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Starting out from gentle beginnings Chicago artist, musician, producer, and songwriter Victor Internet reputedly used songs like passing love notes back and forth in class. There was always a lightning rod for deep emotions and thoughts in a song. Now the lightning rod is him. The reflection is staring back and the thoughts and feelings are for self. And the only thing to do is arrive for it.
Victor Internet's honest-to-goodness self has finally appeared in the form and fashion of choice entitled "Victor's Debut." Stating his name immediately in "DIE (Intro)," splitting runs and newborn harmonies accompanied only by lean chords emphatically demands his proper placement and attention to tell his story and emote through it. The most dynamic song of the nine-track project comes from the despairing "2017." Acting as Victor's anatomy of an artist, he dissects and destabilizes the song's structure and tempo with unrestricted melody changes to make the entire listen unpredictable. Bellyaching chords and walloping 808 patterns shift fast to slow in tempo that create an unbalanced tone that can be tipped in any direction, lending itself to Internet's delusional lyrics in order to fake it 'til you make, if you will. The higher pitch applied to his vocals on the hook seemingly present the younger version of himself, then sonically flashed forward and juxtaposed by lower toned, melodically stoical vocals that imply maturity. The sound is change reflecting change and shows that it is never easy or overnight.
"Victor's Debut" reveals the next cardinal point to knowing the person behind the music back before music was on the "Virgo" artist's mind and survival was -- "Southside / Tell Me Now." Easily representing the darkest spots behind the curtain of Victor's life, this song diverges from anything Victor Internet has ever made in both content and sound. Rapped, but nearly sung in a psychotic tone and pocket, Victor through verse and hook recites "grew up on the Southside" with excess amounts of sweat on his brow and blood shot terror in his eyes, conjuring up images of the young artist hiding from his environment yet growing tougher from that mold. "Southside's" quaking sub bass drop nukes down subscribed to the reality that anything can go down when least expected. Funeral-toned chords, stalking background keys, guns and bullet soundbites with paranoia-soaked frequencies haunting everyone's sanity splatter paints a hostile picture of where Victor comes from and what he has faced, like a friend he knows who was murdered or some of the rules to live by to stay safe. The second half, "Tell Me Now" literally begs the question in a voice that sounds as if it came from above if it's safe. The chords at 2:40 sound timorous to even touch the track but the closing drum break breaks out like a quick sigh of relief that pays dividends in the form of acceptance on the closing ballad "Unfair."
"Unfair" (produced by Victor Cervantes, Billy Lemos & Junior Mesa) modestly became what I believe to be the most impactful song on the project and my current favorite of the nine songs. Almost bringing me to the verge of tears, "Unfair" takes heed of Kurt Cobain's lyrics "Come as you are." A keyboard riff plays a sorrowful chord progression and melody distantly connecting with slurping drums, injecting burdensome feelings of losing something precious that turns out to be youth and lack of responsibility. Victor Internet's bawling falsetto hit with higher pitch is liberty for him to truly sing sing on this track. Damned lyrics delivered on sedentary melodies touched by fading background harmonies feel incredibly helpless to stressors and life's calendar. "Unfair's" laborious chorus marks the point where things can't be held together and precisely the moment that nearly made me cry: the self-forgiveness and self-love radiating, permeating from Victor Internet's vocals put him at the most powerful he has ever been as a singer on a record. He gives himself the permission to forgive himself for acting like what he is feeling and going through wasn't okay to be feeling and going through. We all reserve the right to feel outside the norm of happy and "Unfair" reminds us of that. Not to mention those changes during the chorus courtesy of the velvety acoustic riff, emphasis on the harmonies and eventual breakdown is so beautiful in texture, nature and execution the music sounds unfairly good and illegally sentimental.
"Unfair" is that rare moment in a young person's life when the cattle have been wrangled, all the horses are in the stable, and you earn a complete moment to reflect and appreciate how you arrived. I suppose this is what "Victor's Debut" does as a whole -- it lassoes music that tells a boy's story, proving the hard work has been laid and continues to be, wrapped around a project that takes what made you, meeting you where you are, to prepare you for the vast possibilities of roads ahead.
And that is one mighty fine way to introduce yourself.
Listen to "Victor's Debut" below.
