I'm Sorry I'm Late! (Volume 1, Part 2)
still locked in...
— and we’re back! Whew. If you’re confused about what tf’s going on, be sure to check out Volume 1, Part 1 to catch up to speed. In the meantime, here’re some lovely Mo Salah highlights for y’all to enjoy during the intermission.
Bet. Now without further adieu let’s get right into it…
(Credit to fruttaeverdura for the artwork)
Alexander Panos - Nascent
released: 09/22/2022
type: album
from: chicago, il, usa
genres: a cappella | acousmatic | ambient | ambient pop | avant folk | electro acoustic | electronic | epic collage | experimental | folktronica | glitch | glitch pop | modern classical | new age | sound collage | spectralism
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | bandcamp | soundcloud | spotify | youtube
watch: trailer
Oh buddyyyy. As someone with a pretty large weakness for auto-tune, listening to this shit nearly caused me to start levitating off the couch right in the middle of my fucking living room yeeesh. It was almost as if I got transported to a distorted, digital version of the Garden of Eden or something; simultaneously feeling like I was walking through an alien world that was equal parts synthetic & mechanical.
You know that ‘girls with a time machine’ meme where she goes back in time to meet her great grandma? I made one hehe.
Computer sounds make my brain go brrrrrrrrrr.
The Caretaker - Everywhere At the End of Time: Stages 1-6
released: 09/22/2016
type: sextuple album
from: stockport, england → kraków, poland
genres: ambient | british dance band | dark ambient | drone | electronic | experimental | glitch | hauntology | jazz | modern classical | noise | plunderphonics | sound collage | reductionism | traditional pop | turntable music | vapor
collaborations: n/a
listen: complete album - bandcamp | youtube
stage 1 - apple music | spotify | youtube
stage 2 - apple music | spotify | youtube
stage 3 - apple music | spotify | youtube
stage 4 - apple music | spotify | youtube
stage 5 - apple music | spotify | youtube
stage 6 - apple music | spotify | youtube
Music truly can be such an incredibly powerful tool for delivering emotional experiences. It’s just got this way of tapping into your latent feelings quite unlike anything else really. Case in point: Everywhere At the End of Time. I’m gonna try not spoil the compositional make up of it too much, as it’s best to just go in somewhat blind tbh, but you *should* know what you’re getting into before clicking play lol. Cause uhhh… it’s intense.
So The Caretaker’s goal with this album is to help show the listener, through music, what it’s like to be diagnosed with & undergo dementia. Separated into 6 stages with each stage representing a different phase of the disease, EATEOT depicts the slow but terrifying deterioration of the human mind and all the thoughts + emotions that come with it. An uploader of the entire thing on YouTube (s/o vvmtest) was kind enough to lay out brief descriptions of each stage so I’ll provide their write-ups below for your convenience:
Stage 1: Here we experience the first signs of memory loss. This stage is most like a beautiful daydream. The glory of old age and recollection. The last of the great days.
Stage 2: The second stage is the self realization and awareness that something is wrong with a refusal to accept that. More effort is made to remember so memories can be more long form with a little more deterioration in quality. The overall personal mood is generally lower than the first stage and at a point before confusion starts setting in.
Stage 3: Here we are presented with some of the last coherent memories before confusion fully rolls in and the grey mists form and fade away. Finest moments have been remembered, the musical flow in places is more confused and tangled. As we progress some singular memories become more disturbed, isolated, broken and distant. These are the last embers of awareness before we enter the post awareness stages.
Stage 4: Post-Awareness Stage 4 is where serenity and the ability to recall singular memories gives way to confusions and horror. It's the beginning of an eventual process where all memories begin to become more fluid through entanglements, repetition and rupture.
Stage 5: Post-Awareness Stage 5 confusions and horror. More extreme entanglements, repetition and rupture can give way to calmer moments. The unfamiliar may sound and feel familiar. Time is often spent only in the moment leading to isolation.
Stage 6: Post-Awareness Stage 6 is without description.
