Fall 2016 Road Trip

November 2, 2016 at 10:18 pm | Posted in Photos | Leave a comment

I drove to Los Angeles and back just because I wanted to, and to visit my cousin. I went by myself and tried not to have much of a plan, but I had to have some sort of timeline to fit with other peoples’ schedules. It might’ve been the best vacation I’ve ever taken. I’ve gone on vacations across the country with my family before, but actually driving by myself was an entirely new perspective. It was fascinating. I feel like I have a newfound appreciation for America, in an entirely unpolitical way. I bought a new camera just for the vacation because my other camera was broken and still being repaired (it’s fixed now). I took well over a thousand photos. A lot of them were just spontaneous shots while I was driving, and a lot of them were pretty redundant or bad shots, but there’s still hundreds worth posting. Enjoy!

    September 30


I drove to Chicago to visit my friend Eric who was having a birthday celebration at a bar/arcade that had free game play that night.

somewhere between Ann Arbor and Chicago

somewhere between Ann Arbor and Chicago


entering downtown Chicago

entering downtown Chicago


at the bar/arcade

at the bar/arcade




gigantic pizza for the birthday celebration

gigantic pizza for the birthday celebration

    October 1

After sleeping at my friend’s house, we got breakfast at the Chicago Diner and went to Reckless Records, and then I started driving west.

Eric's cat Claudius

Eric’s cat Claudius


Claudius in his tunnel

Claudius in his tunnel


Chicago Diner

Chicago Diner


breakfast table

breakfast table


vegan breakfast

vegan breakfast


vegan dessert

vegan dessert


Chicago Diner

Chicago Diner


Reckless Records, Broadway

Reckless Records, Broadway


KA-POW!!

KA-POW!!


back on the road

back on the road


pulling into a rest stop

pulling into a rest stop


exhibits at the rest stop

exhibits at the rest stop



while stopping to get gas or something

while stopping to get gas or something


    October 2

I didn’t stay anywhere to sleep overnight, I just kept driving and took a nap for a couple hours at a rest stop in the morning. Also, my camera’s battery ran out, and since I didn’t stop anywhere to sleep, I had to wait until the afternoon to recharge, when I stopped to eat somewhere. I drove to Denver and walked around downtown and then visited my friend Catdog.




wandering around Denver

wandering around Denver











blue bear peeking into the convention center

blue bear peeking into the convention center





D&D miniatures collection at Catdog's friend's house

D&D miniatures collection at Catdog’s friend’s house


cat playing D&D

cat playing D&D


    October 3


I drove from Denver to Los Angeles in one shot. I didn’t end up in Los Angeles til about 2AM (Pacific Time) but this took me through the Rocky Mountains, which was mindblowing.

breakfast burrito

breakfast burrito


train running around the restaurant

train running around the restaurant


back on the road

back on the road





















stopping at a view area in Utah

stopping at a view area in Utah







    October 4


Made it to Los Angeles!

my cousin lives near Thai Town

my cousin lives near Thai Town




driving to the beach

driving to the beach




































seals!

seals!





hiking up a path in the park to the observatory

hiking up a path in the park to the observatory



Hollywood!

Hollywood!


getting there right as the sun sets

getting there right as the sun sets











ceiling art inside the observatory

ceiling art inside the observatory


pendulum inside the observatory

pendulum inside the observatory


planet models

planet models


sunset skyline

sunset skyline


street art

street art


    October 5


I went to Amoeba in the morning, and later we went to a park where there’s an abandoned zoo. There was also a haunted hayride set up, and they let us walk around for free. At night I went out to Low End Theory for a little bit.

breakfast

breakfast



Brainfeeder on the streetcorner

Brainfeeder on the streetcorner







outside Amoeba

outside Amoeba




inside Amoeba

inside Amoeba


entering the haunted hayride area

entering the haunted hayride area





wandering around the abandoned zoo

wandering around the abandoned zoo






election graffiti

election graffiti












subway

subway


Nobody @ Low End Theory

Nobody @ Low End Theory


Lee Bannon @ Low End Theory

Lee Bannon @ Low End Theory

    October 6

My last day in Los Angeles. Went to Amoeba again, walked around another park area, this time went hiking to a waterfall which was just a trickle because there was a drought.













my cousin ordered a coconut at a Thai restaurant

my cousin ordered a coconut at a Thai restaurant





castle near my cousin's house

castle near my cousin’s house

    October 7


I started driving back in the morning. At one point I had to stop and call AAA because I was about to run out of gas and I just missed the last exit for hundreds of miles. So it was mostly just a day of driving through the desert.








