Skip to main content

The Nightcrawlers - The Biophonic Boombox Recordings (Anthology, 2018)

Never heard of the Nightcrawlers until this comp but APPARENTLY, from the evidence here, they were a dope trio of kosmiche-loving Philadelphians who made some really trippy, gritty, synth cassettes from 80-91. How have I never heard these guys before? Far from being just straight up longform Schnitzler/Schulze/Riley worship these are some seriously composed instrumental SONGS - check out "Geistesblitz" for instances. Most tracks bust the 10-minute barrier so there's only 14 spread over 2 discs, culled from various tapes and the whole thing just feels like a real missing link. Awesome.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Playboi Carti - Die Lit (AWGE/Interscope, 2018)

Playboi Carti has never really been on my radar too much, but then Pfork gave this one a rave review, and I figured I was sleeping...but man, this album didn't do anything for me. Barely any song made any kind of impact. The production is interesting at times but Carti himself gets lost in both that and the whole mass of features all over the album. Nothing gelled for me, so I guess for me I wasn't missing much after all. Oh well.

Ami Shavit - Neural Oscillations and Alpha Rhythms (Finders Keepers, r. 2018)

Another one I wasn't expecting much from but Finders Keepers always gets a fair shake, this turned out to be surprisingly legit. Influenced by Philip Glass and Tangerine Dream in the 70's, "Ami embarked on an experiment with what he coined Alpha Mood – a state in which the brain is working in relaxation and in which he used music as a means of helping induce his own meditative state". These aren't the droney, spacey, meditative synth pieces you'd expect - they're hypnotic in an active sense, very stimulating and dynamic. Seems not much is left of Shavit's recorded legacy but I'm glad I gave these a shot, very neat.

Eartheater - IRISIRI (Pan, 2018)

Eartheater first came on my radar (and many others) with 2 Hausu Mountain tapes in 2015. She makes glitchy, disorienting music, combining electronics and synthesized percussion with voice, guitars and who knows what else. The whole thing is a confusing stew, kind of reminiscent of Inga Copeland but I would say even more detached from "song". Didn't do much for me.