I can’t lie bro… listening to this took for-fucking-ever (it’s over 6 hours long btw); plus it kinda felt like I got round-housed kicked right in the chest when it was all said n done so there’s that part too lol. Going in, originally I thought this was gonna be one of those albums where you’d just listen through once to kinda ‘experience’ it ya know? Silly old me. This puppy has managed to wriggle itself so deeply into my subconscious at this point, I’ve lost count of the amount of time it’s suddenly started playing in my head without warning— like my brains got its own sort of internal music app. Nowadays, I’ll even throw Stage 1 or 2 on in the background while I’m cleaning around my place cause I can’t get enough of it.
This is a work of art.
DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Charmed / Makin’ Magic
released: 09/29/2017 | 11/25/2020
type: albums
from: london, england
genres: dance pop | deep house | french house | funky house | future funk | house | lo fi house | nu disco | plunderphonics | progressive house | outsider house | synth pop | vapor
collaborations: n/a
listen: charmed - apple music | bandcamp | soundcloud | spotify | youtube
makin’ magic - apple music | bandcamp | soundcloud | spotify | youtube
On a lighter note !! These next two entries bout to be like that meme of the pink & black condos (DJs in our case) next to each other that are dating :)
(Yes I know, I just used meme references in 2/3 entries so far— I am only but a humble man, please forgive me. It’s not really my fault when you actually think about it though. They’re only like that because of the alphabet and its stupid “order” n all. Say for some reason ‘o’ was actually the first letter of the alphabet and ‘a’ was after ‘n’. Or maybe Alexander Panos was actually Salexander Panos. Boom. Mic drop. Fr tho I’m pretty sure thats it for obscure mid 2020s meme references for now.)
DJ Speedstick - Nothing Lasts
released: 01/25/2019
type: album
from: wi, usa → chicago, il, usa
genres: acid techno | acidcore | gabber | hard techno | hardcore edm | industrial hardcore | industrial techno | power noise | schranz | uptempo hardcore
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | bandcamp | spotify | youtube
Gonna throw this one in the “Albums That Looks & Sounds Like They Came Out 30 Years Ago But Actually Came Out Recently” category, because my gawd does this thing look and sound like it came out in 1994 (and I mean that in the absolute fucking best way possible).
This is the sorta dance music you’d hear playing at an illegal, underground rave in some Gotham City nightclub. No wait, I’m not even sure a nightclub is apt, that still feels too clean. Maybe an abandoned subway station in Gotham? Was originally gonna say Dune but it’s not quite alien enough for that to be honest— at least not on Arrakis; maybe Giedi Prime though? That’s got a lot more of a gritty + industrial feel— like this shit is really, really, really fucking grimy and hard as hell. Type of shit that shakes the club walls so much it feels like they’re alive, breathing in and out with each mangled bass kick; type of shit that’s so oppressive you can’t even hear yourself think. It’s chaotic and wild and I love every minute of it baby. Speedstick pushes (more like shoves if we’re being real) the industrial techno sound in a direction so dark & brutal direction it’s almost unrecognizable at times.
Fishmans - Long Season
members: hakase-sun (keyboards) | kensuke ojima (guitar, vocals) | kin-ichi motegi (drums, sampler, vocals) | shinji sato (bass, cornet, guitar, lead vocals) | yuzuru kashiwabara (bass)
released: 10/25/1996
type: album
from: tokyo, japan
genres: alternative rock | ambient dub | ambient pop | downtempo | dream pop | dub | experimental rock | field recordings | krautrock | modern classical | neo psychedelia | post minimalism | post rock | progressive pop | psychedelic pop | space rock revival
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | soundcloud | spotify | youtube
watch: long season live at akasaka blitz '98
I know indie heads everywhere are rolling their eyes at me and booing. Look I’m sorry okay! I mean at least I’m getting around to it now, right? Riiiiight…..?? On a more serious note I can 100% see why this thing is hailed as the absolute fucking masterpiece that it is. I’m not really into fishing like that but I imagine listening to Long Season is what having a chill as hell, serene day out on the lake with your boys must feel like.
Pure bliss in its final form.