rest stop as the sun is setting

rest stop as the sun is setting

    October 8


After staying overnight at a hotel in Utah, I continued driving, and took photos at as many view areas as I could. My camera was running out of space, though, so I put it away after a while and kept driving.

farm outside the hotel I stayed at

farm outside the hotel I stayed at


the restaurant I stopped at for breakfast had tons of clocks on the wall

the restaurant I stopped at for breakfast had tons of clocks on the wall






















    October 9

Final day driving home. I didn’t stop overnight, I just kept driving and took a nap or two at rest stops.

sunrise through a bug-smeared windshield

sunrise through a bug-smeared windshield


at a rest stop in Michigan (or maybe Illinois)

at a rest stop in Michigan (or maybe Illinois)

Gnod: Mirror (Rocket Recordings, 2016)

October 30, 2016 at 2:25 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Gnod: Mirror

Gnod: Mirror

Gnod are one of the better improv psych acts around. They’re also one of the more unpredictable, switching between folk, drone, noise, Krautrock, etc. at any given moment. This one’s dark, paranoid, heavy, angry, and doomy. There’s shades of early PiL and Swans in here. There’s screaming and subliminal voices. “Sodom & Gomorrah” is an 18-minute crawl down the abyss. The packaging is an actual mirror, so you can stare deep into what’s left of your soul.

