VOLUME FIVE
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE
GENIE ESPINOSA ________ ANTI-FLAG SET IT OFF _________ ZARINA SITUMORANG BRKN LOVE
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE VOLUME FIVE - QUARTER ONE
FOR THOSE WHO ARE COMPELLED TO WEAR THEMSELVES DOWN TO THE FLESH & BONE IN ORDER TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT SHOWS THEIR HEART.
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE C R E AT I V E T E A M
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R Brandynn L Pope DESIGN
Brandynn L Pope WRITERS
J a m e s L i a m Wa rd PHOTOGRAPHERS Ashley Altus
Brandynn L Pope Cassie Deadmond Sean O’Day
W W W. O B S E S S I V E C O M P U L S I V E M A G . C O M E M A I L fleshbonemagazine@gmail.com I N S TA @obsessivecompulsivemag
AURAL 46
WRT
06
PHG
10
PHG
ALBUM REVIEWS
J A M E S L I A M WA R D
BRKN LOVE
VISUAL
BRANDYNN L POPE
16
ZARINA SITUMORANG
SET IT OFF
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GENIE ESPINOSA
BRANDYNN L POPE
24 ANTI-FLAG
BRKN LOVE
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At the root of it all, the music and the vision for BRKN LOVE was created by you, Justin. With the help of producer, Joel Hamilton, what does the writing process look like?
Often working on tracks alone can be difficult to find an end, or to build off of, how do you decide that a song is finished and is the way you want it to be?
It varied from song to song. It really depends on how we we’re feeling that day. Most of the time, it all starts with a riff or a song title and we build it off that. I like to do the guitars and melodies first and foremost, then we add the drums and bass after. I tend to botch the drums and bass on the demos for our tunes because I don’t play those instruments the way a real drummer/ bass player would, but it gives the guys enough context to make it their own. I’d say the songs were 95% the same from the demos to the actual finished recording, but Joel and I would just make sure the lyrics we’re totally on point before we’d fully commit to it. As far as composition goes, the only thing that really changed was the addition of a bridge and outro on Papercuts that wasn’t there walking into the studio.
It’s hard. I strongly rely on my team to tell me if the song’s are good or not. It’s easy to get into a negative cycle of thinking and hate every song I’ve ever written, but having people on the outside chime in on the process really helps me be more decisive. Usually I’ll just have a good feeling if the song is where I think it should be, otherwise I get super obsessive over making it the best it can possibly be.
What themes do you find attracted to writing about? I write about what I know. I’m attracted to the darker sides of things. Everything is usually about love, loss, existential dread, self-doubt, pain and joy. There isn’t a ton of happy songs on my record, but that’s just how I was feeling at the time of making it, who knows how it will go next time around.
It’s becoming more popular for an individual to write the majority of their music and have friends or hired musicians play the parts with them on stage. For yourself, how did you come to decide who you wanted to play with you and why do you value these people both as musicians and as individuals?
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My recording band and touring band are different. I chose the guys I wanted to record with based off of a previous experience I had working with them and I decided it would be just be easy and fun to have them do it again. I found my touring band basically through the New York City music scene. It’s a big city, there’s thousands of great musicians, and with help from my manager we were able to find the right guys to join me in this group. Having guys who are generally lovely to be around is almost more important than having great musicians in the band, since you’ll have to spend a lot of time in close quarters. They’re all great players though, aside from being great guys and I wouldn’t be able to do this without them.
