XC-17 – EROT
EROT, the debut release from experimental artist XC-17 (who played previously in the ambient R&B duo ALONA), is one of the more tactile albums I’ve heard in a while. The music crawls up and down your spine, worms into your ear canals, and massages your brain with a million fingertips. You can dance to it, but you really have to think about your steps.
The typical EROT track coalesces around a central pulse before morphing gradually—often over the course of five or six minutes—into a strange and intricate groove. “LISP” begins with boiling, pitch-shifting tones and hissing cymbals, then incorporates an industrial percussion cadence that sounds like a machine building itself in real time. The house-adjacent “?BLITZ¿” thumps to life with menacing horn effects that suggest an army amassing on the horizon, but as the piece gathers intensity amidst flurrying cymbal taps, the beat trips over itself, as if the horde is trying to charge without touching any sidewalk cracks. “XPOC”s warped, detuned melodic loop harshens until it resembles a catastrophic computer crash, complete with jarring, panic-inducing scrapes. It’s not just clamor, though; XC-17 conveys a sense of playfulness on tracks like the tweedling, fast-twitch “LSTMOON” and the bubble-bath march “Bloomiez.” The album’s sweaty physicality is made more explicit by its two vocal pieces, “HIKZ” and “LINA,” which incorporate sensual encouragements and orgasmic builds. To listen to EROT is to feel yourself become overpowered by rhythm.
Pro Video – Come Back, Spider EP
Pro Video, who recently released their debut EP, Come Back, Spider, on the Michi Tapes label, are something of a supergroup. Drummer Jack Wells slams the kit for heavy shoegaze outfit Eyewash, and bassist Brandon Walker and guitarist Justin Bennett man the four-and six-strings, respectively, for post-punk powerhouse Silver Car Crash; Bennett also plays in the hardcore band Speed Plans. Frontman Nick Blum rounds out the lineup on vocals and guitar.
Come Back, Spider sounds like a lost 90’s album, something stashed away years ago by a cool older cousin and rediscovered while cleaning out Aunt Doris’ attic. The grainy Scooby-Doo cover image only enhances the effect. Across four tracks, Blum deploys his sneering, stuffed-nose howl in raucous conversation with guitars that jitter and clang in angular progressions. An air of ragged desperation permeates. On “Mariah & Cherry,” which leans repeatedly toward poppy melodic honey before veering sideways into vinegar, Blum sings, “You only ask me how I’m feeling when I’m feeling like shit.” “This Precious Blade” features twinkling arpeggios that jerk suddenly into pummeling chords whose frantic paranoia is captured by Blum’s opening line: “Something’s burning on the stove back home.” Things come to a head with cathartic closer “Cameo,” whose inching verses and relentless, headbanging choruses would make early Soundgarden proud. It’s music created by and for frayed nerves.
Your Elephant’s Cousin - Live At Unmade Place
As you might be able to tell from the title, Unmade Place is not a physical location, but more a state of mind. It’s a performance series that moves from venue to venue, and features improvisational sets that incorporate elements as disparate as synth, flute, and spoken word. Live At Unmade Place documents an October noise gig from Your Elephant’s Cousin, a duo comprising sonic sculptors Hellcat Sneer and Taker.
Fair waring: you won’t find many traditional melodies here. The performance, relayed on a single, thirty-five-minute track, is a patchwork of analogue synth drones, whiplashes, and wobbles that all register at gut level. The recording is shot through with a variety of live-looped samples gleaned from another of Hellcat Sneer’s improvised sessions. You hear hip-hop artist Kenta’s recitations and sax honks, flautist trē seguritan abalos’ breathy notes, and Carl Fuermann’s MIDI guitar licks treated and warped to disorienting effect. The samples wander in and out like figures in a tempestuous dream, suggesting recognizable musical structures before dissipating into the atonal background. It warrants a deep and immersive listen on a good pair of headphones.
