Deerhunter : Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?

Deerhunter have easily been one of the most polarizing rock bands in over a decade. Their albums were a mixture of post-punk vitriol and performance art, with the latter spilling into the live shows. Bradford Cox was a front man that dared an audience to come at him. You never knew if you’d see the […]

Billow Observatory : III: Chroma/Contour

It’s always a wondrous thing to step into a Billow Observatory record. The electronic duo of Jonas Munk(Causa Sui) and Jason Kolb(Auburn Lull) don’t make your typical ambient electronic. Theirs is more this crystalline sound that feels like stepping into uncharted territory, or stumbling into the fortress of solitude. They build immaculate walls of drone, […]

Random Grab : AC/DC ‘Powerage’

I’m starting a new series on Complex Distractions called ‘Random Grab’. It’s basically what the title suggests, I’m grabbing a random record out of the library and talking about it and its significance to me and my life. The collection is getting pretty big downstairs, so I’m trying to utilize what I have as opposed […]

Sick In The Head

I was sick a lot as a kid. Allergies, bronchitis, ear infections, pneumonia, asthma, were pretty familiar words to me growing up(well, I only had pneumonia once.) I had allergy shots from the time I was 4 to 17-years old, and still got chest colds pretty regularly till I was well into my 20s. But […]

Chuck

I shaved my beard recently. Not all the way, just enough to where it looks like I forgot to shave for a couple days. Don Johnson five o’ clock shadow? No, more like Dom Deluise 5 o’clock shadow. Or maybe Peter Deluise five o’clock shadow if I’m lucky. Anyways, I needed a change and felt […]

Hunter Complex : Open Sea

Lars Meijer’s Hunter Complex is a one man music project that locks into a very specific time in synth-based electronic music. He centers on the late 70s and early 80s, a time where heavy hitters like Froese, Roedelius, and Hammer were taking their heady electronic trips and honing them into tighter, more pop-based sounds. In-particular, […]

Burning Tapes : Black Lake Soundtrack

Album art by Denis Cardan Black Lake is the name of an upcoming horror film by filmmaker K/XI. The film is written, directed, and stars K as protagonist Aarya. The synopsis goes like this: Aarya, a young woman, looking for inspiration and to pursue her passion for Expressionist painting, leaves her family in the city to house-sit, in […]

Dig Deep : Lars Meijer Talks Hunter Complex, Influences, and ‘Open Sea’

Photos by Isolde Woudstra It doesn’t take long to fall hard for the electro-pop music world of Lars Meijer. Maybe just a song or two. Maybe just the first thirty seconds of a song. His strong ability for melody, propulsive rhythms, and a knack for creating a sound that feels familiar enough that you connect immediately, […]

Thomas Ragsdale : The Pentagram

Thomas Ragsdale seems to be in a constant state of movement. He’s not one to drop an album and savor that feeling of satisfaction and accomplisment, as for an artist like Ragsdale that taste turns bitter if he’s not onto the next thing right away. In 2018 alone Ragsdale dropped four releases; two EPs and […]

Two Fools A Minute

The 80s were a tumultuous time. The threat of nuclear war loomed over our heads thanks to the Reagan/Gorbachev dog and pony show, somebody shot J.R(apparently), pegged pants were all the rage, something about Iran and the Contras, neon became a thing, and the Battle of the Network Stars was cancelled. But probably the most […]