Curtis’ Prime Slices of the Week (4/28 – 5/3): Nate Mercereau, Odonis Odonis

Nate Mercereau – “Joy Techniques” [single] – (acid synth jazz)

“Joy Techniques” is first release by multi-instrumentalist and producer Nate Mercereau. Nate has been involved in dozens of projects in the past few years, including Logic’s The Incredible True Story, Kesha’s Rainbow, and even Lizzo’s CUZ I LOVE YOU. For the amount of work he’s done in the past couple of years it’s strange it took him this long to release something of his own. The song is so hyper, it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on sometimes. The ongoing synth at the start gives me strong Once In A Lifetime vibes but the whole thing is like a pumped up BadBadNotGood. It seems more like a jam than a coherent song but he makes a point of having distinct sections using dynamics. The musicianship is absolutely stunning and I’m sure Nate knew exactly who to call. Check this out!

Odonis Odonis – Reaction – (industrial)

Not being the biggest connoisseur of the industrial genre, this came as a pleasant surprise. Odonis Odonis has been together since 2009 when they recorded several tracks that would later turn into their most well known album HARD BOILED SOFT BOILED. This is their 9th release, a four song EP with two bonus tracks. They use a fair amount of dark sounding synthesizers and don’t get as noisy compared to their earlier releases. The opening track “Collector” sets the tone for the rest of the songs; showcasing the basic instrumentation of each one. The swell of the main synth is very hypnotic and continues as such ’til the very end. The breaks in the song really make it explode when everything comes back in. The production makes these songs feel absolutely huge on any pair of speakers or headphones. They seem to take a lot of influence from early Nine Inch Nails which I love. They spent a lot of time on these few songs and it really shows. Can’t wait to hear more!