Asch - For Two EP Review
EP REVIEW: Asch - For Two
Asch has gone a long way from posting songs online. He is trading places with his unique sound that combines funk, jazz, and downtempo, a signature sound we came to know and love from him. Going around performing in the metro’s most popular venues, it never is a dull experience seeing him go at it with the drum pads and piano. Asch has worked and shared tracks from the likes of Renee Dominique, Clara Benin, and more. Earning around 50k plus plays from his Soundcloud account. Numbers shouldn’t be a factor for an artist to be “groundbreaking.” The feeling of amazement gets to you when creating something out of nothing. Asch creates that something -- is it jazz music or old cassette tape recordings found in your uncle’s garage -- and turns it into pure gold. Never out of place and never rusting once the gold becomes old. This 15-minute EP has that flourishing quality and longevity rather than it is an EP showing off sounds that are glitz and glamor. That to me is groundbreaking.
Asch’s For Two EP is ‘groundbreaking’ in its way. Most electronic music producers I know tend to stick to their craft and never back down despite the multitudes of electronic music’s rising and evolving sub-genres. And most new producers coming out on the internet -- most of who I know are college students that are starting out in creating music digitally -- are swimming in an ocean full of binary codes and installed drum packs, only following the tides of what’s trendy and hip. Asch sticks true to his craft and shapeshifts to a better form of this EP of his titled “For Two.” “Groundbreaking” is a word that needs to be valid depending on who you’re applying it t. It will then become an appropriate statement once I say that this Asch EP is not just the best EP, but one of those groundbreaking electronic music EPs to come out this year. Asch deserves to be heard than most other spotlit music makers in both the beat scene and music scene as a whole. Asch’s For Two is groundbreaking from the title track to the last track. This project has me hooked by the time I pressed play.
The 19-year old prodigy then continues to create more music with his band, Value Meal (Though I haven’t seen Asch play with Value Meal yet but I'm looking forward to it). One friend of mine from the BuwanBuwan Collective mentioned his band in a short Facebook post, saying that it was an honor seeing the band ultimately getting the sound they wanted when Asch and Value Meal were recording in the studio, he stepped down and looked out in complete wonder. I had the same feelings when I was listening to this EP.
Making electronic music back when I was in my younger-younger years was a treat. You’ll learn from the metronomes to the hi-hat placement to the harmonizing and the overall theory of it. Then you’d get to the point where making electronic music plainly will stagnate. It has the shelf life, but the benefits you’ll get in it is the decision to look back at the music you did on your first day of music production class. You enjoy what you were using, applying, or even experimenting at on your updated DAW; Asch never looks back, and he continues to progress as the music goes inside his soul. For Two is an excellent example of how much electronic music has achieved here not just in the beat scene, but in the whole country as well.
Tracks like “For Two,” “Inspired,” and “This is Us” has that smooth, jazz quality that never squanders. The sound quality never misses a beat, It stays symmetric, and the image of those tracks never becomes blurry. There’s a sentimental value to the mentioned tracks above. And those tracks create a lasting impression that will make you come back for its syrupy boom bap production and inventive take on the genre. There are multilayered synths and heavy usage of jazzy tropes, but as they go on the midway of the track, it interweaves then becomes an appealing piece of electronic music that are equal parts enjoyable and captivating. Asch's music is free flowing and lets the technicalities speak. He breaks free from tradition and alteration, to give way for the authenticity of his music.
Asch’s For Two EP is a step forward to what we are as musicians. It needs to be heard by more, if not, the majority of electronic music fans out there. You’ll love this one!
Support the art & the artist: https://open.spotify.com/album/6airy61ADFIpX1Sky3kFVC