Pitched down, slowed down, and given the right level of pitch-black atmospherics, Rich Fayden offers a thoughtful take on an old-school track with “Don’t Be Cruel.” Initially, a Billboard Hot 100 chart track back in 1988, Bobby Brown’s interpretation had a dexterity to it, even a bit of lightness despite the heavier noes of the lyricism. Here, Fayden takes the classic and turns it into a true force of nature. The song starts the rhythm off with a dub-tinged techno quality. But something evil lingers, baked into the production itself. A noir-like production, the instrumentals echo into the seemingly infinite void. Slowed down rather than sped up, Fayden lets the vocals drive his output to further cement the dark atmosphere. This adaptation of ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ takes Brown’s pleas and turns them into a threat –a track that conjures up an evil that is as alluring as it is malicious.
