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ALBUM REVIEW - Implosion by The Bug and Ghost Dubs

If you travel to the middle of the ocean and dive to the extreme depths of the seafloor, you may happen upon little balls of rock made of magnesium, cobalt, nickel, and copper spanning for possibly thousands of miles. Scientists have recently discovered that each of these polymetallic nodules carry a voltage potential that when combined with neighboring nodules, remarkably produces oxygen in complete darkness through a process called seawater electrolysis. I am convinced that if one were to repel a microphone 20,000 feet below sea level to these icy pressurized abyssal plains and record these processes between nodules, the result might sound eerily similar to the mystically immense sounds produced on The Bug and Ghost Dubs new split LP Implosion . The first word that comes to mind when I think of The Bug (aka Kevin Martin) and Ghost Dubs (aka Michael Fiedler or Jah Schulz) is heavy . Well folks, I am happy to say that Implosion not only delivers on this maxim but it might just be the ...
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ALBUM REVIEW - In the Wind of Night, Hard Fallen Incantations Whisper by Širom

Read on BPM here . In Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us , a filmmaker visits a small village to document the funeral rituals of an elderly woman who is about to die. While waiting for her death, he witnesses the intrusive nature his filmmaking has upon their society and begins to question whether he will be able to accurately depict these deeply personal and cultural sacraments he observes during his stay. These questions of accuracy and observation are deeply analyzed throughout Kiarostami’s filmography but are more unconventionally examined throughout Slovenian trio Širom’s discography. “We don’t want to play something that sounds like it already exists”, admits Samo Kutin, who is one third of the experimental folk group. This is quite a strange thing to say for a folk musician as (generally speaking) folk music tends to embody traditions, cultures, and landscapes that have indeed existed at one point in time. These kinds of statements, as well as their previous four LPs, hav...

ALBUM REVIEW - Wao by Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats

Read on BPM here Last year, while on tour in Japan, Canadians Joseph Shabason and Nicholas Krgovich were introduced to the Japanese duo Tenniscoats. An immediate rapport was felt and Tenniscoats subsequently joined Shabason and Krgovich’s tour after rehearsing only two times together. Some time later they found themselves staying at the Old Guggenheim House in the city of Kobe for a short two days, and during those 48 hours, decided to start recording with no preparation whatsoever. The result is the new release Wao , a melodic, organic, and Occam’s-razor-sharp collection of tracks that remind us to recognize the quiddity and splendor of ordinary, everyday objects.  Both duos previous efforts have been equal in their attempts to highlight the beauty in the mundane. At Scaramouche , Shabason and Krgovich’s previous record, is filled with melodic synths and lyrics so stunningly quotidian that you can’t help but smile (e.g. “I’m so happy with my little dog.”). Tenniscoats have achieve...

ALBUM REVIEW - Mama Killa by Ava Mendoza, gabby fluke-mogul, and Carolina Pérez

Read on BPM here . As you (very) slowly sail along inside Disney World’s “it’s a small world” attraction, you may start to notice some musical differences piped in amidst Robert and Richard Sherman’s looping sonic parasite: a panda chews on bamboo as a zither softly strums in China, a carpet flies in front of the Taj Mahal as a mizmar rings out, African children ride the tusks of an elephant while another bangs a bongo, an electric lap steel smoothly sounds in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, a cactus plucks a guitar and a desert bird plays a trumpet under a smiling sun in Mexico. Packed into an excruciating 12 minutes of animatronic-induced earworm psychosis, nowhere has there ever been more of a densely produced depiction of exotica. This isn’t to say that the ride’s intentions weren’t pure. In fact, the Sherman brothers wrote “It’s A Small World (After All)” in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis to try and quell xenophobia and promote a sense of fraternity between the United States...