You’ve made the comment in regards to your name that you can show your feelings while still rocking out. I wanted to ask a bit about your experience and journey with music revolving around this. In the past, did you ever think the contrary? No, not really. I think that’s what music is all about isn’t it? Even if the feeling is lust and joy, it’s still a feeling your expressing. It may not be as serious, or dark but music is all feeling at the end of the day. I’m just attracted to people who spill their hearts out these days, although I do love a sexy Prince tune. What is it about this genre of music that you are attracted to and what makes you inspired to continue writing music like this? I just like the abrasive nature of it. I like the cathartic energy. It’s more aggressive in it’s sound even when it’s sometimes singing you sweet melodies. I like that people give no f*cks in rock & roll, which is something you don’t see often in other genres (except maybe hip-hop). I like things loud and I like to know people are playing their instruments with their own hands. There this certain level of humanity that rock has, that connection that will never really go away, to me at least, it’s the people’s music. Talk a bit about your album art, a heart with a dagger. What is it about this symbol that you feel works as a motif for your band as well as for all of the tracks that it encompasses? I find it highly literal and almost too spot on sometimes. It’s a heart with a dagger. It literally represents a broken, ripped up heart. Though, I think it looks super hard. Like, it takes balls for a dude to put that on his stuff since it’s a pretty emotionally shocking image. I think it shows comfortability in one’s self. What do you hope that people take away from seeing your live performance, perhaps versus listening to the recorded version? That we sound the same or better than the record. There’s nothing worse than seeing a band and they sound nothing like themselves. We hope to exceed expectations. Also, our performances can get pretty chaotic and wild. We hope to take people to a huge party essentially.
After this last tour, what should people be looking out for next? We have a tour of the US coming up in May with Pop Evil, we’re doing a bunch of festival dates as well including, Sonic Temple, Epicenter, Rock USA, etc. We also just confirmed another tour with Crobot and Ten Years over the summer, as well as some cool oneoff shows that you can check out on our website.
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SET IT OFF For years, Set it Off has been projecting themselves through the alternative pop-rock world, bending genres and entrancing people with their purposeful aesthetic and narratives of hard-ship. While the band is already notable for the intensity of vocalist, Cody Carson’s voice and epic moments in his songs, it should not go unnoticed the sheer amount of determination and ambition that drives this group of people. Even before we were able to sit down with the band, they had experienced some troubles with their vehicle in North Dakota. With how cold it had gotten in their travels the Diesel fuel had gelled up, leaving them no choice but to stay the night at the truck stop that they had been towed to. Luckily, the generator still worked enabling them to have a more comfortable time in an uncomfortable situation. While this meant that they would have to miss out on the Winnipeg date of their tour, they still were able to make it to Calgary on time for their set, including their VIP. There’s nothing that would stop them from continuing on, something that the band as a whole continues to prove time and time again. One of the first times that Set It Off had come to Calgary, it had been at a small upstairs venue. I had brought this to the attention of the guys noting their ability to push forward considering Carson had been unable to make it across the boarder. While for many this would mean that they would just turn around, for Set It Off it just meant the rest of their members continued the tour in Canada while Carson waited to finished the rest of the American dates. What they had in Carson’s absence was fans would come up and have a bit of a Karaoke, or what guitarist Zach DeWall, called a “Sing Roulette.” Different people would come up and sing to the songs, and DeWall remembers one in particular where a younger girl came up on the stage, “[She] came up while we were playing ‘Dream Catcher,’ and it was during the epic
part of the song, and she came up and [whispers] ‘Today!’” Everyone in the room laughed in the sweet nostalgia before Carson commented, “Everyone stepped up in my absence,” even noting that this present time across the boarder finally took down the red flag that’s been looming over Set It Off for years. A monumental visit to the country this time around! On the day of the interview, we were able to celebrate the day of release for the EP, After Midnight. Originally, the songs off of this EP were meant to be on Midnight but due to contractual obligations they would have to cut them out of the record. It had been decided that they would keep them as B-Sides of a sort. “Rather than creating an arbitrary release, we created a theme around it, showing the era is coming to a close, and that was our chance to do so,” Carson explains. This made a series for the band when it comes to the Midnight Blue styling. It’s no secret, that Set It Off has a huge brand presence, even having fans take on the midnight blue colour, wearing it like a badge of honour, something that Carson notes is both intentional and really heartwarming to see. It’s as if their fans are all members of their sports team and can make a note to Set It Off that they genuinely like their band. When asked about the move into this era from the diamond to the hourglass Carson explains, “We had a band meeting about this and Max was leading the entire creative process on how this would change. We wanted to show we were back and meant business while also being relevant to before [and] realized with the diamond you could easily turn it into an hourglass. The hourglass was really important to us because we realized you need to take advantage of every second in a minute.
