archived brainwashed reviews
Pauline Oliveros, “Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970” (Important, 2012)
This has got to be one of the most improbable, altruistic, and quixotic box sets ever produced, as it compiles 12 albums worth of almost entirely unreleased material from Oliveros’ […]
Motion Sickness of Time Travel (Spectrum Spools, 2012)
Although my initial enthusiasm for this project has been dampened somewhat by Rachel Evans’ deluge of similar-sounding releases, her ambitious and divergent debut for Editions Mego’s Spectrum Spools imprint demonstrates […]
James Blackshaw, “Love is the Plan, the Plan is Death” (Important, 2012)
As much as I’ve always enjoyed Blackshaw’s work, solo acoustic guitar albums have never quite been my favorite thing and I always wished he would record something else as ambitious […]
Duane Pitre, “Feel Free” (Important, 2012)
Pitre’s latest composition is certainly an impressive and mesmerizing one, but it is quite a daunting challenge to find words to describe quite why it works so well. Built around […]
Black to Comm, “Earth” (De Stijl, 2012)
I can’t remember the last time that I was this wrong-footed and bewildered by an album. Ostensibly, this is a soundtrack for a silent Ho Tzu Nyen film, but it […]
Porter Ricks, “Biokinetics” (Chain Reaction (1996)/Type (2012))
Way back in 1996, the duo of Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig released this singles collection on the revered Chain Reaction label. Over the ensuing years, it has justifiably been hailed […]
Eli Keszler, “Cold Pin” (PAN, 2012)
This was easily one of the most striking and visceral albums that I encountered last year, but it has somehow remained mostly under the radar. Cold Pin is the end-product […]
Windy & Carl, “We Will Always Be” (Kranky, 2012)
It has been several years since the last Windy & Carl album, but thankfully they are back and just as reliably excellent as ever. Maybe even more so, as several […]