99 Blades: “rEVenGE oF tHe 4 wiNdS” is like a rocket launch into new territories

Based out of Brooklyn, New York, 99 Blades is a project by MIGZ TATZ, an artist who works in a variety of mediums and disciplines. His work can be found in the urban fashion industry, record stores, and on people’s bodies. 99 Blades, who draws inspiration from Bjork, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, The Glitch Mob, and DJ Shadow, recently released his latest 9-track recording, entitled “rEVenGE oF tHe 4 wiNdS”.

99 Blades produces the kind of eclectic beats he wants to. He stays right on track, producing sometimes laid back, and beautiful piano-driven beats with complex instrumental and drum patterns, along with harder, streetwise, electronic infused ones. 99 Blades’ music is mostly instrumental and he doesn’t profess to be the greatest vocalist or lyricist on the mic, but he holds his weight, for the most part delivering flashes of lyrical and robotic interludes to spark the beats.

The production kills virtually everything in sight, but this is definitely not for those who only let themselves be brainwashed by material mediocrity and commercialism. This is for those who finally want a decent experimental album to listen to in this almost inadequate hip-hop industry. The “rEVenGE oF tHe 4 wiNdS” album is experimental enough to attract the musical ‘heads’, but banging and catchy enough to lure the casual beat lover.

For those who despair at the current lack of originality in the world of hip-hop or crossover electro, this album will shatter all those delusions. Tracks like siLEnT strANGER, aLL i chERiSH, diRTy sEEdS, dEsERT FLowERs, gAME oF shAdOWs and aNgEL FAcE, just cannot be ignored, whether you love them or not. Dark and ominous, they demand your attention, as the atmospheric, crossover electronic textures cause a cosmic vibration on each track. Making “rEVenGE oF tHe 4 wiNdS” go beyond the far reaches of any boxed genre I can think of.

Listening to the music of 99 Blades is a head trip. Although we may have heard these sounds on many tracks before, it is the mixing of them into one album that brings on an abstract, multifarious feel to this mostly instrumental recording. If you like experimental music, electronic soundscapes and rhythms that bang and crackle, buy this album.

“rEVenGE oF tHe 4 wiNdS” is like a rocket launch into new territories, utilizing electronic instruments and a cacophonous approach, 99 Blades seems to be headed in the right direction, exploring anything his imagination conjures up, and I hope he goes further.

Adept at stirring the pot with his fresh concoctions of electronica-infused hip-hop-based beats, 99 Blades presents us with a dense, artistic and articulate work.