Insumisión - Perú Pueblo Imbécil
members: erik bullón (composer, mixer, production, sampling) | carlos asalto (guitar) | leonardo bacteria (production, vocals) | luis carlos burneo (guitar) | marion eddington (guitar) | mauro kemado (guitar) | niño bolsita (drums)
released: 10/?/2003
type: albums
from: lima, perú
genres: digital hardcore | electronic | experimental | experimental rock | gabber | hardcore breaks | hardcore punk | industrial hardcore | political message | post industrial | power electronics | power noise | sound collage | speedcore
collaborations: chino hamann oscar reategui
listen - apple music | spotify | youtube
I think you may be able to umm *cough* *cough* sense a uhh… a theme with these next couple entries if you catch my drift haha.
Live From Earth - Ravers United Against Fascism
released: 06/16/2020
type: compilation album
from: australia | austria | canada | england | france | germany | italy | lebanon | russia | trinidad & tobago | united states
genres: breakbeat | breakcore | deconstructed club | electronic dance music | hard dance | hard trance | hardcore edm | industrial dance music | industrial techno | nu style gabber | political message | trance | uptempo hardcore
collaborations: bauernfeind | casual gabberz | clouds | detatchment 1 | dj ali | dj gigola | falling apart | gabber eleganza | haddaway | hdmirror | ilsa gold | kendojubaki | know v.a. | krampf | lizzitsky | machine woman | mcr-t | mechatok | minimal violence | the panacea | powell | rip swirl | sense fracture | skander | u.r.trax | wolfram
listen: bandcamp | spotify
Yes I know I talked a few week ago about my love for Live From Earth, but as I was writing that & rummaging through their Bandcamp I stumbled across this tape which somehow slipped by me all those years ago. Always at the forefront of what’s happening both musically and socially, there probably isn’t a more appropriate piece of work to showcase the Live From Earth sound whilst also demonstrating what they stand for, than Ravers United Against Fascism.
All proceeds from the album have been donated to the following non-profit organizations:
Seebrücke: A movement which created (among other things) save habours in over 62 European municipalities in which cities welcome refuges who have been rescued from distress at sea. seebruecke.org/leavenoonebehind/aktionen/
The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum which is a place of great importance to remember the atrocities and consequences of fascism.
auschwitz.orgA fundraiser by Aboubakar Soumahoro who aims to support the black farmhands working in the agricultural fields of the Italian South and provide them with food, basic necessities and medical supplies.
www.gofundme.com/f/portiamo-il-cibo-in-tavola-ma-abbiamo-fame
Lastly I just wanna say thank you to Live From Earth for all the work they do in their local communities, as well as being able to bring awareness towards meaningful causes. Oh yeah the musics cool too btw!
Pan Sonic - Kesto (234.48:4)
members: mika vainio | ilpo väisänen
released: 04/17/2004
type: album
from: turku, finland → berlin, germany
genres: ambient | dark ambient | drone | electro industrial | electronic | experimental | glitch | idm | industrial hardcore | industrial techno | minimal techno | minimalism | noise | post industrial | power noise
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | spotify
Felt like a caveman discovering fire listening to this for the first time lemme tell ya— just sitting there giggling like a fucking baby being all, “ohmygawddd this is fucking incredible bro”. So this is where all my favorite experimental producers got their inspiration from in the first place huh? Always really interesting to hear the source material for the first time, and *boy* is there a lot of source material to listen to lol. Clocking in at four discs long, Kesto takes you on a sonic odyssey across its nearly four hour runtime (speaking of The Odyssey, some of this shit low key sounds like you’re fighting a chimera ngl. Wait my bad… I don’t actually think there’re any chimera in The Odyssey. So how bout ahh… *Googles quickly* … a Cyclops then? Or Scylla. Bet, yeah those work. Anywayss……).
Disc 1 is gonna start off the experience for you with a fucking BANG. Containing some absolutely phenomenal power noise; it’s sort of like this perfect amalgamation of techno, noise + IDM. Honestly it can be somewhat all over the place at times in terms of what you’re actually listening to, but whatever sounds are happening tend to be pretty great. The chaotic beats bounce all over with their harsh bass kicks, at times feeling like dance music that was dropped into a blender. Yet despite all that Disc 1 still remains incredibly accessible tbh, serving as a shining example of just how good this type of stuff can get.
