If you know me, which let's be real, as of writing this there are like 9 of you here who definitely don't, you'd know that Virtual Riot is the entire reason I convinced my dad to buy a physical copy of Cubase for me back in 2015. I can quote (yes, quote the sounds) his first two studio time videos by heart. And I only listened to it in full for the first time very recently :3
Before you all blablablaba, let me explain.
This album has had a significant effect on all of that, and I genuinely stand by what I mean, no one has put out an album as interesting and authentic as this in recent memory. I would very much be okay with being proved wrong.
Speaking of Prove(ing) Me Wrong, this album has literally ZERO misses. I wanna start with the first batch of songs I heard off this record back in 2013: So Baked, Never Gonna Die/Alive (ft. Lisa Rowe), Prove Me Wrong, Mr. Mittens Groove, Haunted and Blackout.
All these tracks sprung into my life shortly after discovering Energy Drink through the Dubstep Gun Mod in Minecraft, which is a sentence clearly never before used. (Hey reference!)
Since I had no idea what an album was back then, these tracks were the only ones I listened to. But boy did I listen to them over and over again. I still have the original shitty 128kbps mp3s I used to listen to. Each track from this original batch has its own character and is full of creativity.
I want to talk specifically about So Baked though; what I consider my top 1 dubstep track of all time. It starts off right out the gate with the off beat violins, still pushing that dub/reggae influence. The intro that follows doubles down on that exact feeling, with each and every single layer contributing to the ethereal vibe and the heavy tearout basses introducing the main motifs of the drop to follow.
The first build including a sample from what I believe is from a public domain documentary is no surprise for this era of Virtual Riot, as even this album contains other songs that do this (Superscientific and We Never Sleep, for example)
The drop toes the perfect line between repetition and variation, utilising the motifs introduced at the start of the song. Diving into the second half of the drop, it's a more aggressive response to what came before it. The track repeats this structure that it legitimised in the first half to bring together an all round amazing experience that no other track has ever replicated, in my opinion.
Now for the negatives, because imagine writing a review without criticism.
The main downside to this album is that some of the sounds used in the drops aren't up to par with the writing in the rest of the album. Breakthrough suffers from this the most, since it has one of the more interesting builds in the album yet doesn't hit quite right when it gets to the drop.
On the other hand, Beemo executes this very well as the drop is well structured and flows from build to post-drop perfectly. However, that track gets a little muddied when it starts building again as some of the layers come in slightly too early and the ideas develop a little too quickly.
Secondly, this album has a track order problem: namely because it's Disciple rerelease following the shutdown of SectionZ has an entirely different track order to what's listed on the original release on Discogs. I prefer the original as I feel the Discogs release doesn't flow as well and realistically, not ending on Nights On Fire? Come on.
Or so I thought... which is why I changed it:
Reprise (aka what I call my modified album tracklists)
Since I've been making playlists with storylines from around 2011/2012 I've had custom track orders and on occasion I've modified said track order to make a better listening experience. Hell, now that I think about it I've been curating concept compilation albums for over a decade now.
More recently, since I actually started listening to albums front to back for the first time in my life, I've made modifications to tracklists where I deem necessary. The less I modify the album, the more I usually enjoy it.
Some examples of single track modifications include:
Saosin - Along The Shadow
Some other examples of multi-track modifications:
Saosin - Saosin / Self -Titled / Beetle Album
Virtual Riot - Simulation + Stealing Fire (where I've even removed tracks, which I try not to do)
Skrillex - Recess, Quest For Fire, Don't Get Too Close (ditto)
I'll write a follow up post explaining these choices more in detail soon.
To steer the conversation back to this album in particular, I'd like to give a final tally of my favourite tracks and the my least favourite tracks. I feel this is better than a rating since I hate reducing criticism to a number value. Although on a rating of pure enjoyment and replay value it's definitely a 9/10.
So Baked:
As explained above, the crown monarch of my dubstep tier list.
Edge (feat. Varia):
One of the best DnB/Drumstep tracks I've ever heard, the absolutely UNRIVALED dubstep breakdown towards the end is just the best display of Virtual Riot's writing and arrangement style.
Never Gonna Die (feat. Lisa Rowe and Val's Vocals):
Lisa Rowe and Virtual Riot was like the best combination back in the day to be honest, and this track serves as a good peek into why that is. Also Valentin's vocals on this are absolutely stellar, he definitely needs to sing more in the future.
Breakthrough:
The drop is probably the least interesting on this album, which is a shame because the rest of the song is beautifully made.
We Never Sleep:
Much better structure than Breakthrough but still falls a little behind in quality and sound choice compared to other tracks on this album like Beemo.
Mindreader (feat. Lisa Rowe):
Like explained above, I feel this track works better as an instrumental. Still solid despite that.
Bears Gotta Burn:
There's clearly a common theme here since the weakest tracks on here are the electro house / complextro tracks. Definitely picks up in the second half and overall is very well written.
(Fun fact: combining Evil Gameboy and Thwek is how I created EVIL THWEK.)
that's why I think There Goes Your Money is *the* best electronic album since it was released. Each track contains mastercrafted progressions, well structured drops and an amazing sound selection. Only hampered by some less than ideal sound choices on select tracks, but that doesn't take away too much from its greatness.
Hope you enjoyed reading, let me know what you think in the comments and feel free to discuss or send me questions if you'd like to discuss more!