Review: Good Talk by (T-T)b | Review

 

Artist-(T-T)b
Album-Good Talk
Date- April 2016
Country-Boston,Massachusetts
Facebook- (T-T)b
Genre:Chiptune, 8-bit

Track List:

1.Nova 01:31

2.Scream Pictures 01:29

3.Total Vacation 02:06
4.Slurred Words (Hot Satan) 03:09
5.Galactic Pretty Boys 03:03
6.Slimers 03:08
7.Twin Peaks 03:31
8.Big Crate / Red Tag 03:56
9.Couch Sleeper 03:03
10.Your Dog 04:27
11.Ghost Hands 01:09

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(T-T)b - Good Talk Review 

By Micah Jordan

So, let me start this off by saying...holy shit. This band is fantastic. For the sake of this review, I'll refer to them as ttb. I fell in love with this band upon hearing their debut EP, Pizza Planet.
After buying the cassette and binge jamming it, they finally dropped their full length! 11 tracks of
incredibly emotional chiptune infused rock, with acoustic drums, electric guitar and bass, and
occasional vocals. Packed full of amazing melodies, infectious guitars, and energetic, super fun
drums. This band is a must hear for any fan of chiptune, or any fan of music for that matter. So let
me get into this album review!

Track 1, titled "Nova", is a great intro for the album. No percussion, no guitar, no electric bass,
just true to life chiptune, with extremely memorable melodies and tweaked synth sounds with slides,
arps, and other beautiful sounds! Get used to the slides, because that's what gives this band a big
portion of their character in my opinion!

Track 2, titled "Scream Pictures", is the 1st track that showcases their full musical prowess on the
album. It's a shorter track, and is very straight to the point. Hard hitting drums with
lots of variety, and an awesome structure!

Track 3, titled "Total Vacation", is one of the more infectious tracks, and showcases very well this
bands use of synth slides. Fast, punky drum beats with super catchy synth lines and cool backing arps.
Near the end there's a change of pace with more blippy bloopy synths and is slower in general,
making for a great transition into the next track!

Track 4, titled "Slurred Words (Hot Satan)", starts with a super pretty and hype build up into yet
another very infectious song. The main synth melody is one of my favorites on the album, and it'll
definitely be stuck in your head like its been stuck in mine! This is also the 1st track on the
album to feature vocals, and this band utilizes them perfectly. I usually dislike vocals in standard
chiptune, and not many chiprock bands even pull it off, but this band uses it scarcely enough for it
to be oh so great! Near the end of this track, it drops off to drums bass and synth, and this is one
of my favorite parts of the album, as the vocals come in when the song picks back up, and they are
damn near bone chilling. The vocals perfectly compliment the music in every way! This is one of my
favorite tracks on the album!

Track 5, Titled "Galactic Pretty Boys", goes back to the fully instrumental chiprock we all know
and love. Once again, the synths pound through this song with amazing clarity and melody. This song
makes me feel like its 2012 again, and I'm living in my old trailer, constantly jamming Shirobon!,
Bit Shifter, and Henry Homesweet. If only this album has been out then!

Track 6, titled "Slimers", starts off with a slower pace. No guitars at first, just drums synth and
bass. It showcases the great bass work on this album, as the bass almost plays its own melody! it's
absolutely fantastic, and as the song kicks in, you hear one of the best build ups in the song as
the clean guitar chords are palm muted into another slow section, building even more anticipation.
Then the best vocal section on the whole album in my opinion. "It's not working, it's not working
out. Peer over the countertop. I'm mad about it now". these lines repeat several times throughout
this track, and i couldn't be more happy about that. This song probably has the least of infectious
synths and stuff, but still manages to be just as catchy as the rest! This is arguably my favorite
song on the album!

Track 7, titled "Twin Peaks", is one of the most energetic tracks on the album. A great change of
pace from the slower previous song. Right off the bat, you hear the infectious melodies and awesome
chiptune sounds. I'd say this track has the catchiest of riffs throughout the album, and compliments
the synth melodies just right. Then it slows down into a heartfelt singing section that will make
you want to cry, but for all the right reasons. This is the definition of emotional chiptune.

Track 8, titled "Big Crate/Red Tag", starts off with a light little melody, with cool 8bit explosion
sounds in the background fading in and out. A great utilization of 8bit sounds. Some of the most all
over the place synths on the album, but yet still so very catchy. It really goes to show how
talented this band is, with all of these sounds meshing together seamlessly. This track has some of
the best writing on the album.

Track 9, titled "Couch Sleeper", has some of my favorite climax points on this record. Some of the
coolest drum parts as well! And it all flows together to create something so very beautiful. This
band really utilizes the breaks and focuses on certain instruments often, while still retaining the
creativity and unique writing throughout, on all instruments. This track also takes a darker turn
than any other song on the album near the end, then manages to go right back into great happy
melodies, almost reminding me of something I'd hear in Sonic 2. Weird comparison, almost generic,
but as honest as i can be.

Track 10, titled "Your Dog", is a fresh sound upon beginning. You hear more 8bit white noise alongsidesome sine bass, and a cool twangy little guitar riff. Then it kicks into that great chiprock sound we've heard throughout this record. This song feels to me like one of the most emotional songs on the album, oddly enough. The line, "you hang out with your dog more than me, and thats ok" seems like it might indirectly a pretty personal line. It almost hits home. And again, i cannot stress enough, the incredible writing and musicianship of this album. This song has some really cool drum parts aswell.

Track 11, titled "Ghost Hands", is the closing track. It begins with a melody you almost wouldn't
expect to hear on this album, with some sweet white noise percussion sounds, much like what
you'd hear in LSDj. I'm not sure if this band uses LSDj, but it sounds great nonetheless. It's a
darker track, but at the same time it's kindve in the middle of darker and light. It's another shorter
track on the album, and is a somewhat weird way to end the album. This would be, my "least favorite" track on the album, if i had to choose, but that does not by any means mean this track isn't great as well.

Overall, i'd give this album a very very strong 9.8/10, only falling short with the somewhat unfitting
outro track, at least in my opinion. Regardless of that, this is the best release in 2016 so far, andI very highly doubt it'll be topped this year, or next year, or ever, by any other chiptune act. I'd
go as far as to say that this album has already become my favorite chiptune album of all time. You
NEED NEED NEED to check this out.