Hawksmoor : An Aesthetic – Experiments in Tape

James McKeown, the musical wizard behind Hawksmoor, travels in historied musical backroads. The sounds he creates and puts together on records like Methods Of Dreaming, On Prescription, Telepathic Heights, and Oneironautics feel like lost treasures of the past. Bringing to mind everyone from Pink Floyd to Kraftwerk to Cluster to Alan Parsons. He works in […]

Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums Of 2023(Mid-Year Edition)

It’s been a few years since I’ve sat down to do a mid-year album review for Complex Distractions. Not sure why I’ve let that go by the way side. Granted, it’s a lot of work for me. Making lists the old fashioned way, by pen and paper; ranking albums in accordance to my adoration and […]

Hawksmoor : Telepathic Heights

James McKeown’s electronic music project Hawksmoor goes deep. McKeown’s sound is dense, heady, and pulls from the best that the early German electronic scene had to offer. Combining the warmth of analog via Moogs, Modular synthesis, guitar, and bass with a rhythmic backbone that feels more implied through mood, Hawksmoor makes the kind of music […]

Complex Distractions Presents : Favorite Albums of 2022 Part IV(10-1)

These lists, as much as I enjoy putting them together, have become harder and harder to do. I never was much into ranking albums. I can talk about how much I love a record till I’m blue in the face, but putting them in some numerical order from loved to most loved is just a […]

Long Story Short : Burial Grid, Rupert Lally, Hawksmoor, Camp Of Wolves

It’s been quite the year for music, hasn’t it? There hasn’t been a shortage of great albums to hit my ears, which only makes the year-end that much harder. The favorite lists are a labor of love, at least to me. It’s a time to go back and revisit what I’ve heard and then narrow […]

Hawksmoor : Head Coach

Musician James McKeown, better known in the heady electronic music world as Hawksmoor, has put out some of the most forward thinking and far out heavy synth albums in the last couple years. Albums like Methods Of Dreaming, On Prescription, as well as his collaboration with The Heartwood Institute Concrete Island have demonstrated McKeown’s knack […]

Long Story Short : Dark Sines, Ivan The Tolerable, Concrete Island, Myrna

Hello all. It’s been a minute since I’ve posted one of these ‘Long Story Short’ posts where I cover an album in a paragraph or two. Gotta be honest, there’s just so much coming my way it’s hard to keep up. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I’d say that’s a good thing […]

Hawksmoor Returns With Darkly Lit ‘Saturnalia’ Out 2/4; Listen To Title Track

James McKeown has a knack for visceral sound worlds when releasing music as Hawksmoor. Albums like Methods Of Dreaming, On Prescription, and Concrete Island which he released in collaboration with The Heartwood Institute(all released via Spun Out Of Control) are sonic delicacies for the ears. Analog synths combined with electric bass and just an overwhelming […]

Complex Distractions Presents Top 30 Albums Of 2021 : 30-21

I’ve done the calculations, I’ve handwritten lists, I’ve got ink on my hands, and I’ve done the proper contemplating over coffees and beers. It felt as if there weren’t as many “big names” dropping LPs in 2021. Or maybe I just don’t really care about “big names” anymore. I like what I like, and it […]

Hawksmoor : On Prescription

Hawksmoor, aka musical marvel James McKeown, has had one hell of a year, folks. Last year he dropped one of the best electronic albums of 2020 in Methods of Dreaming, a coming together of classic 70s Komische vibes and prog rock tendencies that seemed to show us what a collaboration between Tangerine Dream and Genesis […]