Disc 2 takes the foundation laid down in the first and hang onto most of it while darkening the atmosphere for a less energetic + more sinister feel— think a bit less power noise and a bit more ominous drone type music. Honestly kinda hard to pin down exactly but still a great disc overall.
Disc 3 and Disc 4 is where everything really starts to change though, essentially becoming dark ambient / drone albums for the majority of their runtimes. Disc 3 is probably the quietest of them all as it morphs into some very very soft drone, almost minimalist stuff. Now I can’t lie, I’m generally not really a huge fan of ultra minimalist drone music so that was kind of the low point for me. But we move….
Disc 4 keeps most of the dark ambient mood but improves upon it greatly in my opinion; stepping back from the complete minimalism and adding in a sort of metal drone sound to the proceedings. All in all it makes for a much better and more interesting atmosphere than its predecessor. This is the type of shit you throw on at 2am in your room alone with the lights off. Oh yeah Disc 4 is only one song btw; and it’s over an hour long. Lmao.
Overall I absolutely adore this album, it’s just such fucking good music; the first two discs contain some of my favorite power noise ever made and the last two manage to create a damn good atmosphere whilst also serving as solid standalone drone records. These 4 discs showcase the ginormous scope and variety Pan Sonic are capable of producing; both the good and the bad. I mean I can’t lie, the 4 hour listening experience was a tough one and the full release definitely isn’t for everybody. I wouldn’t blame you at all for finishing after Disc 2 (or even 1 tbf) and just calling it quits there; Disc 3 and 4 are honestly so different I’m still not sure why they decided to release them all as one ‘album’. I’m glad they did though, this music is crazy. So if you like power noise or anything along those lines (or maybe you just want to try to get into that stuff), check out the first two; and if you’re more into ambient or drone stuff the last two have got your name written all over em. Or maybe you simply wanna know what tf Pan Sonic is all about… just click play and enjoy the ride then mi amigo. It’s gonna be a long one.
Paradis - Recto verso
members: pierre rousseau (production) | simon mény (production, vocals)
released: 09/23/2016
type: album
from: paris, france
genres: alternative r&b | balearic beat | chillwave | dance pop | deep house | downtempo | electro pop | electronic | french pop music | house | indietronica | nu disco | sophistipop | synth pop | tropical house
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | spotify
watch: garde le pour toi | recto verso | toi et moi
You ever just come across something and before even checking it out more your guts already telling you that you’re gonna absolutely love it? Well, that was me learning about Recto verso.
Sick album cover of a candid photo? Check.
Lush vocals? Check.
Hypnotizing synths? Check.
Deep house + pop influences? Check.
This album is such a home run for me I almost couldn’t believe it. Possibly one of the smoothest listening experience I’ve ever had, and I’m not even tryna exaggerate really. Say you’re at the beach with all your friends and it’s a beautiful, summer day out. I’m talking impeccable. Slight breeze so it’s not too warm; waves gently crashing up on the beach. It’s just a fucking great day man. You’re cooling on a folding chair, reading a book while a spirited game of beach volleyball goes beside ya. You’ve got no responsibilities for the rest of the day except for chilling as hard as fucking possible and whooping the hell outta whoever’s got next in beach volleyball. Now that feeling right there? Bottle it. That’s what it feels like to listen to Recto verso.
Lastly, reading about Paradis for this blurb was low key pretty interesting so I thought I’d throw what I learned here— Paradis is comprised of two guys, a singer and a producer; and they’ve technically been on an indefinite hiatus since 2017, citing creative differences as well as their desire to work on other musical projects. This interview with producer, Pierre Rousseau, sheds some light on the situation and just from skimming through the piece it honestly sounds like they just straight up never got along; like at *any* point. When they finally decided to go on hiatus too, it was smack dab in the middle of the tour for Recto verso and less than a year after they’d even put the fucking thing out. Oh yeah, and the vocalist Simon Mény? He’s essentially disappeared from the public eye entirely; releasing as much music and giving as many public interviews over the past 8 years as I have (0).
Sometimes lightening only strikes once.
