Set Adrift On Memory Tapes 80s Bliss

I grew up in the early days of indoor malls, neon buzz, and Cannon Films. Dual cassette players, VCRs, and arcades were the technology I worshipped. If a movie didn’t have at least a part III or IV it wasn’t worth the trouble. Microwave cakes, hi-top Reeboks, and t-shirts enshrined with Alf, The A-Team, and […]

Antoni Maiovvi : Psychonaut

Listening to Antoni Maiovvi’s brand new album Psychonaut is a visceral experience. It seems to embody all those darkly perfect musical twists and turns we’ve come to love from the horror score/Giallo Disco/imagined soundtrack provocateur. Ominous ambient pieces, sweaty disco synth, and beautifully built synth pop all wrapped up in an all-encompassing musical journey. Maiovvi […]

Shameless Self Promotion Time

For the most part these hallowed pages here at Complex Distractions are meant to highlight musicians and bands that I find interesting. Artists that inspire me enough to talk about them and spread their word across these internet wastelands. As well as talking about music, movies, books, and other art-related stuff, I talk about me. […]

Covered Bridges And The World of Comfy Synth

A couple weeks ago I had someone comment on a post about dungeon synth, and whether I was familiar with it. I’d heard the term, but was not familiar with it. I imagined it to be some friends in a partially finished basement playing D&D and listening to 8-bit electronic music. Like the music you’d […]

John Carpenter : Lost Themes IV : Noir

John Carpenter, the Master of Horror, hasn’t made a film in 14 years. After 2010 he became mostly interested in playing video games and the dropping occasional hot take about Hollywood(and his own classic films.) It seemed as if he would fade into the sunset with a game controller in one hand and flipping the […]

SOMAFREE INSTITUTE : Exit Signal

SOMAFREE INSTITUTE, the heavy synth trio of Andrew Crawshaw(keys), Justin Thomas Kleine(keys), and Tim Call(drums) have been honing their skills as songwriters and musicians for a few years now. Combining the sonic explorations of 70s electronic titans Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Vangelis with the more modern sound worlds of Zombi and Sinoia Caves. Over […]

Zombi : Direct Inject

The prog/synth duo Zombi, which consists of keyboardist/bassist/composer Steve Moore and percussionist/keyboardist AE Paterra, have notched out a very specific sonic corner in electronic music. Influenced/inspired by horror scores and films, as well as 70s prog and more thoughtful metal of the 70s and 80s, these two Pittsburgh-raised musicians have rewired the idea of the […]

Jake Schrock : Temporal Visions EP

Jake 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 […]

“She Hunts At Night” : Digging Into Pye Corner Audio’s ‘Prowler’

I 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?, […]

DJ Shadow : Action Adventure

DJ Shadow(aka Joshua Paul Davis) released his debut album Endtroducing… back in 1996 to critical acclaim. That album was a revelation in sample-based electronic music(even making it into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2001 as being the only all sample-based album.) It blended the world of DJing, hip hop production, and the ethereal […]