Heavy-hearted in the Midwest since 2011
Reviews of albums, shows, songs and the like.
Labor Day Weekend, 2017. A heatwave beat down on Point Arena, California gifting Mendocino County with one of the hottest weekends on record. Somewhere nestled in the wooded landscape of Redwoods that touch the clouds with ease sat a geodesic dome where psych rockers Carlton Melton created their hazy “dome rock”. And on that oppressively […]
Read More Carlton Melton : MicrowavelengthsI’m of the opinion that whenever a new Pye Corner Audio album comes out it’s the best one yet from Martin Jenkins’ long-running electronic project. His haunted downtempo electro sound feels right at home in some dystopian future. Under-the-radar-techno mixed with sci-fi soundscapes and touches of horror, the occult, and VHS dreams emanate from Jenkins’ […]
Read More Pye Corner Audio : Entangled RoutesDamien Duque, aka City Of Dawn, makes gorgeous music in the ambient/new age realm. Check out his work with Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea, or his latest album Agape with zakè (a.k.a. Zach Frizzell) for proof. It’s the kind of music that envelopes you; surrounds you and takes care of you for the length […]
Read More City Of Dawn : AnoesisSimon Little, aka Monochrome Echo, is back with an all new chapter in his ‘Moonkeeper’ musical saga. This time he returns with Moonkeeper Exous, a continuation of the story he began on 2020s Moonkeeper. The “Europa Outpost” story continues with Little telling the tale via electronic tomes and cosmic melodies. When Simon Little isn’t playing […]
Read More Monochrome Echo : Moonkeeper ExodusIn 2020 a wonderful and ethereal record dropped from Dawn Chorus and the Infallible Sea called Liberamente. It was a serene drop into slow-moving ambient music that felt like a portal from the chaos of that year and into a place where the mind could heal. It was one of my favorite records of 2020, […]
Read More zakè and City of Dawn : AgapeSan Diego psych rock trio Earthless, which includes guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba, have made a name for themselves as the premier psych rock band. But not the kind that relies on lots of reverb, echo, and swaths of noise, rather these guys play intricately-created jams. As far as guitar […]
Read More Earthless : Night Parade Of One Hundred DemonsJohn Coltrane is a towering figure in the world of jazz, having made a name early on with Miles Davis and laid the groundwork for hard bop. He was kicked out of Davis’ quintet for his heroin use but returned a year later clean and made some of the most quintessential jazz records of that […]
Read More John Coltrane : Live At The Village VanguardTom McDowell has built quite a gothic library since the 2020 launch of his record label Library of the Occult. Concentrating on musical interpretations of classic horror literature, true tales of the macabre, and just a general vibe of late night tales by candlelight, McDowell has established his corner of the music-verse as the best […]
Read More Dream Division : WOLF Narrated by Matthew HolnessThe musical dynamic duo of Martin Rude and Jakob Skøtt released two incredible albums on El Paraiso Records back in 2020, The Discipline of Assent and The Dichotomy of Control. They were unlike anything either artist had released up to that point, combining Jakob’s jazz drum inflections and sci-fi effects with Martin’s precise and eclectic […]
Read More Rude Skøtt Osborn Trio : The Virtue Of TemperanceOn experimental electronic artist Kuma’s latest release, the Vancouver-based sound wizard gives us something between the sparse spaces of Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas and the droning brilliance of Mica Levi’s Under The Skin. Hounds and Echo In Conjunction is an alluring and hypnotic take on the imagined soundtrack. According to record label Waxing Crescent Records’ […]
Read More Kuma : Hounds and Echo In Conjunction