Chiptune is, for the unaware, an umbrella term tacked on to any music that primarily uses sounds produced by vintage video game and computer systems. For many, it is about nostalgia - reliving the games of one's youth in the form of music. Popular chip artist Bit Shifter captures the idea rather nicely: "I was pretty fascinated by the texture and mood of video game music as a kid, my favorite was the background music of the game Balloon Kid, which I recorded to cassette tape from my sister's Game Boy, just so I could carry it around with me in my Walkman." The problem with chiptunes, however, is that mindless Gameboy fetishism can only go so far. There is a plethora of sugary-sweet amateur albums available on the net, and they can get old. In the words of "Mono", founder of Treble Death System, a net label which specializes in harder, more non-purist and experimental chiptunes, "It's like trying to be Elvis in his later, and fortunately his last, years - washed up, without any sense of direction." Honestly, how many more Tetris remixes do we need? How many homages to one's favorite turtle stomping, mustachio'd plumber are necessary? Amidst the online maelstrom of sub-par chiptune efforts and cheap Bit Shifter imitations, finding quality music of the genre becomes a more and more daunting task. There are, however, some real 8-bit gems available to those who look, and DJ Scotch Egg's Drumized is one which rises above the fluff.

So what makes Drumized stand apart from the crowd of stale chiptunes? Even during its more traditional moments, the album seems to refuse to compromise itself with what others may expect to hear. It is manic at times, always quirky, often hardcore, and, holistically, deliciously experimental. It seems clear that DJ Scotch Egg is having fun, throwing in whatever sounds, goofy melodic wankings, and megaphone-amplified screams that will maintain his own undoubtedly ADHD-shortened attention span. It has pretty much all the staples of his earlier work; the speedcore blasts, the at times disorientating Gameboy squeals, the occasional classical remix (in this case, of Entrance of the Gladiators), odd track titles, and its own experimental twists - in the case of Drumized, the inclusion of drums on some tracks, a new and welcome development.

One such track is "Scotch Jazz", which starts with a fractured-sounding loop of acoustic upright bass, and wastes little time exploding into a near three-minute free jazz freakout; meandering drum soloage, muted trumpet squeal, noisy and senseless guitar wankery, all lurching on in addition to whatever sounds are thrown in. The track can hardly be considered chiptune, without any Gameboy sounds or even so much as one 8-bit bleep. Not until the later appearing continuation "Scotch Jazzzzz" can one hear the jazzy chaos paired up with the lo-fi voice of the Gameboy, eventually leaving the Gameboy to its own intentions as the song undoes itself with frantic rises in speed. "Scotch Jazz" captures the heart of the experimentalism in Drumized, one of the album's best qualities.

That is not to say that the album's less experimental tracks are not also enjoyable. A number of the album's tracks reflect DJ Scotch Egg's more signature and chiptune-reminiscent flavor - one of my favorites being "Scotch Grind 2". The track begins immediately with 8-bit bleep-blooping, and soon the Gameboys are blazing; full-on assaulting the listener with gabber beats and Gameboy debauchery, noise and crazed shouting, until at last only a single Gameboy remains, singing one trebly arpeggio, lasting for nearly too long before the song ends. A manically fun, bouncy ride.

Although I praise the experimentalism in Drumized, the sound is not for everyone. While I find the seemingly random blip-blop-crunch of the opening track "Wwwww" entertaining, many would sooner denounce it, reaching for the "skip" button to try their luck on the next track. To each his own - while I see the bolder experimentalism as a plus, many others may see it as the album's downfall. Wherever one stands, most would probably agree that Scotch Egg's sound is an uncompromising one indeed.

Like it or not, it is at Drumized's more experimental moments that it really stands out. The closing piece, "Ummmmm.............", is a gorgeous, shimmering, and underwater sounding sort of track. For three-and-a-half-minutes a glitchy, washed-out loop goes on at various intensities with a water-eroded drum hit intermittently placed throughout the ambient fog. A pretty and welcome departure from Scotch Egg's more common speedcore-isms.

The various audio explorations Drumized has to offer definitely push the boundaries of any one genre. DJ Scotch Egg's uncompromising and experimental sound has captured my interests, and its often harder and varied sound has kept them. Indeed, Drumized is certainly an album that should be considered beyond the unfortunate staleness of chiptune culture. The genre has plenty of unrealized potential; it just needs more artists like DJ Scotch Egg who are willing to experiment with it.

Drumized out now from: Load Records
DJ Scotch Egg's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/djscotchegg