Steve 'Flash' JuonLungskull has 110,000 listeners a month on Spotify. Since they aren’t a wrestling promotion I’m going to assume they won’t make up an attendance number as part of the “entertainment portion” of lungskull’s career, but it wasn’t until I saw that “elisa” had over half a million views I was convinced they weren’t making it up.
“Norgates Vol.1” may just be Murtaugh music. Here’s what I know thanks to Google — he’s a French artist who managed to go viral on TikTok in 2020 and has built his career off that. “I’m flyer than a bird and I don’t even need wings” raps lungskull on “idkat” and that’s as deep or insightful as anything he has to say on the entirety of his album. The most distinctive thing I found about lungskull was his use of bass. If you’re entering a car stereo competition lungskull might be your best friend. I love me some fucking bass but “router spin” actually made me turn my stereo DOWN. He womps the fucking shit out of the bass bottom on his tracks like a motherfucker.
I can see why this would blow up on TikTok. Ridiculous bass levels, cute plushy cover art that looks like it was ripped straight out of a Final Fantasy game, and talking a lot about pharmaceuticals. “Selling drugs in front of school when I was 13” says lungskull on “ketamine.” Like I said lungskull isn’t exactly J. D. Salinger when putting words to paper, but at least his vocals are clearly audible despite excessive ear drum blasting levels of bass. That’s impressive given how many other artists I’ve heard completely destroy their own tracks trying to mix in thump that loud.
Some days you listen to something and you just know you’re too old for this shit. “Norgates Vol.1” isn’t meant for me and that’s fine. It’s not the worst thing I’ve heard today nor that I will hear this month or this year, but this amount of bass is meant for people young and/or dumb enough to not be concerned about hearing loss. I’m sure I’m in for it at some point after an entire lifetime of listening to rap, rock and metal at ridiculous levels, not to mention being blasted in the face by the speakers at more concerts than I can count. I think lungskull could achieve the effects of 40 years of exposure in one album though and that’s certainly enough to make you a TikTok #fyp trend.