Milco is the most Animals as Leaders-like non-Animals as Leaders project I’ve listened to, recently. The debut EP of Raymond Milco, 練馬 (Nerima), is full of bittersweet technical djent riffs, with the common thumping, tapping, and advanced chords that are often lazily called jazzy. The twenty-odd minutes of the EP are made out of intelligent composition and ingenious ideas; the songs flow more intuitively than on The Madness of Many, AAL’s latest endeavour. Of course, Ray doesn’t come near the levels of virtuosity displayed by Messrs. Abasi, Reyes, and Garstka, the skills of Milco are more than appreciable and … Read more
Category Archives: Mini-Review
Glass Bell – Glib Glab
Music is a wonky art form. It’s so ethereal and intangible, unlike poetry or sculpture. It’s just variations in the density of a medium – air, most of the time –: they pass you by and you try to grab enough to make sense of them. You don’t get a second glance, you can’t hold it and analyse it thoroughly unless it’s transformed; either as notation or spectrum analysis. That’s why, I suppose, the most popular forms of music keep their message simple; more people can comprehend what they’re experiencing. Even then, it’s messy, it’s blurry, and, most of all, … Read more
(ghost) – Everything We Touch Turns to Dust
(ghost)‘s newest album, Everything We Touch Turns to Dust, was released on June second via n5MD. It’s my first experience with this project, and I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. The record delivers atmospheric IDM with some glitch aesthetics. At times, it sounds like qebrµs, but a million times less experimental and abstract, rather staying on the approachable and relatable side of things. Now, my knowledge of electronic music is quite limited, but Everything We Touch Turns to Dust is a record that I enjoyed a lot. At first glance minimalist, this façade covers some very interesting choices … Read more
Monthly Recommendations: May 2017
From this apparently so mechanical and inhuman score counterintuitively emanates so many emotions and thoughts, in strong waves of melancholy, passion, and amazement. The first, minimalistic moments betray a much more complex and dense interior. The fact that so much life vibrates from this synthesized offering only highlights the care and delicacy with which it has been crafted. Steeple is, without a doubt, a remarkable piece of work that all should try. A perfect blend of black MIDI and contemporary classical music.
… Read moreWith this opus, we see them at their most diversified and confident. Between the blast beats
Cybergrindr – Fully Automated Psychic Violence
Cybergrindr is a probably-solo project from British Columbia. It is one of the few bands whose name actually reflects the genre they play… and they do it very right! Cybergrindr’s cybergrind is far from mundane. They see the opportunities the genre brings them, and they take them. For example, they profit from the obviously-programmed drums to go beyond what would be realistic: on ‘The Overseer Has Come Online’, they use drum hits – seemingly kick drums – at superhuman speeds to create what we interpret as musical notes, with pitch and length. And even though it’s the only place where … Read more