October 3, 2020 at 3:34 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
мхи и лишайники: Нассать на мир
Absolutely crushing
minimal wave misanthopia seemingly transmitted from a Soviet bunker in 1987, but actually banged out a couple years ago around New Year’s Eve. This being on NNF, it’s not quite as cold and forbidding as most coldwave of this sort; it’s actually quite playful, even with the demented samples (the screaming, “your move creep”, and “you’re under arrest”, all ominously pitched down, during the second track) and fuck-all attitude (the title translates to “Piss on the World”). The third track ends up being fit for a hazy, gas mask-required rave, and the fourth is more of a melted synthwave fever dream. Then there’s the muddy, disorienting, prismatic, stun-laser final track, which thuds on and on for ten minutes before the tape runs out abruptly. I’m down with this sort of smudged, melting neon dystopia.
October 3, 2020 at 3:02 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Grapefruit: Light Fronds
Grapefruit’s first
tape in a few years is a mesmerizing set of instrumentals which intricately weaves complex guitar arrangements and radiant synthwork. It really makes audio light burst from the speakers and permeate the entire room. The viola and harpsichord-sounding textures add a warm touch. Final “Transmigration” is a multi-movement trip which blasts into a few different dimensions, with a pause between each one, giving you time to soak each one in before transporting to the next. It’s also pretty concise, so it just constantly delivers energy without going stale or losing its course.
October 3, 2020 at 2:24 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
Coral Club: Nowhere Island
from Moscow, with swarms of crickets and cacaws flavoring delay-heavy electronics with a preference for digital bongos and milky textures. “Peace Place” has one of the most gentle Amen break usages I’ve ever heard, almost making it sound like it’s been beat out of a big frame drum or something. “Tribe” is a nice little calabash dance with some blown-out-of-proportion bass, and “Island Haze” is heavier as well as chirpier. Bonus track “Glowing Dusk” is filled with frogs, what else needs to be said? The ideal soundtrack to transforming your autumn COVID bunker into a weird indoor tiki hut; be creative with your interior decorating.
October 1, 2020 at 7:27 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment
V. Kristoff: Sydra
One of the owners of Jungle Gym Records makes his NNF debut with
this mesmerizing tape of murky brightness, if that makes any sort of sense. It’s shrouded in tape hiss and crackle, but the melodies are often curious, mysterious, playful, soothing. Also, some of it was made on an iPhone, I’m guessing the songs without so much tape hiss, but who knows. “Inland Hymn” has a sort of aquatic dub-techno feel but without the beats, with rawer bass, and faster, blinky arpeggios. “Efficacy” has melodies that play hide and seek to try and reveal themselves. “Semblance” is more of a gorgeous space waltz drifting out into the ether. “Majolica” is alert splendor which washes up into haze, but “View of Death” is jittery and very close to cracking apart. “Earthen Nova” has some simple notes mangled with delay effects and it also has a neat “on the brink” type feel, even if it’s essentially more calm and relaxed.
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The Answer Is In The Beat 