If you’ve never heard of “Neo-Central Asian nomadic folk†music before, don’t worry. The easiest way to sum up Nature Ganganbaigal’s new EP “The Mantra†is a beautiful instrumental collection of Asian-themed tracks that blend together in a way where you’ll almost feel like you’re far, far away from home.
To the ears of a life-long New Yorker or city dweller, Ganganbaigal’s music is weird at first, but the compositions have staying power due to the infectious beats and sultry smoothness. Already performing with the New York University Philharmonic and featured in a slew of films, Ganganbaigal has a unique pedigree that makes this seemingly unaccessible and distant tunes and makes them feel unique and warm.
While certain tracks, “Leader Wolf†standing out the most, have a slew of different things going on in them, making them hard for younger and inexperienced ears to grasp, “White Pony†is a beautiful song fueled by violin and guitar. It’s simply beautiful as it captures the epitome of the Asian folk experience but is so accessible that it has a medieval element to it. Simply put, this is a song you could definitely hear on an episode of “Game of Thrones.†It’s almost magical.
The EP’s title track has some of the same uniqueness, as in spite of several exotic instruments, it’s the main guitar line that makes it stand out the most. This allows casual listeners to get attracted to the skill of the player and slowly become accustomed to the sounds they are not familiar with. Just like the first time you’re at a new restaurant, this track is a perfect scene setter. It allows you to take in the experience and focus on the imagery.
Thanks to solid all-around musicianship and top-notch guitar work, Ganganbaigal is able to do the near-impossible, making a virtually unknown musical genre to the casual American feel important and warm.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
If you’ve never heard of “Neo-Central Asian nomadic folk†music before, don’t worry. The easiest way to sum up Nature Ganganbaigal’s new EP “The Mantra†is a beautiful instrumental collection of Asian-themed tracks that blend together in a way where you’ll almost feel like you’re far, far away from home.
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