Preoccupations - Viet Cong
members: daniel christiansen (guitar) | matt flegel (bass, vocals) | mike wallace (drums) | scott munro ((guitar, synthesizers)
released: 01/20/2015
type: album
from: calgary, ab, canada
genres: art punk | art rock | experimental rock | neo psychedelia | noise rock | post punk
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | bandcamp | soundcloud | spotify
watch: bunker buster | continental shelf | silhouettes
Just like Feng in Volume 1, Part 1, I can’t the take credit here. S/o to my friends man. They’re just the fucking best. God I love when they hit me with a, “yo you should check this out it’s fire” and then I go listen to it, and whaddayaknow? It’s fucking fire. Big Ws in the chat guys— thank you amigos(as), good shit. This time around I gotta give the kudos to my boy H***. Man saw I been fucking with a lot of post punk recently and decided to throw this out there. God Bless you King.
When those first notes started playing on ‘Newspaper Spoons’ oooOoo boy I was instantly hooked; shit almost sounded like a grittier version of Animal Collective to me. It’s like if you took post punk, mixed it with a little bit of acid and then ran it through some noise layers. The type of sounds that grows on you with each and every play through.
Side note: Obligatory plug that H*** plays in a band and you should check em out here; big ups my guys The Koiiis!
SebastiAn - Total
released: 05/11/2011
type: album
from: paris, france
genres: bloghouse | complextro | dance punk | electro clash | electro house | electro industrial | electronic dance music | fidget house | french electro | french house | plunderphonics | post industrial | synth funk
collaborations: justice | mayer hawthorne | m.i.a.
listen: apple music | bandcamp | spotify | youtube
watch: embody
It’s always so weird when life comes full circle. ‘Discovering’ something that’s actually been right fucking there the whole time. Enter SebastiAn.
I’ve never really known what he was about to be honest; and I’ve got no idea why but for some reason his last album has been chilling in iTunes ever since it came out over a half decade ago (actually now that I think about it, it’s prolly because of that Bakar feature. Great song btw). I knew he made electronic music as well as dabbled a lot in fashion; and overall he seemed pretty well connected within the industry, but I didn’t really know ‘who’ he was if that makes sense. Then about two months ago the Pitchfork review for Total came across my feed and that 5.6 rating jumped out at me so fucking much I immediately had to go see what was up. Like it can’t be that bad right??
Well s/o to that reviewer man, cause without that horrible rating I prolly woulda skimmed right on by. I don’t know what tf they were smoking bro this shit is *fire*. It’s almost as if SebastiAn saw Justice was never gonna make the true spiritual successor to Cross and simply decided to take matter into his own hands. Despite a slightly bloated length, Total is potentially the crème de la crème of the french electro movement— a perfect coalescence of all the elements that make the subgenre so exciting in the first place.
Sicko Mobb - Super Saiyan, Vol. 1 / Super Saiyan, Vol. 2
members: lil ceno | lil trav
released: vol. 1 - 12/30/2013 | vol. 2 - 04/01/2015
type: mixtapes
from: chicago, il, usa
genres: bop | chicago drill | experimental hip hop | footwork | futuristic swag | pop rap | trap
collaborations: blue ranger | c-sick | cicero | dj nate | j cash | jd on tha track | kerabeatz | leek-e-leek | lil cory | lil durk | mudd gang | mr. infiniti | rockie fresh | stunt taylor | twista | young heavy | young ravisu | zthesavage | 808ondatrack
listen: vol. 1 - internet archive | livemixtapes | soundcloud | youtube
vol. 2 - audiomack | soundcloud | youtube
watch: penny hardaway | remy rick routine
Yeahhhhhhh… (hangs head in shame) it’s genuinely kinda sad I hadn’t properly sat down and listened to Sicko Mobb’s tapes until like two months ago. No idea why I hadn’t tbh; just straight up don’t have a good excuse for this one lol. My bad guys, please forgive me. Looking back on it too, I honestly can’t even believe it lmao; if I was walking down the street and had one of those TikTok people randomly stop me and force a mic in my face to ask what I thought the best song of all time was, there’s a preeetttyy fucking high chance I’d say ‘Citgo’ (there’s even a ‘Citgo’ cover on Vol. 1 ffs!). I really deserve to hold the L on this one.
Hows that old saying go?