Show #363 – 10/29/16

October 29, 2016 at 2:43 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:00 am S U R V I V E ~ “Dirt” ~ RR7349 (new) ~ Relapse ~ 2016
2:04 am ARIISK ~ “Fatal Errors” ~ Fatal Errors (new) ~ SCRAPES ~ 2016
2:09 am Throbbing Gristle ~ “Slug Bait (Recorded At Brighton)/Maggot Death (Studio Recording)” ~ The Second Annual Report of Throbbing Gristle ~ Industrial Records ~ 1977
2:14 am Society Of Unknowns ~ “Vector” ~ Society Of Unknowns ~ Praxis ~ 1997
2:18 am Somatic Responses ~ “Night Driving” ~ Engaging the Enemy ~ Zhark ~ 2003
2:23 am Lil Jabba ~ “iNDuSTrY.” ~ Grotto (new) ~ Local Action ~ 2016
2:28 am Function/Inland “Colwyn Bay” ~ Infrastructure: Facticity (new) ~ Infrastructure ~ 2016
2:34 am Klaus Schulze ~ “Wahnfried 1883” ~ Timewind ~ MIG ~ 1975
2:41 am VVM as MRS VVMILLS ~ “She Shot To Fame During The Same Period As Her Stable-Mates The Beatles,” ~ Between Nothingness & Eternity (new) ~ V/Vm Test Records ~ 2016
2:44 am Orphanage (local) ~ “Another Season” ~ mp3 (new) ~ Bandcamp ~ 2016
2:47 am Telementals (local) ~ “Hidden Sun” ~ Universal Burst (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
2:51 am Minihorse (local) ~ “Blueblack” ~ Big Lack EP (new) ~ Friendship Fever ~ 2016
2:54 am Fred Thomas (local) ~ “Brickwall” ~ Changer (new) ~ Polyvinyl ~ 2016
2:57 am Monogamy (local) ~ “Low Morale” ~ Semifloral (new) ~ Almost Halloween Time/Citizen of the World/Side Wound Worship ~ 2016
3:00 am Danny and the Darleans (local) ~ “I’m Right Here” ~ Bug Out! (new) ~ In the Red ~ 2016
3:02 am Storm Ross (local) ~ “You Will End!” ~ Welcome, Sunshine (new) ~ Satellite Records ~ 2016
3:05 am Gnod ~ “Learn To Forgive” ~ Mirror (new) ~ Rocket Recordings ~ 2016
3:13 am H.U.M ~ “Cat-Man-Do” ~ Trinity Way (new) ~ Rocket Recordings ~ 2016
3:19 am Oiseaux-Tempête ~ “Black As Midnight On A Moonless Night” ~ Unworks & Rarities (2012-2015) (new) ~ Sub Rosa ~ 2016
3:23 am Dirty Three ~ “Black Tide” ~ Ocean Songs ~ Touch & Go ~ 1998
3:27 am Roy Montgomery ~ “Riding” ~ R M H Q: Headquarters (Q: Transient Global Amnesia) (new) ~ Grapefruit ~ 2016
3:38 am Blues Control ~ “Baba Giraudy” ~ OldEnuff2KnoBetta: The Mixtape (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
3:44 am Steve Hauschildt ~ “Ketracel” ~ Strands (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2016
3:49 am Rolf Trostel ~ “Digital Track” ~ Der Prophet ~ Bureau B ~ 1982
3:55 am Camera ~ “Ildefons” ~ Phantom of Liberty (new) ~ Bureau B ~ 2016
4:00 am Negativland ~ “The Stain of Music” ~ Over the Edge Vol. 9: The Chopping Channel (new) ~ Seeland ~ 2016
4:04 am Heimer ~ “Amiga-3D-Säure” ~ Teilzeit Swag (new) ~ Tomlab ~ 2016
4:07 am Camp Candle ~ “The Birthday Circle” ~ cdr (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
4:11 am Devata Daun ~ “Fascinate” ~ Look (new) ~ Pytch Records ~ 2016
4:14 am Valerie Dore ~ “Get Closer” ~ Greatest Hits & Remixes ~ ZYX ~ 1984
4:19 am Cheap Treasure ~ “Manipulation” ~ Saturn Soul (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
4:22 am Eki Shola ~ “Crazed” ~ Final Beginning (new) ~ self-released ~ 2016
4:25 am Adrian Younge ~ “Voltage Controlled Orgasms” ~ The Electronique Void – Black Noise (new) ~ Linear Labs ~ 2016
4:28 am Blanche Blanche Blanche ~ “Mercantile Rugs” ~ Wink With Both Eyes ~ Night People/OSR Tapes ~ 2012
4:31 am Jürgen Karg ~ “Die Versunkene Stadt – Atlantis” ~ Elektronische Mythen ~ Bureau B ~ 1977
4:42 am Nephew (local) ~ “side A” ~ After School Special (new) ~ Atrium Tapes ~ 2016
4:54 am Ritual Howls (local) ~ “A Thoughtful Beast” ~ Into the Water (new) ~ Felte ~ 2016
5:01 am Moby & the Void Pacific Choir ~ “The Light is Clear In My Eyes” ~ These Systems Are Failing (new) ~ Little Idiot ~ 2016
5:04 am Moby ~ “You” ~ Animal Rights ~ Mute ~ 1996
5:07 am Chasms ~ “Intimacy” ~ On the Legs of Love Purified (new) ~ Felte ~ 2016
5:13 am Weyes Blood ~ “Generation Why” ~ Front Row Seat to Earth (new) ~ Mexican Summer ~ 2016
5:18 am MJ Guider ~ “Former Future Beings” ~ Precious Systems (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2016
5:22 am Benoît Pioulard (local) ~ “In-the-Vapor” ~ The Benoît Pioulard Listening Matter (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2016
5:23 am Asher Levitas ~ “Sheathe” ~ Lit Harness (new) ~ Planet Mu ~ 2016
5:26 am Forma ~ “Wanderer Imitates a Cloud” ~ Physicalist (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2016
5:31 am Modality ~ “The Savage Seas of Krül” ~ Under the Shadow of This Red Rock (new) ~ House of Watts ~ 2016
5:39 am Sean McCann ~ “The World He Left Behind” ~ Chances Are Staying ~ DNT ~ 2010
5:44 am Autechre ~ “Tewe” ~ Chiastic Slide ~ Warp ~ 1997
5:51 am Oval ~ “AI” ~ Popp (new) ~ Uovooo ~ 2016
5:55 am The Orb ~ “5th Dimensions” ~ COW / Chill Out, World! (new) ~ Kompakt ~ 2016

