RJ Pasin, also known as ptasinski, is an American guitarist recognized for mixing heavy guitar riffs, sound design in music, and for combining different genres, such as metalcore, deathcore and hyperpop. Paskin often creates songs for other artists to sample and never sticks to one genre within an album, even going so far as to say that, “genre doesn’t matter as long as it hits. I’ve always made music that reflects what I’m feeling.”
With his 2023 debut album, “Isekai,” Paskin garnered social media attention, attracting animation and video game multimedia editors to feature his music in their work, which curated attention drawn by his unique style and fondness for music. His newest album “false idol’s pt.2” is a sequel to “false idols,” which was released one month before the release of pt.2.
The first track, “willpower” starts with a guitar riff that is quickly accompanied by a smooth bassline. With its fast paced shifts and riffs, it feels oddly familiar to the feeling of an adrenaline rush; as if you’re on a skateboard, drifting down a staircase about to hit the ground or sky-diving. The slow guitar build up to the main part in the beginning, as well as the middle emphasizes and highlights the high-tempo sections.
However, the second track, “modern art,” completely throws off the fast-paced transition from “willpower,” beginning with a crystal cave-like instrument that echoes, accompanied by a slow swinging bass and a constant acoustic guitar-like instrument in the background. This track is a contender for being the worst on the album. It felt entirely out of place, while the other songs are fast-paced and performed with an electrical surge.
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The following song, “repent” brought the album back on track, with a steady break of electric guitar and a bass that hits as hard as a bell, this song is unbelievably catchy, it feels as if you’re walking down a graffiti-covered street, hands in pocket, head raised high with a half beanie on your face, almost giving punk style vibes. Both the vanilla instrument pairs really well here; this is what ptasinki excels at.
Serving as the last track of the album, “technicolor” is more on the chill and relaxing side, with some simple acoustic guitar and a sound that could be described as a spark, almost feeling like a relaxing purple dawn drive down a freeway, with it occasional crystal sharp ring, boosted by heavy bass that bounces back and forth, it is overall a hamonizing way to end the album.
Compared to the first album, “false idols,” there is a vast difference between those two, and it’s not a good one. Whilst it has some solid songs, such as “willpower” and “repent,” it just feels much like mumble-jumble compared to his past work and felt underwhelming. His attraction in the past was his forte in heavy bass and almost attention-stealing guitar; this album had it, but it just felt entirely out of place.
