archived brainwashed reviews
“Kenya Special: Selected East African Recordings from the 1970s & ’80s” (Soundway, 2013)
There are certainly a number of fine labels currently trawling record bins in Jamaica, Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia in search of great lost, unheard, or forgotten music, but […]
Thomas Leer & Robert Rental, “The Bridge” (Industrial (1979)/Mute(1992))
Synthpop pioneer Thomas Leer may have flirted with mainstream success in the ’80s as one-half of Act (with Propaganda’s Claudia Brücken), but he definitely traveled in some weirder circles as a […]
Vox Populi!, “Half Dead Ganja Music” (Cthulhu (1987)/Pacific City Sound Visions (2013))
One of the great tragedies of being an experimental music fan is knowing that there was a mountain of great albums released during the cassette underground’s ’80s heyday that I […]
Kevin Drumm, “Imperial Distortion” (Hospital, 2008)
When it was first released in 2008, this massive (and newly reissued) ambient epic met with a rather polarized reception, but has gradually come to be fairly unanimously hailed as […]
Colleen, “The Weighing of the Heart” (Second Language, 2013)
Cécile Schott released a truly impressive string of beautiful, distinctive albums in the early and mid ’00s, but went mysteriously silent after 2007’s Les Ondes Silencieuses (much to my chagrin). Now […]
Esplendor Geométrico, “Pulsión” (Geometrik, 2009)
Recently, I have been delving deeper and deeper into Esplendor Geométrico’s discography and it has become increasingly clear to me that their prime never actually ended. Arturo Lanz and his varying […]
Wrekmeister Harmonies, “You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me” (Thrill Jockey, 2013)
This was my first exposure to the work of video artist/composer JR Robinson and it more or less left me absolutely flattened. You’ve Always Meant So Much To Me is […]
William Basinski, “Nocturnes” (2062, 2013)
I have historically had a very complicated relationship with William Basinski’s work, as he has released some absolutely brilliant albums over the years, but he has also proven himself just […]