• Old-school melody
• Commonplace structure, surprisingly generic considering the talent
• Bereft of Japanese vibes or references
By this time, you probably know the mentioned artist. Vito Mendez specialises in Big Room and perhaps some Electro House exceptions, influenced heavily from Smash The House record label signature. His latest composition “Banzai” did catch my attention, however it reminded me something else as well. The song is an example of the dearth of creativity in Big Room, that has made me lose interest in these recent years. Let me further talk about this in the next paragraphs.
First of all, despite the obvious title, there are no hints or indication towards the Japanese culture. However, I do commend the fact that Vito provides heavy and hard-hitting kicks accompanied with nicely crafted hook instead, which you may have heard from his previous compositions, such as the “Yangon” or the “Lockdown”. I do enjoy his music, so I had some high expectations.
The drop segment made me remember of iconic tracks such as “Wave Your Hands”, a massive collaboration back in the days from the Dutch natives Bassjackers and Thomas Newson. The parallel feature I so found common was the melody which can get easily stuck in your head. Using the distorted saw synths we all have heard many times, the riff has a nice groove, but the shortcomings are present with the traditional and textbook soundset. It does adds some party vibes, but at the same time leaves me with a hole in my heart, knowing that I don’t feel like putting “Banzai” in repeat mode.
The aforementioned formula may had its most impact during the apex of Big Room back in say 2015, but I believe the genre is long overdue for more creativity and distinctive ideas to sustain it further. I hope to keep receiving the same high quality from Vito Mendez, a guy who clearly know how to do his job, but I would love to hear more stuff “out of the box”.
What do you think?
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