GutterPutter

Hyperpop might well be the genre that is going to prevail throughout the 2020s all thanks to its hyperbolic take on electro-pop with glitchy sound & production, whiny lyrics that pokes fun of teen angst & its bombast volume that reeks of borderline-satire on dubstep. Originating from the late SOPHIE, 100 gecs, Charli XCX & many others, this distinct blend of experimental pop found its different take from an American artist named underscores. While its debut EP follows the usual conventions of hyperpop in its infancy around 2018, this album sticks out even more compared to its contemporaries through its overt adoption of pop-punk chants the instrumentation more akin to indie-rock & the melodic singing that’s pulled out of your R&B single. In a genre that’s already set for division, its ambition is already laid out for questions even amongst the genre’s biggest adherent. Luckily, fishmonger shows that it does have the zany chops to keep you hooked in through the cacophony of sound effects & squeaky vocals.

‘70%’ contain many glitchy sounds, cartoony guitar riffs & screechy singing to make a decent, but ultimately misleading introduction to the artist’s record. ‘Second hand embarrassment’ shows a clear inspiration from R&B with the vocal performance being more melodic with its multi-tracking production but there’s a bit of acoustic guitar playing, strange back-up vocals that might well be out of a Mother of Inventions album & frequent samples – the most common of which being ‘It’s the new wave of the future!’ & you’re going to remember that phrase well after you’re done with the album. ‘bozo bozo bozo’ is when the pop-punk influence is in full swing as its glitch-hop sound meld with a great hook in ‘Bozo bozo bozo, you’re an idiot’ which leads to a solid hit. ‘Where did you fall’ is another R&B-inspired track but it’s one that doesn’t live up to my likings – the auto-tuned singing doesn’t carry the song well & lacks a drive that makes hyperpop so uniquely appealing to a lot of people. That being said, the IDM-like beat that’s reminiscent of Radiohead’s Kid A is a bop & even if it’s the weakest track in my opinion, the band’s experience in making electronic music does show up in an otherwise lacklustre song.

Enter ‘Spoiled little brat’ which might well be not only my favourite track in the whole album, but it’s an easy contender for my pick for song of the year. The electronic glitch sound works immaculately well with the pop-punk impression & with the varying vocals, the dance beat & a cumulative likeness to bubblegum bass even if it’s ultimately an inversion of it in every way possible. The climatic last chorus brings out the best of the band’s eccentric style with the chorus being broken down completely with the vocals being produced to bring out the glitch effect & the drumming goes brutally hard. A combination of a brilliant hook & the avant-electro-pop layout that makes hyperpop distinct allows the track to not only flourish, but rise as being a slice above the vast majority of its contemporaries.

This paves the way into ‘Your favorite sidekick’ which features 8485; much of the song reminds me a lot of 100 gecs’ music with its shared female-male rapping-singing vocals but don’t dismiss it as mimicking in an instant. The last third brings back the exaggerated rock & fuzzy singing that, to me, represents the act at its very best in the LP. ‘Dry land 2001’ is another big cut for me with its ear-banger of a beat with nice snares, complimentary synergy between the singer & the featured artist Knapsack & the crunchy distortion of the guitar. The second half is blissful as we transition from an outright ambient instrumentation with its calm guitar playing & serene boops. ‘The fish song’ is more folktronic & was based around the Golden Bangus whose demise in the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources provides a solemn, dismal narrative around its incomprehensibility to many around it. Finally, ‘Del mar country fair 2008’ continues to carry on the wistfulness & was more explicitly R&B-like in its composition as the lyrics deal with what looks to be a slow, tragic disintegration of a relationship with the singer’s anxiety compounding on his breakup with his lover.

Thus, fishmonger is a remarkably interesting debut from the artist themselves & is something that’s worth keeping an eye out for in the future if anyone else would express to see it as an influence. Outside of ‘Where did you fall’, the mixture of distorted pop-rock instrumentation & erratic electronics allows so many of the tracks to come off as being special. It’s not as perfect a hyperpop record as 100 gecs’ debut in my opinion, but it’s a rarity to see in the growing genre. I highly suggest that connoisseurs of the genre to keep an eye out for this one.