Author: john ingram

Somewhere in the dense and balmy southern peninsula of the Commonwealth of Virginia, nestled amongst the vestiges of colonial history, lies an enclave of noise deviance, who counts, among its nefarious members, the twisted genius that is Feralcatscan. Whithersoexotica employs an array of Feralcatscan’s trademark sounds, derived from a treasure trove of homemade electroacoustic accoutrement and reverse-engineered electronic esoterica. The result is a deadly set of deep, long and extravagant atonal drones, adorned with tasteful touches of clanging metal.

While new Feralcatscan releases are few and far between, Whithersoexotica is all the proof one needs that they are well worth the wait.

[Rating:4.5/5]

An unabashedly indolent wash of soft ambience establishes an aura of torpid bliss that lures the listener through Sublamp’s fantastic Cathedrals of Gravity. The soft, opulent atmosphere wafts like an aural embodiment of lethargy, only briefly interrupted by the errant skittering of electronic mischief: crackles and hiss that subtly break through the expansive sonic vista. A perfect complement to the hazy din of a sleep-deprived morning.

If one were so inclined to find fault in this album, it would be in its brevity. I could easily have listened to this if it were twice as long.

[Rating:5/5]

Brought back from the brink of psychosis, C. Reider shares with the world some things i did when i lost my mind. This collection of harsh ambient and glitchy noise tracks represent the musings of a fractured mind; occasionally calm and lilting, but more often brutally harsh and grating. The listener’s experience is minimal, dark and, at times, unpleasant: a tribute to C. Reider’s ability to capture the essence of his own internal tumult. Though the album works best in tracks like “boson solange”, in those rare moments when the chaos of granulated noise is underpinned by a hauntingly soft ambience, the entire journey bears the scars of its Hellish origin.

[Rating:4/5]