I get a lot of invites from labels to check out their latest releases. I check out as many as I can given the volume, plus the fact that I have a pretty jam packed life outside of writing about music. But the main reason I started doing this back in late 2011 was because I wanted to share music I felt was interesting and intriguing to as many ears as I could into the void. So if something stands out; be it album art, descriptions, key words, etc…I’m more than likely to check THAT out sooner.
Hence Ingrown Records.
Ingrown Records is a North Carolina-based label putting out outsider electronic music for quite a few years now, and have amassed an impressive discography. The owners reached out about checking out their latest release, Black Wick’s \\VIDEO//|\\DRONED//. Words like “vapormaster”, “minimal synth”, and “ambient atmosphere” perked my ears up. So I was in.
What do you get with Black Wick’s \\VIDEO//|\\DRONED//? A dizzying 27-track collection of ether-soaked lo-fi electronic that ranges everywhere from minimalist cosmic vibes to 8-bit video game jams to ethereal sound blasts. It’s the sound of musical ideas pulled out of the oven before they’re fully-formed. Instead of a yeast-risen loaf we get gelatinous goo, bubbling and redefining itself before our eyes and ears. An electronic mixtape of dream sounds, half thoughts, and pretty much the musical equivalent of the movie Skinamarink. An off-kilter sound world that puts you in a Robitussin-drenched state-of-mind.
If you’re looking for melodic electronic music, Jean Michel Jarre this is not. This is experimental, noisy, off-kilter, and a little out of its mind. Yet, it’s a trip I highly recommend taking if you like to explore musically. There are moments of haze like early OPN, and there are also weirdo dioramas of noise and obscurity that are unwieldy and even unnerving. Like stepping into the mind of someone on the brink of an anxiety attack. The musical version of a photomontage where all the pictures are slightly out of focus.
This album is best experienced without a lot of explanation. It’s best to just step into Black Wick’s world and explore with no preconceptions. You have melody-driven works(“The JOG Function”, “Animal Chin[Alt. Mix]”), plus ethereal ambient noise(“Here To There”, “Prone To Violence”), as well as longform pieces like “Found on a deserted plane of existence” and “Deep Water Plateau”. They all create their own unique worlds that are easy for exploration.
Maybe one of the most disorienting songs here is “Even More Disturbing…”, with its floaty, sickly sweet melodies with a voice whispering bizarre questions just under the surface. It’s like a serial killer asking questions to an unsuspecting victim. I could almost imagine Nic Cage whispering those lines as Longlegs. Very weird and off-kilter.
These songs are less about melody and more about creating a specific mood and headspace. I’m reminded of Ben Zimmerman’s The Baltika Years, Huerco S.’ Colonial Patterns, and some of the outsider music sounds found on labels like Outpost 31 and Moon Glyph. This is music for heady introspection and thoughtful contemplation.
It seems I’ll be digging more into Ingrown Records discography. A label with an aesthetic and intention is a label on a mission. Black Wick’s \\VIDEO//|\\DRONED//is a mission statement in itself, and that mission statement is get lost without worrying whether you’ll ever be found again.
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