This is the second installment of “A Producer Perspective.” This series is a breakdown of self-produced artists whose work deserves a deeper dive. As someone who has been producing music for over five years, I want to talk about not just how good the music sounds, but why it sounds the way it does.
A self-produced artist is someone who makes most, if not all, aspects of their music independently. This includes recording, engineering, mixing, arranging, producingand anything else that would typically be contributed to a team. Since the art is made with complete control of the artist, it offers a direct view into their creative vision. It also means they are stupid talented.
This time I’m going to be breaking down the artist Jane Remover and her experimental album “Revengeseekers.”
This album’s sound could be comparable to the concepts found in shoegaze music, where all elements of a song are present, like drums, melody and chords, but each sound is woven together through distortion. This makes each element of the track contribute to one wall of sound rather than speaking together as parts of a whole.
From a producer’s perspective, this album feels like a love letter to production. It features many typical sounds and drums that are found within late 2010s hip-hop production. These sounds are very well known in the hip-hop producing community and any experienced producer in that field would find these sounds to be familiar and almost nostalgic.
However, the recurring themes that are found within this project belong to multiple different genres. There’s repeating elements of EDM, hardstyle, underground hip-hop, breakcore, indie rock, and much more. This album feels like a showcase of modern production techniques and a collection of genres the artist is capable of achieving.
A good example of EDM mixing in this project is found within Jane’s use of sidechain compression. Sidechain compression means that when a certain sound plays it makes other elements of the song quieter. This, oddly enough, makes the track feel louder and more hard-hitting when applied to drums. To the listener, it sounds like the drums are hitting harder than the rest of the track when in actuality the whole track is just getting quieter for the sound to stand on its own. This is used primarily for kick drums in the more EDM style songs on the album.
This analysis will now focus on tracks that I think deserve to be highlighted the most, examining the structure, genre influences, and notable production details. Given the album’s chaotic and experimental nature, the following songs are ordered from most digestible to least. This gives a more gradual introduction for a wider range of listeners. The last thing a listener should do is overlook the album because of an early conclusion. It is impossible to explain every song’s elements, simply because there are too many. Each song is its own journey, it’s complex and changes multiple times in its duration.
“Dancing with your eyes closed”
This is the most popular track on the album by millions of streams, and for good reason. This song samples a digicore beat that Jane made. You can see it in the video game-esque square wave used for the main melody, and the chord progression it is playing. Digicore is an internet microgenre that became popular in early 2020 that features digital sounding melodic elements with the drum patterns found in trap music. This is usually paired with a pitched up, highly autotuned vocal performance.
The beat used in this song lies heavily within typical EDM production with a four-on-the-floor kick pattern, a kick pattern that hits on every beat. This gives the song its danceable rhythm.
This rhythm half times at about the 1:30 mark but only for 10 seconds before the whole vibe of the song switches.
This vibe switch features the amen break. This is a drum break that is the beating heart of a genre called breakcore. Breakcore is a fast paced and chaotic subgenre of EDM. This subgenre uses chopped up drum breaks, the most popular and recognized drum break used in this genre being the amen break. This break comes from the 1969 track “Amen, Brother” by the American soul group the Winstons.
At the 3:10 mark the song’s genre switches again to an underground hip-hop style beat using typical underground drum sounds and a distorted 808 bass.
“Dark night castle”
This is a unique track on the album because it highlights Jane’s guitar playing abilities. This song, while stripped-back of the chaotic elements seen throughout the project, still holds true to the overarching vision of the album. The guitar is paired with more acoustic sounds like strings and piano. My favorite element of this track appears at the one minute mark, when we hear a piano that is used to transition between bars. The song stays with the guitar and the pockets of synths and piano until the 2:28 mark. Then the track transitions into a crescendo of distortion.
“Experimental Skin”
This song is interesting because it shows elements of the shoegaze genre with guitar playing and other elements weaving each other together through distortion. Something cool though, is it might not be a guitar at all. It could be some sort of synth that is distorted similarly to how a guitar would be, giving it a similar sound. This gives it the vibe of distorted guitar chords without a guitar playing at all. The song starts like shoegaze but keeps the digital distorted sound with a square wave arpeggiator playing behind the “guitar.” However at the 1 minute mark we can hear an actual distorted guitar come through. The guitar and the synths stay until the 2:17 mark where the genre shifts. The beat shifts to an underground hip-hop beat withits signature distorted 808 bass. The genre shifts again to an EDM style beat at the 3:50 mark and we see some sidechain compression on the vocal performance and a four on the floor kick pattern.
“Professional Vengeance”
This is one of my personal favorites just because of the bright feeling the main lead gives you. The main lead is a simple square wave melody that is upbeat. This track also features organic drums, guitar and bass that should be familiar to many listeners. This gives the track a pop sound but stays true to the project’s distorted theme. The drum fills that transition between bars are not organic and instead digital. This gives a unique digital fill in between the organic sounds. The drums become more digital around the 1 minute mark and speak as a build up to the 1:22 mark. The track becomes more laid back but EDM sounding with the drum pattern. The stripped-down sound at that point acts as a build to 1:48 where the album’s signature distortion shines through.
My favorite part by far is at 2:10. Jane’s vocal delivery changes to her yelling and it gives a contrast with the upbeat feeling of the beat. It also showcases her vocal talent to be able to perform a vocal like that and have it fit so well into her production.
The genre switches at the outro of the song to hardstyle, but it keeps the same instrumentation heard throughout the track. Hardstyle is a subgenre of EDM that is characterized by its signature heavily distorted, powerful kick drums.
“Dreamflasher”
This song follows a normal underground hip-hop pattern within the drums and the distorted 808 bass. It is layered with distorted synth leads and even some guitar. It takes that common sound and gives it a chaotic twist. This song actually features a couple of sound effects from Mario Kart Wii, specifically the sound that plays when you cross the finish line which I thought was a nice touch. At 2:15 there’s a very loud synth bass with vocal chops that acts as a break between the song before going right back to that loud and distorted underground sound, with a synth bass taking the place of the 808 that was there previously.
“JRJRJR”
This song is a fan favorite because it’s a good song to hear live. It’s dark sounding, and fully embraces the underground hip-hop themes we’ve heard from previous tracks like the 808 bass and the filled out hi-hat structure. This track feels like it exists purely for the energy of the fans.
Even though I have only covered half of the tracks that are within this project, the entire album deserves attention. Each song shifts between genres and ideas in a way that feels like a showcase of skills and a love letter to production. “Revengeseekerz” is not for everyone but it is a project that understands the history of its sounds and pushes them forward, turning familiar techniques into something entirely new.
