Listening to: LOVE&PEACE!MASTERPEACE! By Sambomaster
Genre: J-Rock
Year: 2023
An honestly fitting album for the end of the month, Sambomaster’s LOVE&PEACE!MASTERPEACE! Albums mark a sort of rebirth to this series of posts as well as a shift in the music that I’ve been listening to.
This album wasn’t necessarily recommended by anyone nor was it in my list of downloaded albums, but from a band I’ve been meaning to listen to more but haven’t really found the reason to.
But oddly enough, during our school lesson about audio compression and how mixes are compressed to make the louder parts softer which makes the rest of the mix sound more cohesive, albeit less dynamic, made me appreciate louder and more abrasive albums. Because despite the loudness war essentially rules supreme to get the best listening experience for everyone, there’s a sort of art to compressing songs enough without making them sound so flat and brash.
Sambomaster’s Future Is Yours was a track I wasn’t really fond of that much due to its mixing, but I loved the instrumentation and energy. But knowing what I know now, made me understand why the mixing wasn’t as good. Upon revisiting this album and listening to it lower than my usual listening levels, it made me realize that there are some albums better listened to at a lower volume to appreciate the entire mix.
But I can’t just talk about the mix with this album. This is a loud, abrasive, energetic but very positive sounding album that you’d want to go out and drive to. 50 minutes of unadulterated j-rock energy from one of the longest-lasting j-rock bands that still comes out with awesome stuff all these years. Future Is Yours has a completely different meaning to me now and I absolutely love this track. Hell, I listened to the First Take first before the album, and yet I still fell in love with the studio mix. I usually change my opinions about the studio and live mixes like in the case of Your Lie and a Chameleon, but the studio mix of Future Is Yours still and has always reigned supreme.
This album is wonderful and I’m glad I’m easing up to less dynamic focused, louder albums. It also reminds me that music isn’t just about getting the highest dynamic range, but also finding the emotion while you listen to the music. And with Sambomaster, emotions are king!
My total absolutely unbiased scoring:
Vibe: 7/10
Flow: 8/10
Mixing: 6/10
Complexity: 3/10
Consistency: 7/10
Emotional Factor: 6/10
Replayability: 7/10
Fave Track:
Future Is Yours
Gears Used:
Muse HiFi The East 6
HiBy R6 III
Das it, das moosic
