THIS IS SPARTA - Happy Hippie
Rock, Pop
Perth, Australia
Overall Impression: With a brilliant dash of creative quirkiness running through its musical veins and a clearly unique sense of character, This Is Sparta's boldly adventurous and excitedly flamboyant instrumental "Happy Hippie" fuses groove-heavy hooks with a tremendously lively sense of fun, offering listeners a piece of music that is both wildly entertaining and musically enterprising.
Strongest Point(s): Well performed and strongly arranged, it's clear a lot of love and acute attention to detail has gone into "Happy Hippie", there's a great sense of energy in the writing that is thoroughly important when crafting an instrumental track. Being able to keep listeners continually invested in the music without a vocal performance to follow is no easy feat, but I think This Is Sparta has done a great job of filling "Happy Hippie" with a multitude of interesting and diverse ideas to keep listeners onboard throughout. There's a great amount of groove woven throughout "Happy Hippie" that manages to get the feet tapping and head rocking, the bouncy nature of the bass and main rhythm guitar riff is strongly complemented by the decision to have the scat-like vocalizations joined by other parts of the instrumentation in order to give a more pronounced feeling of weight to the songs main melodic lines. I also particularly like the new-age Esque interlude that occurs at 1:22, it takes the music in a slightly different and unexpected direction that nicely mixes up the arrangement. The recording and overall mix are strong, each and every element of the track is clearly represented and well defined, ensuring all of the distinct ideas within "Happy Hippie" are effectively conveyed to the listener.
Target Audience Appeal: Fans of quirky pop-rock instrumental music will find "Happy Hippie" to be an enjoyable listening experience.
Artist target suggestions: The Orb, Dick Dale, King Crimson, Snarky Puppy, Kevin MacLeod, Kunning Fox, Mt. Joy, Benny Greb, FORQ, The Funky Knuckles, Cory Wong, Mark Lettieri
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About the Reviewer:
Andre Avanessian is a freelance session musician, composer, and sound engineer based in the U.K. Having studied music production and composition at a degree level, he has taken his passion for all things audio-related to a level that has allowed him to become both a competent musician and performer. Being a self-confessed "Guitar Nerd" Andre has been continually studying the guitar, as well as teaching it, helping students both learn the instrument, develop their songwriting, and how to become proficient in home recording.