Foxy Digitalis
In the hazy neon hues of “Kepler Wells,” Lily Taylor spins a lullaby into the celestial sprawl in collaboration with Black Taffy. Slow movements heighten the emotive, cascading melodies as her voice drips with an elegiac gracefulness. “I wanted to capture a story about remembering our journeys in life, about when we feel lost,” Taylor shares, […]
I swear, every time I listen to Another Dark December’s “Lockdown Drones (Case Study #4),” it messes with my brain chemistry. Caustic frequencies flicker in and out, swirled around cryptic samples and globular electronics. It’s disorienting, fueling the underlying horror of the piece’s message blaring through nd dentico’s excellent video: The Anthropocene is Ending. Pixelated […]
Stare at something long enough and the surface begins to disappear. Underneath, hidden worlds reveal themselves. Stockholm-based composer Shida Shahabi explores these secret meanings through ephemeral atmospheres and emotive cello arrangements on the stunning “Deep Violet of Gold.” “[It] explores complexity in certain materialeties; the things you perceive when you look or listen to something […]
Dax Pierson’s music rides a line that cuts deep while still holding anyone listening close. “For 2_24” spills glossy synth arrangements across a roughed-up, bare floor. Climbing sequences create inviting sonic architecture, crystalizing faded memories into wistful glances and neon silhouettes. Handsmade’s video heightens each note with compelling imagery and movement, heightening the vivid imagery […]
Waters rise along with luminous guitar tones, settling into ephemeral patterns where their potent gravity is hidden until it’s too late. Whettman Chelmets moves with stealth as the shimmer gives way to an angular, distorted sonic minefield. On “Af,” the wind has sharp edges. Blurred margins grow until they become the focus, and we’re washed […]
It’s time to get crunched. Fugue State angles toward the ground floor with stochastic rhythms and jagged guitar textures. Throughout “Facts,” an underlying gust of broken glass arrays is overrun by distorted chord progressions and ramshackle reverie. “Just give me the facts, I said!” Shane Bruno demands, a blistering urgency growing as the growling basslines […]
Julie Reich’s (Body Breaks, CHANDRA, etc.) solo guise, Bile Sister, blitzes our memories and energetically bounces us into an angular sonic blender. Basslines dance across the floor, shoulders shaking all the way until we’re stuck in a hypnagogic nightmare. “Generation Steam” is about the oppressive absurdity capitalism subjects us to, turned into a circular sonic […]
Tension is an immovable force on Nicol Eltzroth Rosendorf’s “Cohen.” Relentless, searching aural fields collide with swelling emotions, building dramatic crescendos and poignant, reflective peaks. Time is a disintegrating circle on “Cohen,” reality breaking through each crack in the piece’s sonic fabric. Cryptic imagery in the video, directed by Rosendorf himself, heightens the unsettling realizations […]
Ecstasy and heartbreak are woven into the mesmerizing sonic journey of “Astande To Boose Gahe Man Ast.” It draws in listeners with its energy and technique, almost lulling us into a trance, as the expressive melodies and Amiri’s stunning vocals channel so much emotion into an unforgettable performance. Amiri is one of many Afghan artists […]