AV Super Sunshine’s “Time Bomb”
The two mixes of AV Super Sunshine’s “Time Bomb”, the club and
radio DJ version respectively, offers a powerful example of how an ace
collaborator can shape material in a compelling way. Famous DJ and producer
Michael Bradford transforms the already fine track into something entirely new,
a forceful and dynamically structured EDM masterpiece with accompanying regular
instruments like guitar and piano humanizing, in a sense, the musical attack.
It runs five plus minutes in length and it’s just this range helping to make it
one of the more impressive club aimed released in recent memory. It isn’t
difficult to imagine a building teeming with sweating bodies exhausting
themselves to the lengthy groove Bradford establishes with this mix thanks to a
monumental sound system and the inherent talent going into this release.
AV Super Sunshine is based out of the state of Wisconsin, but
the music has universal vintage. AV has a number of well-received and popular
releases to its credit and much of the responsible for its reception can be
laid at the feet of the idiosyncratic, yet recognizable, swirl of electronic
musical elements and more commonplace instruments like guitar and piano. Piano
doesn’t play nearly as much of a role in the club mix as it does the version
intended for radio, but AV and Bradford nonetheless find a place for this sound
in the aforementioned take on the song, albeit in radically different fashion
than before. Guitar, however, plays a key role in making this club
version fly for listeners and adds aesthetic value as it varies up the music’s
sound without ever moving it away from its intended target.
The presence of melody in the club mix is a nice touch, but it
might be lost on an ocean of writhing bodies. Appreciated from the hearing
point of one’s own living room, however, it raises the musical stakes for the
song in a meaningful way – meaning it engages the imagination more than an
already creative tune might have missed out on. The synthesizers and
pre-programmed drums lead the way, however, from the dense flair of sound
opening the song through an ear-popping array of changes scarcely allowing the
listener time to keep it up. It’s a dazzling display of talent, however, and
worth every second.
The radio mix is positively demure in comparison. Make no
mistake, however, AV Super Sunshine achieves notable results with this version
– there’s definitely a strong electronic instrument presence in this song, but
there’s much more outright musicality in a traditional sense. We hear the lead
vocals coming through better than the club mix ever allows and the highlighted
backing vocals sync up quite nicely with the main voice. The piano mentioned
earlier, as well, has a more prominent role than before and, while it is a
distinctly different offering than the earlier cut, many of the same
qualities distinguishing Bradford’s club mix are fully
evident in this performance. “Time Bomb”, both the club and radio version, are
superb, substantive entertainment from an artist only continuing to grow in
talent and stature.
Joshua Beach