A year in High School I did a show on Time and Imagine The Possibilities. I loved it so much because it was really impactful when we talked about the value of a second or a minute. It opened us up to go into some surrealism stuff since it’s also a very mysterious thing in general.” With the motif of the hourglass, they allowed photographer, Shelby Sparks to do all of the art direction of the images. With the final piece of the series, she kept it consistent and bought an hour glass. She shattered it and took an image of it, arranging it to look how it does in its final form, something that Set It Off was stoked on. “This was my first time going into an album with a theme,” Cody comments, “That helped me lyrically quite a bit.” In order to give an example of how this helped him he started to talk about the original structure around songs such as “Hourglass.” Originally, the track had been called “Linoleum.” “The lyrics to the chorus went like, ‘I thought I was Napoleon because I never lost I always won ... So I fight plastic soldiers, plastic guns, they can really hurt someone ... War on the Linoleum,’ and saying Napoleon in a chorus was strange. So, 2 o’clock in the morning on a Warped Tour day I was up in our AirBnB and I was like, ‘We have the hourglass so let’s see if this verse makes sense,’ and it made total sense because it [was] about time already and I didn’t know why we didn’t think of it earlier. Now it is how it is today and feels more cohesive. It was really helpful and fun!” Similar to the album art, Shelby Sparks brought creativity to them music videos as well. Previously, Carson had taken a lot on with the direction of music videos, even going so far to say, “I’m a theatre kid, so I’m very dramatic,” before laughing it off. He alluded to getting too caught up in everything that was happening, stressing over times and details and over all not enjoying the process as much as he could have. “I used to be too literal. That’s not always the right answer. In fact, it can be a little too on the nose. Putting it in the hands of someone else because you’ve seen their work is a little difficult at first but it’s necessary. It was a great exorcise for me mentally.” With this shift in place it has also enabled the band to have more unique experiences as they build these other artistic endeavours. With Sparks at the wheel, she had suggested for the song “Lonely Dance” that
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they do something taking place in space, especially with the theme revolving around isolation. After all, what’s more isolating than space? “We had never done a Sci-Fi video and it made sense with the concept of the song,” Carson excitedly stated. They were able to meet and work with an actor by the name of Alan Maxon, an actor known for his motion capture for King Ghidorah and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Certainly an experience they wouldn’t of been able to have if it wasn’t for the creative mind of Sparks. Outside of the visuals, a lot more was changing with Set It Off. In the past year they have gone through the loss of a band member as well as some severe health concerns that needed to be addressed for Carson. He started to relay the story of his first severe health concern of the year, “I was playing a show in Singapore, and I was really dried out. It was the last show and we were going to be off for about a month or two. Often times as a singer you think, ‘Oh, it’s the last show, I can feel bad and be hoarse tomorrow, so fuck it.’ I will never do that again. I abused my voice by drinking nothing but coffee that day. I drank some whiskey and I don’t think I drank any water ... Maybe a little bit. The venue was dry, like an air-locked chamber. I went for a high note in ‘Uncontainable’ and I felt something,” Carson gestured to his throat with his hands, making a notion where you could sense he was remembering the pain in that moment, “So for the rest of that set every time I went for a note it was like my voice skipped over a range. I have a friend who has nodules at home and her voice does the same thing ... I was like ‘Oh my god, I sound like her. I’m having the same vocal reactions I hear her have.’ I was terrified. Long story short, we had to post-pone a tour, which we are now making up for in a month and will be overseas. I had to get surgery. I shut up for three whole weeks. I couldn’t speak a word, which was hard for me, I love to talk.” Carson laughed it off before continuing, “Me not talking allowed [the doctors] to see my vocal chords. That’s how red they were. Once they looked a little bit more healthy they sedated me ... I have a very good vocal doctor. Probably the best in the United States, does not take insurance, very expensive, but I wanted to know I was getting the right person. Since then, vocally I feel amazing. I feel stronger and more confident. I had a feeling something like that would happen to me eventually, I just didn’t know how or to what extent. But, you can’t just live in fear from it the entire time. You just grow from it and that’s it.”
