Outsider Vibes: Alan Sinclair Talks Repeated Viewing, Video Nasties, and The Beach House

Alan Sinclair has been making synth-based sonic dread since 2009 under the name Repeated Viewing. The UK-based musician/composer creates moody records that look and feel like some lost soundtrack to a grimy, woozy exploitation flick your mom would never let you rent. Movies like Ms. 45, Nightmare, The Beyond, and Death Wish 2 would pair quite […]

Chicago Odense Ensemble : Self-Titled

Okay, so dig this scene: Two scrappy Danish musicians hop a plane destined for Chi-town in 2008. You know Chi-town; The Windy City, The City of the Big Shoulders,….Chicago, IL. These two musicians, guitarist Jonas Munk and drummer Jakob Skott of the Danish psych rock titans Causa Sui, were headed over for a gig supporting […]

Heavy-Hearted : Cory Kilduff and His Ode To Heartbreak

Musician and composer Cory Kilduff came into my world by way of Ridley Scott and Burning Witches Records. I first heard his music last year when his track “LV426” showed up on the BWR Record Store Day comp Communion. That track is part of a bigger project, one in which Kilduff re-scored Ridley Scott’s sci […]

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 […]