REVIEW: Paula Haunt's Cannibal Girl (2023)

NOTE: Hey, everyone!

I've been busy for a little while (and still am) so I apologize for the lack of reviews lately. Here's an older one for now while I stock up on new ideas. :)

Released in October 2023 commercially via Bandcamp, this selection of singles spans multiple genres with ease, full of breaks, hip hop mashups and PlayStation game inspired rave music. 

The compilation opens with Far Away, a synthesizer led jungle track which with its high energy beats and rave stabs creates a fantastic track which to me feels designated for clubs and raves. 

Track two of the compilation California Bomberman is a rave/hiphop mashup combining the opening to critically acclaimed PlayStation game Bomberman World and 2Pac's hit single from 1995 "California Love". Both tracks work extremely well together and when combined create a very dreamy rave track which ticks all of the boxes for textbook rave music. 

Samples are a common theme throughout the rest of the compilation, with many tracks having lo-fi crunchy samples of hip hop, 80s commercials and power pop, creating a vaporwave feel to the entire release, which differentiates from most modern rave sounding too clean and professional. 

This is most commonly seen in track four, Gamma Light. The track opens with a slowed down sample of a Jordache jeans commercial from 1984, before switching to Paula's distinct production style - Pitched up lo-fi rap vocals, synthesizers and drum breaks, complete with adlibs from Naughty by Nature's It's On.

This theme carries on in track five Earth vs Moon - a jungle track with lots of crunchy distorted breaks to give off the impression that the drums have gone through a 12 bit sampler such as a Roland S-330. The pads used in the song also sound very warm and fuzzy, also creating the impression that they could have been sampled and slowed down from an old synth. 

Otherwise, the compilation also dabbles into other genres apart from breakbeat hardcore and mashups, such as track nine, The Bomb, which borrows from acid breakbeat releases common throughout the late 90s, which sounds fantastic on good speakers and sounds especially badass when played loud. 

My personal favorites from the compilation are Attack of the Watermelons - a fantastic rave track with lush vocal chops, bassy rave stabs and tight drum work. Color TVs - a Dire Straits infused breakbeat track which later turns into a video game style composition. Kombucha - a chiptune inspired rave track which sounds really clean on good speakers and Gumdrop - a track largely in the style of ambient jungle releases from labels such as Urban Flavour and Moving Shadow with the grittiness of Cyclone Sid or Pete Cannon.

Overall, this compilation is fantastic, and a real treat for anyone who is into that old school sound which is making a resurgence, particularly now. 

Rating - 9/10