“Analog Dreams,” the debut album from Rochester DJ/producer Aloefi, resides nicely within the catalog of Portland-based label Cold Busted Records. Like much of the independent label’s brand of warm lo-fi instrumental hip-hop, “Analog Dreams” is built around sample manipulation that is inventive but rarely flashy, hovering just beneath the audible surface at all times. Despite […]
Lou Battaglia
Posted inMusic
REVIEW | ‘The Commons’ by Thornéd Crown
Thornéd Crown may describe themselves as a “dungeon folk outfit,” but the Rochester band’s debut cassette release “The Commons” is a stylistically diverse collection of (mostly) instrumental songs, ranging from the modal psych raga of “Swamprun,” reminiscent of Kikagaku Moyo or Goat, to the ‘70s folk horror movie soundtrack territory of “Torchlight.” Expanse by Thorned […]
Posted inMusic
REVIEW | ‘Brutalist’ by Andrew Cloninger
There is a lot to process on Andrew Cloninger’s new album, “Brutalist.” Processing, in fact, could serve as the guiding concept behind the album. Song titles like “Archive” and “Field Notes” suggest raw sonic material of various sorts underwent a careful process of refinement, sifting or even distilling. Instead of clean, repeatable melodies and chord […]
