The minute Rihanna jacked some aquamarine imagery from seapunk for her performance on Saturday Night Live in the fall of 2012 it was pretty clear that the electronic URL microscene wouldn’t be the same thing it was when it broke on Tumblr the previous year. That hasn’t stopped me from counting “seapunks” at festivals* and it also hasn’t stopped the scene’s originators from moving on. Take seapunk blogfather Ultrademon, who recently released his second album, Voidic Charms; the tune that’s caught my ear is “Drive U Crazy,” a track that reminds me more of house than seapunk (even though seapunk incorporates elements of house).
On “Drive U Crazy” Ultrademon takes a euphoric melody built for nightclubs and tosses in startling glitches, and fellow seapunk originator Zombelle and avant-pop singer the GTW provide alluring vocals that’ll coax you into putting the song on repeat. I’ve played it half a dozen times in less than an hour, which is why I made “Drive U Crazy” today’s 12 O’Clock Track. Stream the tune below and grab Voidic Charms from Ultrademon’s Coral Records Internazionale label.
*My criteria: anyone with green or blue hair.