It’s commendable how much the members of Set It Off push through, work hard and make things work no matter what the situation. Even outside of Carson’s vocal hemorrhaging he also experienced an atrial fibrillation in his heart after going out for a Halloween Horror Nights. He had to go into sedation and have his heart shocked back into rhythm, being a cherry on top of health-issue infested journey. It wasn’t even long before the band would jump back into touring again. “I knew how I felt and as long as you listen to your body you’re fine,” Carson noted while also staying, “It’s either that or you look at the negative side ... That’s too easy to do and then life sucks and you don’t want that.”
Almost as soon as Carson was able to get his voice back, he jumped back into the studio to write again. I had asked if he felt there was any shift in their writing process due to becoming a three piece versus their previous four piece but found out that Carson goes into the studio alone. Or rather, has time working with Mike Green alone. “He’s a really talented guitarist. I can play guitar but I’m not really riff based, I’m chord based. He’s really good at coming up with riffs,” Carson explained before also stating, “I wanted 12 songs before the year ended and we started in November ... We have 14 now. I’m really happy with that. I want 40 before we narrow them down.” When they are done touring into April Carson plans to take about a week off to himself to decompress before jumping right back into the writing process. For him, he’d much rather have a plentiful amount of songs finished and have the worst time narrowing them down for the recording process. “It’s really hard, especially on this last one,” Carson comments, “We
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wanted so many songs. Sometimes you just know. Every song kind of has to play its own role. Like, ‘This one has a swing feel’ and ‘this one also has a swing feel’ ... Which one is better? We don’t need two swing songs on a record ... You narrow them down, put them in sub-categories, use your own opinion, band opinion, label, manager, everyone. Get everyone’s ears on it who is on your team and try to make the best decision. The hardest part is finding singles. Which song is going to get the most attention? What’s the budget for the music video of that single? It’s the most challenging thing among the whole thing before it feels like there’s some magical combination in the full songs where if you get it right that’s when you can make it. It has to make sense with the theme and what you sound like as a band. It has to be a hell of a song. It’s a challenge but it’s fun.”
With their tour cycle coming to a close, Set It Off is already preparing to start writing some more, as alluded to earlier. “I realized I’m not going to see my girl for another 50 days or so,” Carson laughs before saying, “It’s nuts, but, we love what we do.” Between the touring and recording, Carson is always on the go finding some way to fill his time artistically. It’s not to say that he wasn’t excited to mention the six days that he would be home before flying to Australia, then to Asia for two shows with Jimmy Eat World, and then some more headlining shows in Asia. “We’ve never been to that area. We are going to Thailand and then we are go and do a really extensive UK and Europe tour. We are going to Mullion, which I’ve heard great things about it. We’re going to Russia, which we have never played Russia before. A lot of touring on that aspect.” Even when talking about working on this all, and how it was already looking like they were booked up to the end of the year he states wanting to travel some more as a vacation. “We can hopefully block our a week where we can get a cruise or something and turn off our phone.”
ZARINA SITUMORANG With you being a self-taught Oil Painter, I wanted to ask about your journey and how you came across the medium? What is it about Oil Paint specifically that you enjoy the process of? Before oil paint, I had tried almost everything - digital painting, pencils, watercolors, gouache, pastel, markers and so on. Oil paint was always a Holy Grail for me - I can’t touch it until I learn how to paint. Mostly because it contains the wisdom of the most proficient artists. Well, at least that’s what I was imagining. Long story short, my friend (thank you, Lena!) bought me a small set of oil paints for my birthday. I thought it was disrespectful and wasteful not to use it. And what’s even more important, I won’t claim to be as good as great artists, I’ll just have some fun while no one’s watching. It turned out that I love the smell of oil paint and the feeling of mixing it. Not the wisest of reasons (mention technical aspects will sound more professional) but that’s the truth – I love to smell it.
