When the weather turns grey, drizzly, and bleak, I get to a point where I’m in front of the mirror, shouting, “I JUST WANT TO FEEL SOMETHING!” Usually when I do that, jack shit happens. But THIS TIME! Lo, did the Music Gods bestow upon me a sonic balm for these distressing times: four cassette offerings from a rogue’s gallery of noise, dub, and experimental acts — from none other than esteemed Mexico City imprint Umor Rex! Oh yes, oh yes; this is just what the doctor ordered.
First up we’ve got “A Glorious Mess,”a gritty, thundering droner from NYC artist Byron Westbrook’s Confluence Patterns. Next is “To Be Kind,” off Mexico City duo Leslie García and Paloma López’s LogarDecay project. This buzzing, dazzling dub cut comes from FRGL. We then head into the dark, dank, late night club vibes of “The Inquisition,” from NYC artist, and Blankstairs co-owner, Nathaniel Young, dishing out slabs of dub under the Kohl moniker. Learned Ethics/Imposed Ethics bangs, plain and simple. Last, but certainly not least, Rafael Anton Irisarri comes at you with “Sonder,” a piece from Sirimiri. Not only is this dude prolific — with another release announced just this week — but he brings the quality again and again. Irisarri brings the emotional ambient/experimental vibe we all know and love, so turn the lights out and let this one wash over you.
All four of these divinely wrought albums are due March 16 and available to pre-order right here right now, with the above mentioned tracks streaming below. This is a fine batch right here, with varied sounds and vibes from across the hemisphere. Umor Rex: we salute you. Music Gods: you’re not so bad yourselves, either…
Confluence Patterns tracklisting:
01. A Continuous Slip
02. Drifting Well / Perception Depth
03. Fractal Shift II
04. Vanishing Action
05. Glorious Mess
FRGL tracklisting:
01. Bare
02. Restless
03. Things to forget
04. To be kind
05. Remembrance
06. Fragmented
Learned Ethics/Imposed Ethics tracklisting:
01. The Possibility Of The Infinite
02. Moral Supposition
03. Moral Autonomy
04. The Inquisition
05. Resolution (Empathy)
Sirimiri tracklisting:
01. Downfall
02. Sonder
03. Vasastan
04. Mountain Stream
05. Sirimiri Continuous Mix (Bonus Track)
More about: Byron Westbrook, Kohl, LogarDecay, Rafael Anton Irisarri
