So the question today is, what does a REAL mob do? We’ve all seen what a real mob has done.. breaking barriers and genre restrictions, slaying crowds that didn’t even see it coming, and becoming a household name among electronic music fans nationwide. Through the years, Ooah, Boreta, and edIT (and, at one point, Kraddy) have bitcrushed and beat-repeated their way into our hearts. From edIT’s Crying Over Pros to Crush Mode, this Mob has displayed a real knack for diversity. And now, we are here to address the newest direction.

XLR8R TV Episode 83: Glitch Mob Street Warfare

(To be fair, I believe both edIT and Ooah can play the guitar.)

From their humble beginnings, four friends set out to change the face of underground music. Each producer was already well respected in their west-coast circles, and together, they proved that they were a force to be reckoned with. Four distinct sounds, rooting from four different DJing and production backgrounds, pushed their sound of bastardized hip-hop beats and crunchy, rolling basslines into the sights of many a fan through sheer perseverance and skill. As noted before, they’re also no strangers to finding the limits of genres and then bashing them down, each in their own way.

One thing that’s really great about The Glitch Mob is that they seem very accessible to their fans for the most part. They do their best to stay up on all the social networking sites, respond to inquiries, and even open discussions about their methods and gear. However, throughout time, The Glitch Mob have streamlined their live shows into something akin to the boy bands of old. Have The Glitch Mob become “The Boy Band of Glitch-Hop”? Some feel that without any sort of live mixing, and a marginal amount of effecting shared amongst three people, that The Glitch Mob are now the epitome of the push-play DJ that seems so popular in this day and age.

That being said, their new live setup looks extremely promising and should be an amazing thing to see live. This definitely looks like a great new direction for them, and could prove to open their horizons to new and exciting ventures.

The Glitch Mob – Beyond Monday :: An experimental installation honoring the harmony of vision and sound.

Anyone who has heard the new singles Between Two Points and Drive It Like You Stole It surely has something to say about the new direction that their music is taking. On one hand, with this being their first originals as a group, there will of course be some melding of tastes and styles.. but that’s a weird thing: The Glitch Mob’s newest material doesn’t sound anything like what they have created throughout their solo careers. In fact, it seems to miss a crucial element that probably defines the Mob: glitch. In short, one might define their new sounds as some sort of generic laser bass.

It looks as though The Glitch Mob are trying to distance themselves from their old sound (as seen on the new Glitch Mob website, where you won’t find any downloads of Crush Mode or Heat Up The Night), the sound to which their thousands of adoring fans have grown to love. One could assume that somewhere along the way, they decided to trade in the underground for the mainstream. Is it natural progression? Evolution? Will we see The Glitch Mob once again push the boundaries of what we think of as danceable electronic music, or will they fade into the background of countless other artists competing for the almighty dollar?

The Glitch Mob’s newest promo for their upcoming album, Drink The Sea.

So now we come to their newest release, a bootleg remix of French Electro/Breaks producer, Krazy Baldhead. This remix captures the epic factor of the original and builds upon it quite nicely. Nine minutes of revolving synths and well-produced samples, culminating in an emotional presentation of the state of the music industry today.

Krazy Baldhead – The 4th Movement (The Glitch Mob Remix)

Everything aside, it is ultimately the job, neigh, the duty of the fan to reach out and support music that they love. So go see The Glitch Mob live, and develop your own informed opinions about them and their evolution.

-Psymbionic