I understand that the arts aren’t something that your family ever wanted for you to pursue, but what was the moment that you knew that it was the path that you wanted to create for yourself? At one moment I had imagined my future life very clear. My mom told me - you should complete the education and then go and do what you want. Well, I was sure that I’ll have to find a job after university (or even sooner) because no one needs a journalist with no experience. And, well, someone will have to pay my bills. This means that in the best scenario I will have a couple of hours at the end of the day and a weekend for art. Most likely I’ll go to the courses to learn how to paint. The progress will be slow but steady. And at one point, something will interrupt my schedule - a deadline at work or health issues. And as the weakest point, I will remove art from my schedule. How many years artists have to draw and paint daily to become professionals? And how much time do I have? So the chance to become a professional artist is very low if it even exists. That’s why I’ve decided that I’ll better take this risk and fail than regret and blame someone else for persuading me not to take the chance. Are you formally trained in any other art form or medium? Did you got to post-secondary for anything else unrelated to the arts? I’ve studied journalism at a university for a couple years but then decided to switch to art. After that I became a student at British High School of Art and Design but I left it after some months. Design is definitely not for me. How many paintings do you find that you have going at a time? Usually I have one or two big paintings in progress and in between sessions I do small studies.
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Tell us a bit about the process of painting for you. When approaching a painting, what does that typically look like start to finish? It depends on the complexity of the painting. If it’s a big serious one, then I always start from a sketch. It doesn’t look anywhere near those beautiful sketches that artists usually show. It looks like a mess that only me is able to understand. After that, I create references and do quick small color studies. The color study is a must because without it I tend to waste a lot of time doubting and repainting. The next step is to create an outline on canvas using a graphite pencil. I fix it by adding a layer of burnt umber paint diluted with a white spirit on top of lines. The first layer of paint helps to establish the relationship between hues and values. No details, only big shapes. It never takes me more than a day. The next layer I work wet on wet, from big shapes to details. I choose an area that I can complete in a day and work on it from start to finish and then move on to the next part. And on the final layer, I fix everything that seems wrong. It can be hard to choose what needs to be changed that’s why I wait a couple of weeks before doing that. My process for small studies is simple – quick outline and alla prima painting on top.
What is it about people that you enjoy to paint as a subject matter? What typically draws you into choosing a model for the painting? Honestly, I’ve never thought about that. When I decided to become an artist, I started to try different things - from graffiti to concept art and, finally, oil painting. I liked everything but there was something about traditional art and people that I loved. What was that? Maybe the complexity of anatomy, or subtle color variations of the skin. It’s hard to understand the difference between things that you like and those that you love. The main reason to choose a model is accessibility. I’m too shy to ask unfamiliar people to pose for me, but I’m working on that! So, I usually choose my friends and family. The most accessible person that I know is me so I paint myself a lot. However, for small studies I usually buy references. I don’t have any certain preferences, I just look for something that will make my heart go faster. I can be picky and spend the whole evening searching. How to understand that I found the right reference? It makes me run to the easel and start painting. Would you say that there is a theme or an emotion that you are trying to evoke or pull from more than any other in your work? I guess, everything that is psychology related – fear of changing life, self-bullying, depression. In most cases, hope. That’s what was guiding me through the process of learning how to paint and I can’t imagine my life without it. If someone will look at my painting and feel the warmth of hope inside – that will be the best present for me. However, I’ll be also happy if someone presents me a car. Just saying.
