Album Review: NVDES Creates A Sonic Comic With Vibe City Utah
I love NVDES. His music feels like it was made in thousands of barrels of sugar, mountain dew, an pixie dust. You, literally, want to grab a pogo stick and hop around the room, like a living cartoon, as you listen to his new record: Vibe City Utah.
NVDES is the human version of the energizer, of which tracks such as “Ou La La La (All Eyes on Us),” “Running (feat Oliver Tree),” and “Si Si Si” are batteries he is tossing to his listener. More than ever, NVDES is creating a party sound that is distinct, splashy, and surreal. In some ways, he is creating a Vibe City Utah. In this space, pastures and green-grassed plains are made from synths and snares that turn nature electric. From “Daddy Bubble” to “On My Magic,” you can picture house parties turning into glamorous ones of excess, wildness, and, of course, unforgettable laughs. Yet, the debauchery and dazzle of this world is something that NVDES openly uses to make you move.
Lyrically, NVDES goes from serious to silly, but always maintains a “fake it to you make it” message of confidence. Vibe City Utah is like a sonic comic; observing, through music caricatures, the social evolution of humanity’s ego. Thus, his music encourages you to feel, even for an instant, foolishly invincible, but then asks you why you want to feel that way. Why not think you are the prettiest, smartest, and funniest person in the room? Yet, why do you want to act, for a moment, like your s**t doesn’t stink? His balance of humble arrogance is what pumps his songs into complete bangers like, “Mind Body Soul Music” and “Heads On Fire.”
Sonically, the freneticism, fuzzing, and fast-pacing of his rhythms will enthrall listeners. By far, Vibe City Utah is his best work yet, of which he has sophisticatedly matched deeper thoughts with strings of superficiality. Still, make no mistake, that his goal. Like an Andy Kaufman of the dance world, NVDES wants to make you have a good time while challenging you to see its expense. To Buy NVDES’ Vibe City Utah Click Here.
