Complete immersion. The soundscapes are fully enveloping & disparate. Total stasis; with absence being so well defined at its core, I feel complete ease to exist inside of this soundscape for as long as it is around. (The fact that it’s performed live between four musicians is staggering from a recording & chemistry perspective.)

It just feels everlasting. As much as the third part incubates inside of a sandy bubble (the uninterrupted stream of a sprinkler) the digital & ... read more

Patient, Fluid, Sweet, Eerie, Open, Blank. In-sync, Contradict
The fragility & mystery of a thick, watery mist.

Acceptance as a present moment in time, aware of all that looms, suffocates, shelters & inspires you as you keep walking on.

Reznor’s always possessed an admirable grasp of the fundamentals, even if his reliance on conventional songwriting can be a burden. It’s also forced him to find creative paths around that issue & With Teeth is a great example of this & one of the most apt titles in their discovery, not only due to the noisy textures & industrial rock backing everything, but more simply because Reznor using those techniques along with the lyrical subjects of grappling with mental ... read more

A completely organic world of sound...my jaw was agape for almost the entire experience; one of the few times I can say that I've never heard experienced anything else like it.

La Foret is such a precious thing; I credit it with being the album to shatter my idea that all elements of music should cohere under one equilibrium. The clashing colors convey the complexity that lies in reflection of our experiences. Frankly when I’ve been at my lowest, I’ve turned to and steered away from this album. It’s too good at reflecting back specific experiences I’ve been through; all too accurate in representing internal experiences I've had at my ... read more

Beyond what I’d come to expect. A narrow examination of minimalism & atmospheric progression, a mode of evoking and provoking while never coherently leading one idea to the next. Cogency is unlocked through sifting through a discrete series of aural sensations. Transforming our internal experience without ever presenting a clear path forward in the music. Rather, each moment flourishes for its own sake & there’s no attempt to build towards a destination. Alternatively, ... read more

Grappling with tension and release. Pulse & grooves intertwine in the former while the latter embraces overtones & prodding subtleties to fully embody the expansiveness of what release can be and feel like.

The sonic world of The Necks is defined by an internal logic of rules and limitations, where timbral & textural stasis can be used as a mode for exploring every corner of the sonic environment, they’ve limited themselves too. The inimitable quality (if I could only name ... read more

Swirling interplay, a dual wind, an omnipresent drone & wavering lines.
Waves of repetition holding no beginning or end. No movement across crossfades.
It is and it isn't, for a time...always certain.

"It's paradoxical, and yet it works!"

Despondency echoing across vast, barren, inconsolable landscapes. In this case, the exterior world mirrors the internal world. The idea of reflection becomes a paradox of static feedback. Excoriating on all fronts, transforming into a dull lull that seeps down in ways that seem to fold the subconscious in on itself on tracks like "untitled." The layers of grating noise, reverbed cries that hum at a shaken whisper & high-pitched modulations morph past pure extremity & with the ... read more

Sanders was one of very few musicians who's mastery of tradition & the avant-garde gave him the ability to create vivid sonic worlds. A shared understanding he & Coltrane have is in the complexity of our strongest emotions, the turbulence, confusion, pain & remarkable joy that can stem from any one of them. There is a mystical journey here which opens up all aspects of these internal experiences & puts us through the storm of said complexity. Emerging from the other side a ... read more

While not an evolution per se; Converge pulls together an incredibly cohesive effort. Succinctly sharpening the various blends of metal music that they’ve dipped into over the years, from math to doom metal there’s enough of something for any converge fan to enjoy with this release. While not reaching the heights of their best material, its hard to fault them for an album this good, when most other bands at their age could never lace up their boots.

Love how encased this is in sounding like a world on fire and yet throughout the 9 parts (really it’s one whole experience but that’s how the reissue is divided) there’s a very clear distinction between the intial barrage of divine intensity, the atmospheric depth being plunged into, the merging of the two (acoustic elements breaking through despite no actual acoustic elements being utilized, that’s just how good the sound design is here), & the submerging & ... read more

I don’t think anything is more crucial to establishing your expectations for music than processing the correct sense of time. What could be annoying can also turn into a means of setting a foundation for your ears to constantly be on the edge of anticipation only to numb those senses into a sea of sounds that toy between the notion of a build up leading to a climax & thriving in the sensory moment

The physical sensations took my sinking feeling of depression & stretched them into a calm openness.

The first time I listened to this was an existentially terrifying experience. I can't explain why or how it occurred, but this is my best attempt. The music is an open field, where these incredible, full sounds emerge from nothingness. They're pulled from this open space into existence for no reason, more sounds emerge to compliment, support, juxtapose or contrast. The question is always the same. How does this change what came before, your intuition guides you through these ... read more

A fucking shame that I never got around to this last year. I love Horse Lords penchant for laying out intersecting maps of rhythm & pure tonality. The combination produces some of the most stimulating records of the modern day & their collaboration with renowned post minimalist Arnold Dreyblatt only furthers that development.

Absolutely lovely, further proof of the bands philosophy behind covers being one of reverence & trying to find the core of the song & pairing that with not only their style/interests but fleshing out what that song communicates to the band at its core. It’s a vulnerable, intimate & incredibly expressive voice that rings so close to my heart.

(a much-needed update on an earlier review)
Squid returns with their darkest & most evocative album to date. Simple songwriting meets abstract execution. I can’t help but find myself gripped by every tale that runs across this album. Each one grappling in the moral complexities of various manifestations of cowards. Their self-perceptions & the first-person perspectives leave so much room to question the different degrees of fault and where sympathy should & shouldn't be ... read more

Invisible Existence
Transparently Encased; the truth of what anyone else thinks.
So far down in the dumps, she revolves around you;
she was your world after all...
Nothing to do. Nowhere to go.
Saying my final goodbye to you, just to see if you care(d)
Sinking to sleep.
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Of the many special qualities one could attribute to Xiu Xiu, it's quite possible that their most sublime is their ability to articulate the intuitive logic inherit to the subjective experiences being depicted in their ... read more

An act of expression, direct and indirect. The question of experientially focused art comes down to how effective the sounds articulate whatever experience they're going for and how strongly those sounds & their dynamic impact you. All other concerns related to music sit to the side. Question everything about the sound! Disregard the artists intent in the moment and don't leave purpose to the realm of "huh idk odd" unless that comes as a result of ... read more