Up in the sky... It's a bird... It's a plane. No, it's Superheroes Anonymous Volumes One, Two, and Three. They are red and blue with suits and cape like superman and helmets like Daft Punk. Since their release, they have circled skies near and far, spanning the globe in search of unlikely heroes, anonymous and lost.
Superheroes save lives on the daily. Anyone finding themselves in the depths of despair should put their ears to the speakers, and listen. Grimy dubstep, pounding bass, and melodic, sweeping vocals.
Calling all heroes.
Future anonymous superheroes everywhere, Adventure Club will help you patch up your bleeding heart and build a protective suit and shield. Their music will make you smile through the pain, see that there is some good left in this world, and help you find the reason to keep fighting.
Calling all heroes.
The new EP, Calling All Heroes, Part 1, is just over eighteen minutes, four total tracks with deceivingly simple one word names. The tracks are anything but simple, as expected from Christian and Leighton. They are complex, layered, and deep.
The first track, "Gold," is a collaboration with Yuna, and was officially released during Labor Day Weekend. Midas continuously comes to mind in these collaborations, but Adventure Club and Yuna seem to be onto something with gold. "Crave You" left everyone wanting to drip in gold, and this track follows that up superbly. Yuna's soft voice belts inspirational lyrics, a vocal track chopped and echoed, manipulated to align with the deeper melodic undertones. Words of advice on finding light through darkness, characterized by deep, heavy melodic runs over low pounding beats. This dichotomy is what makes Adventure Club (and Yuna) everyone's first love. Their music is so honest and all encompassing, the brave knowledge that no one stays gold, spotless and shining, without an active awareness of the darkness that lurks in the shadows.
Don't fret though, we are heroes. We are all going to make it. I promise.
"Wonder," is the name of the second track that features The Kite String Triangle, an alias for Australian electronic producer named Danny Harley. His venture to produce ethereal pop through to the darker sides of ambient music. Very classic Adventure Club, known for downtempo beats with sweet melodies, and of course vocals that rip through your soul. The intro is so relaxing, yet it draws you in, and the track builds in intensity with lyrics to match. These tags from SoundCloud are quite accurate: tear jerker, male vocal, play it for your girlfriend. It is something of a change to see male vocals in an Adventure Club song, but Harley's soft voice and tender words are so sweet, the beauty will send chills up your spine. This is definitely one to chill to, maybe after a long day, when you're relaxing with a nice bottle of Prosecco. Just be careful you drink too much, or you'll bawling to the entire Adventure Club catalog, this one at the helm.
It is okay, we all have to break down before we see out true potential.
Track three will bounce you back up again. "Crash" is interestingly experimental, and a totally new direction for Adventure Club. Intense vocals bring you in, wrap you up, strap you in on an emotional roller coaster that builds up on two separate occasions to a drop like nothing I have ever heard from Adventure Club. This crazy dark and heavy, a touch of psychosis dropped in the lyrics. Hell hath no fury, I guess. A drop of distorted bass, heavier than any Adventure Club drop.They refer to this as baby making music in one of the tags on Soundcloud, andhere is definitely something very carnal and primitive about the way these drops sound. I see cave people, so if you're into that kind of thing, by all means. After the drop, pews lead into round of creepy, unsettling lyrics. There is something that makes me very uneasy about this song, and by the last drop, the discomfort is written all over my face. But it feels like the first time I listened to Krewella, and when I first found dubstep. I am always down for heavier and harder.
I'm into it. Now you ready for the BANGER?
You better ask your parents before you listen to this one. Text them and say, "Mom? Dad? Is it okay if I Thunderclap with Adventure Club?" Unsure yourself of what "Thunderclap" refers to? I am pretty sure it refers to a superhero, Stanley George Johnson. He was a struggling electronics salesman that used the technology from others to create a pair of hydraulically powered gloves that could create sonic booms. Makes sense. An electronic superhero. Anyway, the track is a hard heavy banger that will have crowds dancing hard as fuck in the club. Despite criticism surrounding this track, and Adventure Club in general, faulting them for drifting away from their original sound, these guy are growing as artists, and this is a huge track worthy of a Thunder Clap (also a dance, btw). Plus, the song has bacon in it. How can you dislike anything with bacon?
This EP shows Adventure Club in an experimental, progressive light. Much like each volume of Superheroes Anonymous, this too feels different. No matter how diverse their sound, there will always be something in their music that speaks to the hero in all of us. It is the calling.
Will you answer?