Crush Collision 10/27/16

October 28, 2016 at 9:04 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Hour 1
10:01 pm Tycho ~ “Epoch”
10:07 pm Rose ~ “Gate”
10:11 pm Ryan Huber ~ “Kholstomer”
10:15 pm TB Arthur ~ “Acid Artifacts 1A”
10:19 pm Lokua ~ “Nettles”
10:21 pm Architectural ~ “Elliptical Storm”
10:27 pm Nautiluss ~ “Alphaville”
10:32 pm Michael Mayer & Kölsch ~ “Gemination”
10:38 pm Tuff City Kids ~ “Nordo”
10:43 pm Cheap Treasure ~ “Meanwhile”
10:47 pm Ment ~ “A Kind of Us (Ross From Friends Remix)”
10:52 pm Rumah & Progression ~ “Lein”
10:56 pm DJ Trebluf ~ “Piano Track”
Hour 2
11:01 pm He/aT ~ “Live & Don’t Learn”
11:05 pm Raam ~ “Ment (Samo DJ & Alexi3d Remix)”
11:09 pm Kero & Gotshell ~ “Samaria District I”
11:13 pm Murder He Wrote ~ “Halloween Riddim”
11:16 pm Clouds ~ “Ultras In Africa”
11:20 pm Perc & Randomer ~ “Igneous”
11:24 pm Blood Vibes ~ “Bounce To The”
11:27 pm Kamikaze Space Programme ~ “Type 1”
11:33 pm Mark Broom ~ “Loop 131”
11:37 pm Psyk ~ “Tension”
11:41 pm DJ Guy ~ “Through the Galaxy”
11:46 pm Moon Pool and Dead Band ~ “Cycloid”
11:50 pm Struction ~ “Kreen”
11:55 pm Bjarki ~ “B07”

Blues Control: OldEnuff2KnoBetta: The Mixtape (self-released, 2016)

October 26, 2016 at 10:10 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Blues Control: OldEnuff2KnoBetta: The Mixtape

Blues Control: OldEnuff2KnoBetta: The Mixtape

Friends of WCBN Lea Cho and Russ Waterhouse sent over their newest release, this mixtape which is essentially a home-recorded live set, recorded in one take two months ago. From the onset, the new material is way more uptempo than they’ve ever been before, with acid-rock guitar soloing over bouncy techno beats. They revisit “Iron Pigs” from their last album, then they’re back to new spirit-techno jams. “Pillowtalk” is a little slower and has some Gregorian chanting buried under the pianos and wavy echo. “Tangier (1001 Night Mix)” is an extra-fun updated version of the highlight of 2009’s Local Flavor. A must-grab free download available from their website!

CAM: True Or False? LP (Skrat Records, 2016)

October 22, 2016 at 10:47 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

CAM: True Or False? LP

CAM: True Or False? LP

Recorded in 2010, this is one of two newly-released albums from a Danish improvisational ensemble who have been around since 2009. Their music could be perceived as a very mutated 21st century breed of improv jazz, one that embraces laptop-era electronic music and a heavy sense of cartoonish absurdity. Glitchy, Schematic-like beats tumble into opener “Kryddereddike” before tense horns settle down, and a Conet Project-like voice mutters in the background. “Ghost” is like an avant jazz-rap track programmed by Mario’s dino friend Yoshi, with fluttering horns contorted and fed through fizzy distortion. “Mirror Confrontations” is a more sinister, sparse spoken word piece. “True or False” channel-surfs through a bunch of samples, ranging from squeaky cartoons to sexual narratives, and then the brief, thrashy “Coming to America” brings the noise righteously. “Jean Palle” is more of a space drift with some noisy scratching. “Pip Neo” is a scratchy, sloppy mess, and then it crashes into the glitch burst of “Rock’n’roll”. “Radioaktive Nisser” is another drifty one, and then “Jimpster” is a flashback to the frantic late ’90s drill’n’bass days, but with more of a spacey jazz aura. “Solen i sækken” starts out slowly, but eventually scraps and shreds accumulate and it ends up a droned-out glitchy squally. Fans of Supersilent should take note. Available digitally on Bandcamp.

Modality: Under the Shadow of This Red Rock 2LP (House of Watts, 2016)

October 22, 2016 at 9:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Modality: Under the Shadow of This Red Rock 2LP

Modality: Under the Shadow of This Red Rock 2LP

WCBN last heard from Modality a few years ago, when they released the elegant, eclectic Particle City. Since then, they’ve put out some limited tapes and played a bunch of gigs around the country. The members live in three different cities in Montana and Vermont, and they practice weekly via the internet. Judging by this sprawling double LP, their ESP is strong enough to connect through pretty much any distance. The first side is taken up by “Rarefied Airwaves”, which starts out as a vast drone featuring guitars and synths which effortlessly meld together. After a brief pause, a drum rhythm works up, and everything becomes fuller and more connected. It never really gets heavy, but there’s some electric violin streaks which appear like particularly sharp flashes of light. And then it all ends with an acoustic comedown. “Bullfrog Boyman” is somewhat twangy and rustic, with stream-of-consciousness spaced-out ranting over a hobbling, hypnotic rhythm and more ecstatic violin and guitar alchemy. “Curtis’ Music Hall” is more electronic and cosmic, with Berlin school synth arpeggios and a seriously beautiful violin melody. It immediately heads straight into a deep bliss area and doesn’t want to leave, until it finally disappears after 9 minutes. Side C (“I Will Show You Fear in a Handful of Dust”) starts out with a silly computer voice before launching into a locked drum groove and synth arpeggios which explore the heavier side of Krautrock. Vocals make scant appearances, but don’t take the lead. The rhythm falls out, and we’re left scrambling in space, and it feels fizzy, strange, and exciting. Then the pulsing synth comes back, and then the drums. It gets gradually more wasted. The final side (“The Savage Seas of Krül”) opens with loud guitar shredding, then goes through some very dense, multi-dimensional fields of sound, waving and washing and encompassing everything you see, hear, and feel. (Assuming you’re playing it as loud as humanly possible, which is by all means how you should be listening to this record.) It gets thick and sludgy, and there’s slowed-down voices echoing out from the void, and drums struggling to not get bogged down. And then it all converges into a truly wonderful final section, ending a magnificent album. Free download at Bandcamp.

