Avanté - Other Half Single Review

When Avanté (aka AvanteChaser) sent over his single Other Half, he mentioned trying to craft an ethereal Detroit trap beat influenced/inspired by Bladee, Rio Da Young OG, and his own reflections on personal growth.

To give this submission a fair breakdown, I decided to do my homework on his influences first. I hadn’t listened to Bladee before this, but his name sounded familiar. Upon listening to a few of his most popular tracks, a lot of it feels like these orchestrated repetitive sounds that I feel the underground has a ton of right now (sorry, I feel like everyone’s legit just copying each other rn). But I actually enjoyed Avanté’s approach. I also listened to Rio Da Young OG (I ended up really liking Stupid Shit A.T. mixxx), and honestly, his beats really provide a solid foundation - without them, I’d doubt there’d be much traction simply from his raps/lyrics alone.

Which brings us to the Helmond mix version of Other Half flipped by Avanté’s friend DJ Scratchy Sack Swag over in the Netherlands. According to Google, the term Helmond mix refers to the signature performance or production style of Helmond Lang, a prominent underground DJ and producer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, which moves seamlessly across ambient, Intelligent Dance Music (IDM), deep tekno, experimental acid, and cold dub (new genre to check out unlocked).

I really liked the Helmond mixed version of the song because of the industrial sounds and darker influences it brings out. I had a bit of a hard time hearing the lyrics on this version, but I really enjoyed the heavy trap drums. It does get or feel a bit repetitive around the 1:39 mark, but the track immediately gets more interesting right after.

My absolute favorite moments are around 2:02, when that synth comes in, and the vocal chops echoing around 2:30. It feels like a mix of genres that genuinely works and feels fresh and new compared to the “typical” underground sound I feel is happening everywhere right now.

Taking the exact same vocal take and flipping it into two different versions stands out as always super fun and interesting to me - especially production-wise, and Avanté’s approach shows up more obviously in a crowded underground landscape.

3 Song Recs:

• Stupid Shit A.T. mixxx by Rio Da Young OG

• Bow by Fob Huncho

• High Living by Toro y Moi

What I listened to while writing this:

• Stupid Shit A.T. mixxx by Rio Da Young OG

• Other Half (Helmond Mix) by Avanté & DJ Scratchy Sack Swag

• Baby Tee by Avanté, Nexcro, NouveauD

• Dogs by Hitsujibungaku

Alsoooo if you want to hear what I’ve been listening to lately, I make a new playlist every month with songs I’ve been finding & enjoying!
Listen to this month’s playlist: tristonscales.co/playlists

And if you’re an artist & want me to possibly yap about your music next, you can submit your music through my site!! I’m always looking for new stuff to listen to :D
Submit your music here: tristonscales.co/submit-music