totsumal - マシマシEP review
a very beautifully composed nerdcore/juke/hardcore EP released during mob squad's decline; i don't think totsumal has ever quite gotten the attention he should in the west.
i've always been fond of the fact that, despite how cleanly he mixes, there's a certain hobbyist, otaku charm to every track he puts out. while at times it can feel "too" clean or minimal,
other times this EP blasts you with every little thing it's got, never clearing samples even once, & keeping the spirit of the scene he hails from alive for a little longer.
26 is one of the most memorable first tracks i've ever heard on a hardcore album. its squeaking synths & cutesy corporate-chopping vocals are just so charming.
totsumal's simple yet unique compositions of familiar sounds make me nostalgic for a scene i'd never firsthand experienced, the acid and nerdcore elements sitting ever-prevalent in a swarm of breaks, synths, and melodic kicks reminiscent of japanese hardcore of the time.
26 is strongly followed by おうどん, a juke track that was also on "3-way nerdcore juke split" the year before. but that doesn't diminish the album's quality in any way.
if anything, it strengthens it by adding some contrast to the otherwise nerdcore-spotted and hardcore-heavy tracks. totsumal's sampling choices, and how he chooses to chop/alter them,
never fail to make me feel the overwhelming euphoria that i get from other artists he pulls from (with sharpnelsound & hakke shoukai's artists among the top of said list), and this is never more evident than in おうどん.
even in juke, he's got those nerdcore roots, which makes both of my soft spots for said genres give in.
anal XTC night is an absolute joy to listen to. it feels like walking into a room of self-serving degeneracy, a rave full of people who have absolutely zero idea how to use any of the substances they somehow got their hands on.
the vocal samples are perfectly interlaced with each other, and though it's one of the more minimal tracks on the album, it never feels incomplete or boring. totsumal's very good at playing with minimum and maximum in his tracks,
and he very much channels that here. i also just can't help but smile hearing that whatever-the-fuck-sample of that guy singing about ecstasy.
while i don't have as much to say about the rest of the tracks, i do nonetheless feel a love for them, it's just one i can't verbalize as easily because it's WAY too musically advanced for my current understanding of production to properly appreciate.
the breaks in hyper yo-yo fit the synthy funk and vocal harshness of the track so well, and at times make the track so much more compositionally interesting. union is a track i adore so much, being everything hard and everything cute that totsumal manages to capture so sweetly in his tracks.
it feels as though it could have been put out anytime in the past 20 or so years, chopping more classical sounds into an acid-washed musical trip i wish i could experience again for the first time. さわやか酸組 is one of my favorites from this album, making me feel that i could do just about any task with it on due to how perfectly and beautifully stimulating it is.
there's a certain gentleness to the vocals, and a certain harshness to the percussion that makes me feel so happy, regardless of the state i'm in. and トリノ五輪 is a short, sweet and energetic ending, one with a flavor almost reminiscent of 檸檬汁 & 尻優子's なるしの潮吹き絵日記. it carries you down gently into its end with the same elements shared with you prior, and does so in a timeframe that i think matches the fast-paced nature of the EP perfectly.
overall artist rating 9/10
favorite songs: Hyper Yo-Yo, さわやか酸組, 26
