Chondritic Sound: The last batch before the next batch gets here.

While I wait for the next batch of tapes from Chondritic Sound to arrive, here are 3 short reviews about the last batch. Enjoy! And grip this shit. Hell, grip anything Chondritic puts out. Grip it good.

Rejoice! For there is a (now not so) new Enema Syringe on the loose! Flapper is one of three in the latest batch of tapes from Chondritic Sound. This recent parcel continues to represent the variety and quality I’ve come to expect from the label. Enema Syringe releases are few and far between which leads to me to often forget about the abundance of rhythm in his work. I just remember the openings in my skull; not necessarily how they got there. The jagged but focused noise assault makes the gashes sharp and clean, while the loose beats make them wide. The sum here is always greater than its parts. Not the harshest noise on the block, but some of the harshest outcomes.

Max Kuiper & Thorsten Soltau’s Animi Sub Volpe Latentes is another animal altogether. Inspired by the fables of the mythological trickster, Reynard the Fox, Thorsten Soltau kicked things off scoring parts of the story armed with a harpsichord, piano, and a good editing knife. He then handed the tapes off to Max Kuiper who added his own bits of instrumentation and processing. Everything sounds like the pages of an ancient book disintegrating as you turn its pages. By the time you get to end, there’s no way of knowing if you’re Reynard or his ever-suffering Uncle Ysengrim. By then it’s too late to look back. You’re on your own.

And speaking of solitude, the third tape of the batch is Belgrade musician Nikola Vitković’s Alone project’s Unyou. I never thought what was considered “cold” in the semi-distant land of 80’s synth pop went far enough emotionally and that it went way too far production-wise. So, it’s been an embarrassment of riches in the last few years to find so many artists who happened to agree with me. Alone keeps it simple and raw, like a leaner and hungrier Bauhaus locked into a small studio closet over a weekend with one synth and a drum machine. Vitković’s urgent baritone constantly goes over the top and instead of pushing us away it takes us with him. We land alone together in a room of emotional echo. Stay in your corner.