“A fool learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”
So yeah lol, don’t be like me.
Silver Apples - Silver Apples
members: dan taylor (drums, percussion, vocals) | simeon coxe (banjo, keyboards, oscillator, vocals)
released: 06/?/1968
type: album
from: brooklyn, ny, usa
genres: breakbeat | electronic | experimental | experimental pop | experimental rock | glitch pop | krautrock | minimal wave | progressive electronic | psychedelic pop | psychedelic rock | space rock
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | spotify | youtube
watch: oscillations
Can’t lie, feel like I might have completed the infinity gauntlet of music recommendations with this one. As someone who watches a lot of video essays on YouTube about pretty much anything, I essentially refuse to watch *any* about music. Music Video Essayist YouTube may fr be one of the worst places on the entire internet for musical content. Straight up. Like I’m talking poop from a butt levels of shit over there (pun intended). Where else are you gonna find the sort of in-depth, high quality analysis like, “How ‘Aura’ Turned Playboy Carti Into a Star” or “Kanye Vs. Ye: The Cost of Being a GENIUS”…… sfkjgnrwlktgjwkjtrngl big fucking yikes.
So you can imagine the look of shock on my face when I loaded up YouTube as usual one morning and lo n behold! There at the top of my recommend was a video titled “Electro-Glitch Pop In the 1960s: The Unreal Sounds & Story of the Silver Apples”. Well shiiiittt, you've got me now! Ya figured me out! For real though what can I say? I see electro glitch pop, I click. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sismo en Bucarest - Damasco
released: 11/12/2020
type: single
from: lima, perú
genres: electronic | epic collage | experimental | glitch | latin electronic | plunderphonics | post industrial | reggaetón | sampling | sound collage | trip hop | vapor
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | bandcamp | spotify
watch: visualizer
Whenever I’m bored, one thing I’ll do is pull up the Bandcamp discover page and dig through it; trying all kinds of different genre tag combinations searching for new (and old) stuff to listen too. Well, one of my most recent forays into the wilds of the Bandcamp ecosystem was looking through the ‘epic collage’ + ‘sound collage’ tags and BOY lemme tell ya — this dude right herrrreee, Sismo en Bucarest….. this dude has got some fucking talent. His music feels like some sort of drug-induced, Hunter Thompson-esque escapade through Latin America. Enchanting you with it’s exciting, infectious, reggaetón-style percussion before offering up a beautiful, almost supernatural piano section that gives his work a sense of otherworldliness.
Sismo’s ability to blend brooding, atmospheric soundscapes with haunting vocals & reverb-drenched guitars, along with his DIY ethos, cause him to stand out amongst his peers in the rapidly growing experimental Latin underground scene.
Tocotronic - Wir kommen um uns zu beschweren
members: arne zank (drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals) | dirk von lowtzow (guitar, vocals) | jan müller (bass, vocals)
released: 04/01/1996
type: album
from: hamburg, germany
genres: hamburger schule | noise pop | noise rock | pop punk | punk rock | slacker rock
collaborations: n/a
listen: apple music | spotify
watch: die welt kann micht nicht mehr verstehen
Oh god, now I’m getting into the 90s underground, German noise pop… someone pls stop me before it’s too late and I fall down a niche underground music scene hole so deep it loops back on itself like a fucking ouroboros to form a black hole in my brain n all I’ll be able to say is pretentious shit like, “—… once you’ve immersed yourself in the brittle sincerity of early Kante, or the intellectual abrasion of Kolossale Jugend, this sort of…—” after you suggest I listen to a slightly more mainstream artist.
Fr though I had so much fucking fun listening to Tocotronic for the first time. If Recto verso was that chill day at the beach hanging out, then this album is those nostalgic summer days you spent as a teen goofing off and getting into some light trouble. From playing pick up basketball and jumping in the pool all afternoon long; to convincing your buddy to ding-dong-ditch the house of that one girl in his social studies class he’s got a crush on; to when you and all your buddies are huddled up in friend’s parents, upstairs TV room tryna figure out who’s older sibling is cool enough to buy y’all Four Lokos (or so I’ve heard).
*deep nostalgic sigh*