There’s something spectacularly eerie about the modern urban wasteland created by lockdowns across the world, and in the new music video for SoundQ “Bad Lot,” this eeriness is realized alongside an electrified beat that is anything but lifeless. From the imagery down to the actual contrast generated between the tone of the visuals and that of the soundtrack, there are contradictions everywhere we look and listen in “Bad Lot,” but it’s amidst all of the contrasting aesthetical fireworks in this performance that SoundQ reveals himself to be far more of a musical wizard than some of his previous works had alluded to.

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The rhythm here is probably my favorite surface component of the composition, and the beat it pushes definitely makes me want to break out into dance whenever I hear it. There isn’t as much of an emphasis on the structure of the tempo as there is the actual wallop of the percussion in this mix, but this isn’t to discount the importance of the nimble moves every melodic component of the song is made to execute from one moment to the next. The whirlpool effect at the bottom of the bassline is generated as much by the volley of drums as it is the synthetic stylization of the mix, making this one of the more cosmetically ambient numbers SoundQ has released thus far.

As a music video, “Bad Lot” is both a reflection of the club energy its main hook plays off of as well as a sonic dissertation on the aesthetics of electronic music in general. There’s something really scathing about the way it winds up the isolation element and lays it on us – almost self-righteously, but not within the context of the pandemic. If you read between the lines, SoundQ is being a more than a little aggressive with his statement in this single (and I just so happen to share his sentiments).

There’s a little more pressure on this bassline than was actually necessary, but I can also appreciate what the goal here likely was. If you’re trying to make the drum part as suffocating as possible, tightening up the arrangement around the bass is essential, if not mandatory, to the entire process. SoundQ wants to be physical and edgy here, and his efforts easily demonstrate just how intellectual a position he assumes whenever the studio environment is his and his alone to command over.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Lot-SoundQ/dp/B08GL1WNCM

I wasn’t a diehard SoundQ fan before I got into “Bad Lot” just recently, but I think that if this is going to be his standard, there’s going to be a lot more demand for his work in 2021 than there has been in the last five years. He’s on a good path towards compositional maturation, and for being one of the higher caliber players to be emerging from his corner of the world at the moment he isn’t showing even an ounce of egotism in this most recent performance. I applaud the humble attitude and experimental ideology, and I have a feeling you might as well after hearing “Bad Lot” yourself.

John McCall