Show #362 – 10/22/16

October 22, 2016 at 2:59 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

2:01 am Manuel Göttsching ~ “side 1” ~ E2-E4 ~ MG.ART ~ 1981
2:33 am Kluster ~ “Kluster 2 (Electric Music)” ~ Klopfzeichen ~ Bureau B ~ 1970
2:40 am Laraaji ~ “Om Namah Shivaya Pt.1” ~ Om Namah Shivaya ~ Leaving Records ~ 1984
2:48 am Λένα Πλάτωνος [Lena Platonos] ~ “Τι Νέα Ψιψίνα; [What’s New Pussycat]” ~ Γκάλοπ [Gallop] ~ Dark Entries ~ 1985
2:51 am X Ray Pop ~ “L’Eurasienne” ~ Pirate! The Dark Side Of The X ~ Cache Cache ~ 1985
2:54 am Metal Boys ~ “Paranoia Carnival” ~ Tokio Airport ~ Acute ~ 1980
2:55 am Throbbing Gristle ~ “AB/7A” ~ D.o.A. The Third and Final Report of… ~ Industrial Records ~ 1978
3:02 am Wanexa ~ “The Man From Colours (Instrumental Version)” ~ 12″ ~ Dark Entries ~ 1982
3:08 am Africans with Mainframes ~ “Sense Of Place Strength Of Being” ~ The Faces of Africa (new) ~ Mathematics Recordings ~ 2016
3:15 am L.A.M. [Drexciya] ~ “Hostile Bacteria” ~ Balance of Terror ~ Clone ~ 1992
3:19 am ARIISK ~ “Radio Tmrrw Ppl” ~ Fatal Errors (new) ~ SCRAPES ~ 2016
3:23 am Abra ~ “Pull Up” ~ Princess (new) ~ True Panther Sounds ~ 2016
3:26 am Group Rhoda ~ “Heart” ~ 12th House ~ Not Not Fun ~ 2013
3:31 am Samantha Vacation ~ “Postcards From Mssr Perdu” ~ 12″ ~ L.I.E.S. ~ 2013
3:40 am Anthony Naples ~ “Lekker” ~ 12″ (new) ~ The Trilogy Tapes ~ 2016
3:48 am patten ~ “Obsidian Alms (mid-saccade)” ~ EOLIAN INSTATE ~ Warp ~ 2013
3:52 am Devata Daun ~ “Willow” ~ Look (new) ~ Pytch Records ~ 2016
3:57 am AGF ~ “dis dance” ~ Kon​:​3p>UTION to: e​[​VOL​]​ution ~ AGF Producktion ~ 2016
4:01 am Blessed Initiative ~ “Vile Value” ~ Blessed Initiative (new) ~ Subtext ~ 2016
4:06 am Pinkcourtesyphone ~ “High End Smalls” ~ Taking Into Account Only a Portion of Your Emotions (new) ~ Editions Mego ~ 2016
4:15 am Modality ~ “Curtis’ Music Hall” ~ Under the Shadow of This Red Rock (new) ~ House of Watts ~ 2016
4:24 am Expo 70 ~ “Transcending Energy From Light” ~ 7″ ~ Trensmat ~ 2008
4:31 am Stratosphere ~ “Melancholy” ~ Rise (new) ~ Projekt ~ 2016
4:40 am Ganger/Third Eye Foundation ~ “Smorgasbord (Third Eye Version)” ~ 12″ ~ Domino ~ 1996
4:45 am Storm Ross (local) ~ “Atheon” ~ Welcome, Sunshine (new) ~ Satellite Records ~ 2016
4:52 am Caspian ~ “Castles High, Marble Bright” ~ Castles High, Marble Bright (new) ~ Triple Crown ~ 2016
5:01 am Roy Montgomery ~ “Cocktails with Can” ~ R M H Q: Headquarters (H: Bender) (new) ~ Grapefruit ~ 2016
5:08 am Harmonia ~ “Notre Dame” ~ Deluxe ~ Brain/Grönland ~ 1975
5:12 am M.B. [Maurizio Bianchi] ~ “Chelmno” ~ Symphony For a Genocide ~ Rotorelief ~ 1981
5:18 am CAM ~ “Kryddereddike” ~ True or False? (new) ~ Skrat Records ~ 2016
5:21 am Oval ~ “MY” ~ Popp (new) ~ Uovooo ~ 2016
5:26 am Somatic Responses ~ “Insecure” ~ Post-Organic ~ Praxis ~ 1996
5:32 am Forma ~ “Maxwell’s Demon” ~ Physicalist (new) ~ Kranky ~ 2016
5:39 am The Bug feat. Riko Dan ~ “Iceman” ~ 12″ (new) ~ Ninja Tune ~ 2016
5:42 am HiM ~ “Weird Science (remixed by Spectre)” ~ Shake the Nations 12″ ~ WordSound ~ 1997
5:47 am Ryan Huber ~ “Macedonia” ~ Kholstomer (new) ~ Inam Records ~ 2016
5:52 am Adrian Younge ~ “Fly Away” ~ The Electronique Void: Black Noise (new) ~ Linear Labs ~ 2016
5:55 am Weyes Blood ~ “Used to Be” ~ Front Row Seat to Earth (new) ~ Mexican Summer ~ 2016

