archived brainwashed reviews
Pan•American, “The Patience Fader” (Kranky, 2022)
This latest full-length from Mark Nelson’s long-running and unpredictably shapeshifting project is a collection of understated, near-ambient solo guitar instrumentals that Kranky describes as the culminating release of the composer’s […]
Martyna Basta, “Making Eye Contact With Solitude” (Warm Winters Ltd., 2021)
This Krakow-based composer’s debut album was one of 2021’s most pleasant late-year surprises, as Making Eye Contact With Solitude is a gorgeously warm and intimate gem of multilayered and masterfully […]
Saint Abdullah, “Inshallahlaland” (Room40, 2022)
It is not quite accurate to say that Saint Abdullah completely reinvent their sound with each new album, but is fair to say that Mehdi and Mohammad Mehrabani-Yeganeh are far […]
Big Blood, “Fight For Your Dinner II” (Don’t Trust The Ruin, 2022)
I was not expecting 2014’s odds n’ ends collection Fight for Your Dinner to ever have a sequel, so this latest batch of eclectic covers, one-off experiments, unusual collaborations, and […]
Abul Mogard, “In a Few Places Along the River” (Self-Released, 2022)
This latest release from Mogard is something of a modest one, as he describes it as “the result of experimentation with familiar and less familiar instruments available to me in […]
Steve Roden, “Stars of Ice” (New Plastic Music(2008)/Room40 (2022))
Back in 2008, Steve Roden quietly released one of my favorite ambient albums of all time in a signed limited edition of 250. Of course, I did not realize it […]
William Ryan Fritch, “Built Upon a Fearful Void” (Lost Tribe Sound, 2022)
This latest double album from the California-based Fritch is something of a culmination of two separate long journeys, as it took eight misfortune-filled years to complete and it also concludes […]
Steve Roden, “Oionos” (Room40, 2022)
I am thrilled that Room40 is digging up and reissuing some woefully underheard gems from Steve Roden these days, as a hell of a lot of fascinating work passed me […]