Lead Photo Cred: spotify.com
Starting out from gentle beginnings Chicago artist, musician, producer, and songwriter Victor Internet reputedly used songs like passing love notes back and forth in class. There was always a lightning rod for deep emotions and thoughts in a song. Now the lightning rod is him. The reflection is staring back and the thoughts and feelings are for self. And the only thing to do is arrive for it.
Victor Internet's honest-to-goodness self has finally appeared in the form and fashion of choice entitled "Victor's Debut." Stating his name immediately in "DIE (Intro)," splitting runs and newborn harmonies accompanied only by lean chords emphatically demands his proper placement and attention to tell his story and emote through it. The most dynamic song of the nine-track project comes from the despairing "2017." Acting as Victor's anatomy of an artist, he dissects and destabilizes the song's structure and tempo with unrestricted melody changes to make the entire listen unpredictable. Bellyaching chords and walloping 808 patterns shift fast to slow in tempo that create an unbalanced tone that can be tipped in any direction, lending itself to Internet's delusional lyrics in order to fake it 'til you make, if you will. The higher pitch applied to his vocals on the hook seemingly present the younger version of himself, then sonically flashed forward and juxtaposed by lower toned, melodically stoical vocals that imply maturity. The sound is change reflecting change and shows that it is never easy or overnight.
"Victor's Debut" reveals the next cardinal point to knowing the person behind the music back before music was on the "Virgo" artist's mind and survival was -- "Southside / Tell Me Now." Easily representing the darkest spots behind the curtain of Victor's life, this song diverges from anything Victor Internet has ever made in both content and sound. Rapped, but nearly sung in a psychotic tone and pocket, Victor through verse and hook recites "grew up on the Southside" with excess amounts of sweat on his brow and blood shot terror in his eyes, conjuring up images of the young artist hiding from his environment yet growing tougher from that mold. "Southside's" quaking sub bass drop nukes down subscribed to the reality that anything can go down when least expected. Funeral-toned chords, stalking background keys, guns and bullet soundbites with paranoia-soaked frequencies haunting everyone's sanity splatter paints a hostile picture of where Victor comes from and what he has faced, like a friend he knows who was murdered or some of the rules to live by to stay safe. The second half, "Tell Me Now" literally begs the question in a voice that sounds as if it came from above if it's safe. The chords at 2:40 sound timorous to even touch the track but the closing drum break breaks out like a quick sigh of relief that pays dividends in the form of acceptance on the closing ballad "Unfair."
"Unfair" (produced by Victor Cervantes, Billy Lemos & Junior Mesa) modestly became what I believe to be the most impactful song on the project and my current favorite of the nine songs. Almost bringing me to the verge of tears, "Unfair" takes heed of Kurt Cobain's lyrics "Come as you are." A keyboard riff plays a sorrowful chord progression and melody distantly connecting with slurping drums, injecting burdensome feelings of losing something precious that turns out to be youth and lack of responsibility. Victor Internet's bawling falsetto hit with higher pitch is liberty for him to truly sing sing on this track. Damned lyrics delivered on sedentary melodies touched by fading background harmonies feel incredibly helpless to stressors and life's calendar. "Unfair's" laborious chorus marks the point where things can't be held together and precisely the moment that nearly made me cry: the self-forgiveness and self-love radiating, permeating from Victor Internet's vocals put him at the most powerful he has ever been as a singer on a record. He gives himself the permission to forgive himself for acting like what he is feeling and going through wasn't okay to be feeling and going through. We all reserve the right to feel outside the norm of happy and "Unfair" reminds us of that. Not to mention those changes during the chorus courtesy of the velvety acoustic riff, emphasis on the harmonies and eventual breakdown is so beautiful in texture, nature and execution the music sounds unfairly good and illegally sentimental.
"Unfair" is that rare moment in a young person's life when the cattle have been wrangled, all the horses are in the stable, and you earn a complete moment to reflect and appreciate how you arrived. I suppose this is what "Victor's Debut" does as a whole -- it lassoes music that tells a boy's story, proving the hard work has been laid and continues to be, wrapped around a project that takes what made you, meeting you where you are, to prepare you for the vast possibilities of roads ahead.
And that is one mighty fine way to introduce yourself.
Listen to "Victor's Debut" below.
Lead Photo Cred: spotify.com
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