Friendships: Nullarbor 1988-1989 (Mansion Records/Dot Dash Recordings/Remote Control Records, 2016)

October 16, 2016 at 6:48 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Friendships: Nullarbor 1988-1989

Friendships: Nullarbor 1988-1989

Friendships are an Australian duo who make dark, punishing, paranoid music which embraces jungle, grime, ragga, R&B, and spoken word. All of the tracks on this album are wildly different from each other, but it all holds together, and it’s incredibly exciting and eye-opening. “Big Farm in the Sky” and “Paradise” are jungle tracks with heavy bass and insistent breakbeats, and they’re both astounding. “Purebred Dogs” is a hyperspeed garage/grime track, while “Pedal to the Metal” is more of a club-focused track with Latin and Middle Eastern influences. “Spit/Flesh/Splinter” alternates between vulnerable R&B and harsher industrial textures, and it’s got “Ha” stabs. “Jerramungup 1988” is a spoken word interlude which leads up to “When I Feel Like Killing I Murder”, a dubstep-ish track which hinges around the last few lines of the previous track. “Move (Fast)” adds ragga vocals to the pummeling beats, and after “O.O.O. (Eat Your Flesh)” the album gets more distant and abstract. Following another spoken word piece, there’s the aggressive drum workout “The Roof” and the album ends with a detached piano drone called “Keep Smiling at Me Like That and You’ll Be Picking Your Teeth Up Out of the Gutter”. An absolutely deadly album, and probably the biggest surprise of the month, if not the last few.

starRo: Monday (self-released, 2016)

October 16, 2016 at 5:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

starRo: Monday

starRo: Monday

I saw starRo at SXSW a couple years ago at an outdoor show with Giraffage, and his proficiency at sample-chopping made for an astouding set. I haven’t listened to any of his recordings until now, and at this point he’s gone beyond simple beatmaking to writing fully-fledged pop songs. Almost every song here has a guest vocalist, and they cover a wide range. Opener “A New Day” is one of the few tracks without guests, and it showcases starRo’s abilities for Prefuse-style sample glitchery, but the other tracks are a bit more smoothed out and R&B-sounding. “Runaway” is an easy standout, with excellent vocals by Joyce Wrice and just a bit of contemporary electronic production weirdness. Of the dancier tracks, “I Wish” is kind of like a family-sanitized version of The Weeknd, and “My Oh My” (with Machinedrum collaborator Jesse Boykins III) is more Disclosuresque. “Can’t Take It Back” and “Do You Still Want Me” are a bit more downtempo with pretty straightforward, pleading lyrics. “Yams” is pretty silly and gets really annoying really fast, but songs like “Kiss Kiss” are more affecting and the slow, whispery “Song For Me” winds things down nicely. Available on Bandcamp.

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