Heavy-hearted in the Midwest since 2011
We’re now well over halfway thru January, 2024. It feels like we barely got through the holidays and now we’re looking down the barrel of February. Valentines, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July,…repeat. The next thing you know I’ll be 65-years old sitting in my chair and wondering what I made with my life. A […]
Read More Sub-Zero Blues And Stack Of RecordsAssassun is the industrial/hard electro project of Alexander Leonard Donat, a musician and songwriter that wears many hats. Besides making music under Vlimmer and Fir Cone Children, Donat runs the versatile and expansive record label Blackjack Illuminist Records out of Berlin, Germany. While Donat’s spirit and aesthetic runs throughout all of his musical worlds, each […]
Read More Assassun Returns in February With New LP ‘Post-Climax’; Listen To First Single “CPR”Quintessence quite simply means “the purest form of something”. It’s the essence that gives something its magic. The essential center that holds those secrets that only the universe whispers when you need to hear them the most. It’s that hum in your head that calms the static when it encroaches too close to your being. […]
Read More Paul Riedl : QuintessenceI’m coming into 2024 hot, folks. Okay, maybe not hot but with a dull, orange glow of a meteor entering earth’s atmosphere. That glow is the glow of creativity. I told myself on New Year’s Eve that I wanted to make this year one where I put energy into making things, as opposed to letting […]
Read More Making Things, Jazz On CD, Tapping Into The Universal Hum: 2024 EditionJake Schrock builds very specific sound worlds. They feel familiar yet wholly singular to the Texas-based analog electronic composer. His 2018 Holodeck Records debut Tropical Depression was this island vibe-heavy record. Schrock painted visions of steely shores and sinking suns with vintage synths and drum machines, giving us an album that was equally Caribbean and […]
Read More Jake Schrock : Temporal Visions EPI didn’t discover Pye Corner Audio until 2016. I was in the midst of healing from back surgery(herniated disc) and I was obsessively searching the Mondo/Death Waltz Recording Company’s website to see if I could snag any soundtracks(for therapeutic purposes, of course.) During that time I’d found the amazing Pentagram Home Video’s Who’s Out There?, […]
Read More “She Hunts At Night” : Digging Into Pye Corner Audio’s ‘Prowler’Well hello stranger. So how are we all doing? Did you know, it’s now officially 2024? Yeah, I just found out yesterday. Went to bed on Sunday night like normal, then woke up on Monday morning and we’re in a new year. Crazy how that happens. Okay, just joking. I knew it was 2024. I’m […]
Read More 2024There’s something magical about the silence of a snow-covered winter’s eve. That moment you step out from a warm, conversation-filled family room into a snow-covered neighborhood can be overwhelming. There’s a deafening hush, as if stepping into your own head space; snow falling from darkness above, soundless and impervious to the everyday static and aural […]
Read More zakè & Benoît Pioulard : eveHi kiddos. End of 2023. We made it through yet another year of ups and downs, quiet moments of reflection, frantic moments of “whaaa???”, and everything in-between. Bottom line: this is life so deal with it. I’m a pretty open guy, at least I’ve become more open since the scourge of 2020. Talking about the […]
Read More Complex Distractions Presents: Favorite Albums Of 2023(All The Rest)Well we have made it yet to another year-end list season. It’s been a long-ish year for me, but there has been plenty to soundtrack the angst-y days and anxiety nights. What do I do to cope with the mental anguish and shadowy unknowns? Well, I listen to music. I exercise as well, but the […]
Read More Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums Of 2023(Ambient/New Age/Drone Edition)