“The purpose of propaganda is not to provide interesting distraction, but to convince… What I mean is to convince the masses…”
After they burst into the scene with their first album “Music Rules The Noize,” Phuture Noize stepped up to the plate for a second time round at creating not only an album, but a musical masterpiece. Starting off the project as an E.P, the guys became incredibly inspired by the concept and decided to hit it bigger and make sure that this album was one for the books.
Let’s go one deeper… The story of Phuture Propaganda…
The idea of Phuture Propaganda was basically an exploration of Phuture Noize’s vision of not only hardstyle, but the blend old-school, drum & bass, dubstep and electronica influences into hardstyle.
The album itself is divided into three subthemes: To Hypnotize, To Corrupt and To Govern and each of these subthemes are represented by four tracks each that fit the style of the theme. These sub-themes are also introduced by poems accompanied with a musical touch which is something that has never been done before on a hardstyle album. Most hardstyle albums are focussed either on total experimentation, dance-floor hits or boring music with only two hit tracks.
It’s no doubt that Phuture Noize have grown from this random talent duo to take the name ‘young innovators.’ Their music breaks the barrier of the overly-raw standard low-quality crap that people only dance to when their on drugs and instead of taking the easy route and making dance-floor hits with no substance, the guys have been focused on bringing musical and creative aspects back to hardstyle. Combining melodies, bearably raw elements and punchy, huge atmospheres together, you have the masterpiece “Phuture Propaganda.”
The hardcopy album consists of the continuous mix cut into separate tracks and the online version consists of both the radio edits as well as the continuous mix. For me, when listening to the continuous mix, it allowed me to immerse into the entire feel of the album, make me aware of the atmospheric changes in the music and it really took me on a journey that explored everything from technical skills, creativity and so much more.
From a listening perspective…
#1 – Phuture Propaganda (prelude)
Mixing dubstep with hardstyle to make a thematic prelude for an album? Yep, these guys nailed it. The perfect beginning for an album that sets the tone and gives an overall view of what these guys believe in music-wise. The prelude is followed by a musical poem and the opening of the “To Hypnotize” segment.
To Hypnotize:
“Close your eyes and drift away, be led with the force, be led astray.
Floating along and obeying commands, as your mind gives in to the worlds errands…”
The first segment of the album “To Hypnotize” consists of four tracks. The first, “Freedom,” explores an eerie and unusual approach to hardstyle by blending the genre with teasing flavours of modern electronica. For me, this is one of the standout tracks on the album, mainly because not many other producers even dare to go down this route, let alone succeed.
The next track, “Don’t Give Up,” which is a collaboration with German producer Omegatypez generated quite the unexpected end result. You’d think that with classification that Phuture Noize are raw artists and Omegatypez is euphoric that this collaboration wouldn’t work in a million years, but let me tell you that screeches mixed with reverse bass and a funky old school flavour is what makes this track such a unique addition to the album.
Most euphoric tracks nowadays are based on cheesy vibes, high noted melodies, overly heart-melting vocals and this extremely airy and bubbly atmosphere. Phuture Noize has proved that euphoric or melodic music doesn’t have to always be like that and that it can be powerful and dance-floor worthy and draw in its listeners from a whole different angle.
Next up is one of my personal all-time favourite tracks that have ever been released. “Hope” has had the ability to make me cry, smile and feel all kinds of emotions and every time I listen to it, I discover a new sound or something else that I hadn’t heard or felt before. I know that it’s a kind of “hate it or love it” scenario for most listeners, but I give it the thumbs up. It’s new, creative and even contains vocals from an old disco-soul track – how’s that for originality?!
“Lost Control” is the token experimental and non-hardstyle track on the album and blends a lot of “Future Classic” and electronica influences. This track is a little slower than the rest and it’s almost as if this dramatic movie has come to this point where everything is in slow motion and all control is lost…
To Corrupt:
“Feel the message, hear the voices, hear them loud and clear…
The higher orders affect your choices, injecting you with fear…”
This segment of the album amps up the nostalgia when “The Responsibility” drops. The melody brings back memories of 2009 and meshed with modern day technique, this majestic track is responsible for a hell of a lot of feeling.
Another collaboration match made in heaven is formed as Phuture Noize collaborate with newly converted raw hardstyle pioneers Endymion. From the crying baby screeches to all of the other random little sounds in there, “Who” is quite an unusual track that should have gotten a lot more exposure than it did. You can literally hear what each of the artists did in the track, it’s as if it’s a head to head production battle against the two which is why this track is so unexpected and exciting, you never know what it will bring.
Who remembers the band Muse? For those of you who listened to Muse back in the days, “Paranoid” with Ran-D will strangely remind you of this band and their sound. Mixed with raw and hard kicks and a huge atmosphere, “Paranoid” is one that is set to tear every festival a new one. Towards the end of the track, the old-schoolish stuttered part is one of the elements that makes this track so fucking amazing.
“Everywhere” with Hard Driver has got to be one of the biggest and atmospheric tracks on the album. It’s orchestral and huge stadium atmosphere is so unique and is something that is barely heard in modern hardstyle. Hard Driver and Phuture Noize should definitely collaborate more in the future and make more of this ‘stadium’ hardstyle!
To Govern:
“It is us that stands before you, as we engage in mind control. Depriving your access to freedom, consuming your soul…
Immerse yourself in this movement and give up all your rights, as we commence the propaganda, this world will alight…”
“Terrordome” has undoubtedly taken the crown as the crowd’s favourite and I can see why, it’s amazing! It’s not overly raw, if anything it would be 100% acceptable to have this played on a mainstage at a festival which leads me to my next point. The album itself isn’t as ‘raw’ as many listeners expected it to be and I am extremely happy that Phuture Noize have veered away from all of the raw bullshit. If anything, these guys should keep working towards playing on mainstages instead of raw stages and their music is undoubtedly proving why. Back to Terrordome! This track is powerful yet still has that ‘feeling’ that is lacking in modern hardstyle as well as being pumped with power.
The next track, “Phuture Propaganda” featuring MC DL is probably my least favourite on the album. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great track and the vocals are amazing but it’s a little too raw for my liking. However, I don’t doubt for a second that this absolutely goes off when played live.
The second last track on the album “Robots To The System” is a huge track. I usually don’t like this ‘raw anthemic’ style of track and when I heard the first 20 seconds of Robots to the system, I honestly thought that I’d hate it. But the thing is, it’s not unbearable at all, the kicks are within reason, the screeches are within reason and there’s even a melody. Yet again, this track and the whole album is of mainstage quality and standards. (Promoters and organisations should keep more updated…)
The final track of the album “Time Moves On,” is another one that has the ability to bring out all of the anger in me. It has the ability to make me want to run outside in the rain and cry until I can’t cry anymore. I don’t know why it has this affect on me but the aggression, anger and sadness in it is something that humans can relate to. The feeling is that makes this track so huge and although it’s one of the more underground tracks on the album, it really personally touched me.
The outro of the continuous mix makes you think- what’s next for Phuture Noize? If this album were anything to go by, I know that if this duo keeps making music with feeling and taking the route less taken, they will get themselves off the raw stages and make it to the mainstage… For me personally, this album was full of surprises, emotion and an exposed look on hardstyle and its ‘phuture.’
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
“Phuture Propaganda” is available to purchase on iTunes and hardstyle.com, so click below to make a purchase that you won’t regret!
iTunes: http://bit.ly/iTunes_PhuturePropaganda
Hardstyle.com: http://bit.ly/HSCOM_PhuturePropaganda