OPM: Illusions of Time

Collector of Dust – Entropic Tapestries

Epic journey thru a kaleidoscope of post rock roads less traveled. To be fair, the artist doesn’t ever refer to it as post rock – they call it by the evocative name “chambergaze” – nor do they list it among their influences. Still, the wall of squalling guitar (bowed, apparently!), droning bass (Ebowed bass guitar!) and deliberate, if only intermittent, drum machine beats (plus some Mellotron!) somehow offer a very similar impression. 

Oh there’s also some dreamy, doomy, Goth-inflected vocals here and there among the mix! Like I said, tho – this isn’t your typical Mogwai/Godspeed/Tortoisey post rock strain you typically smoke. This is that wild Sonic Youth/Talk Talk/Einsturzende type shit! It’ll fuck you up, good!  

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Tim Eveleigh – Life Is Not a Competition

Jolly, upbeat pop/rock from a decidedly English singer-songwriter. This is one for the folks lamenting the demise of “real music” – this has the heartfelt sentiment, clever writing, traditional rock-band style arrangements of guitar, bass, and drums you yearn for. This kind of music existed 200 years ago and will exist 200 years from now (complimentary).

Solid, understated production and a lack of anything you’d think to call trendy or taste-chasing means this one will age well, even within that context. A wise choice, given the overall approach, but I doubt it’s premeditated or calculated in any way. To the contrary, this album feels open, honest and genuine from beginning to end. No pretense needed! 

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Russ Somers – “I Drink My Whiskey Neat (I Don’t Like Ice)”

A fun and folky anti-ICE protest/drinking song – short, sweet, sharp and pointed. A vocal, a couple layers of guitars, and the welcome sentiment, delivered in a lighthearted and pleasant way. Protest music doesn’t need to all be heavy and serious – there’s time to have a drink and a laugh while we do the work. Nice tune. Fuck ICE.

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Six O’ Matic – Ascension Span

A wide ranging, freewheeling set of instrumentals that span genres but all share a certain buoyant energy. From the almost Elephant 6 chamber pop of the opening track, thru pulsing techno pop, into funk-touched instrumental rock and beyond, the EP offers quite a journey. 

Regardless of the idiom it’s working within, there’s a lot of obvious skill, love and attention to detail. This isn’t someone dabbling – there’s a real passion at play here. Cool stuff. 

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Traiken – Heartless Angels

Instrumental industrial metal with a deep thematic and musical focus. Track to track the focus shifts from the more industrial elements to the metal ones, but they always work in concert. And though the heavy riffs and brutal rhythms you’d expect of industrial metal pull their weight, there’s also some nicely varied dynamics and big moments to keep things lively. 

Eschewing vocals or even the cheeky film/TV samples so often found in this kind of music, the focus is firmly on the music here. A nice collection of heavy tunes for fans of the genre(s). 

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