archived brainwashed reviews
My Cat is an Alien, “Psycho-System” (Elliptical Noise, 2013)
The Opalio brothers are certainly no strangers to uncompromising, indulgent mindfuckery, but their latest effort is extreme even by their own standards. Stretched out across six discs, Roberto and Maurizio […]
Muslimgauze, “Islamic Songs” and “Tandoor Dog” (Staalplaat, 2013)
Staalplaat’s latest pair of excavations from Muslimgauze’s supernaturally bottomless vault is a bit of a surprise, as these two albums contain some of the best material to surface from the […]
“Afrobeat Airways 2: Return Flight to Ghana 1974-1983” (Analog Africa, 2013)
This sequel to 2010’s fine Afro-Beat Airways delivers still more Fela-free gems from Ghana’s golden age, which is (of course) is exactly what I wanted and expected. While many of […]
Andrew Chalk & Tom James Scott, “Wild Flowers” (Skire, 2013)
In classic Andrew Chalk fashion, this wonderful new collaboration quietly surfaced last month on an extremely small label (Scott’s own Skire imprint) and very nearly slipped by me entirely. These […]
Born of Six, “Svapiti” (Important, 2013)
Catherine Christer Hennix has certainly had a very curious career, to say the least: she worked at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence lab in the ’70s, was a research professor in mathematics […]
Legendary Pink Dots, “The Curse of Marie Antoinette” (Rustblade, 2013)
In typically perverse fashion, LPD bring their wildly prolific year to a close by burying their absolute best material on the second side of an extremely limited Italian picture disc […]
*AR, “Succession” (Corbel Stone, 2013)
While Richard Skelton has long been one of my favorite artists, he has not released anything new in a while that has captivated me quite like he did the first […]
Duane Pitre, “Bridges” (Important, 2013)
Pitre’s latest offering is a fine companion piece to last year’s stellar Feel Free, achieving a similar outcome through composition rather than computerized randomization. Built upon Duane’s now-characteristic pointillist plucking, […]