Your miniatures are certainly some of your most entrancing of works. It certainly shows off a lot of an emotion from a single isolated image. When you go to paint these miniatures, do you make the gestures knowing that they will be where you stop the image or do you often anticipate them becoming larger pieces? It depends on a situation. When I feel a courage (which happens rarely, to be honest) I have no plans of what I want to do and when to stop. Usually, the result is either a masterpiece (in my rating system, not globally) or a failure. However, in most cases, I imagine what to create. What parts of Russian Literature inspires you and your work? What has been the most dominant thing that you have read that you often reflect on? I was always fascinated by what is happening on the inside world of the main heroes. And I always skip sophisticated descriptions of nature.For example, there was a battle scene in “War and Peace” by Tolstoy. And in the middle of the battle, the main hero fell and looked at the sky. And the contrast between the fierce battle and the calm sky struck him. Russian literature is full of philosophy and often shows inner experiences. It made me want to talk about feelings that are common for different people hope, faith, fear, something that is inner and hard to describe with words.
What brought you to decide on providing courses for portrait painting? What do you think has been the most valuable part of this? For almost everything that I’ve learned, I should be grateful to individuals who spent their time sharing information online. I’ve used it and my duty is to spread this information further. There were times when I felt that I’m not getting better and my progress has stopped. At those moments I was imagining that one day I’ll be sharing my experience with other people talking about mistakes I’ve made and worries I had. It helped me to move on. I’m trying to share as much as I can on my Instagram for free. However, courses give me the ability to see how people understand what I talk about, how they use it and correct them if needed. No matter how hard you try not to forget your journey you end up losing some steps. The course helps me to sort out a complicated process of painting into easy repeatable parts. Is there anything that people should be looking out for from you? I’m almost 30, my life is changing and I can’t wait to reflect it in my art.
ANTI-FLAG For years, Anti-Flag was a band who you would go to knowing exactly what they were about just from seeing their name on the bill. The band speaks loudly about their thoughts against Nationalism. Now their message is stronger than ever and can be heard on their newly released 20/20 Vision. As the band was setting up for the release of this record we were able to talk with Chris Barker about their release and, by extension, the current political climate that we are living in today.
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Let’s talk about your latest release, 20/20 vision! Firstly, I wanted to address the title of the record and get a brief explanation over why you felt this was the best suited title to encompass all of the tracks. There’s a lot of forces at work to keep folks choosing apathy over empathy, cynicism over optimism. The search for clarity through smoke screens of division is the main theme of the record. But there’s an overarching question about the future. What do we want it to look like? We know what it looks like if the status quo remains the same. I’m far more interested in a future that is centered on social, economic, racial and environmental justice.
With a lot of the themes that inspired this record revolve around Donald Trump and his government, how long have you been writing or sitting on some of these tracks for 20/20 vision? Started writing Dec 2018. This is the first record where we had art work, album title, and it’s storyline built before hitting record. “Hate Conquers All” was the first song written for the album. We knew it would open it. The ashes of The American Fall.
This record takes the time to address a very specific figure head, versus that past which had a lot more general overlook of nationalism. Why do you feel it’s so important to take this approach this time around? Honestly because these times are unprecedented. The normalcy of violence, xenophobia, racism, sexism, attacks on lgbtq+ communities, immigrants and refugees. All of it on levels we’ve never seen. Donald Trump is a symptom of a disease for sure, but he’s a massive fucking tumor of a symptom. I wanted to ask about the specific topics that come through on the record. Which other events sparked your need to write about these themes? There are a good handful. From the environment, to for profit prison and healthcare system failures. It’s a record about right now. The false populist movements of Trump, Boris Johnson, the AfD, etc., and the globalization economic failures that brought them. With your music video for “The Disease” you essentially have anti-Rose Coloured Glasses. How did you come up with this concept? Would you say that the music video is a direct reflection on the subject matter? Do you feel with music videos, you want it to specifically reflect on the topics in the track, or do you feel that the music video expands to something larger? This concept was taken from a film from the 80’s called They Live. Personally music videos are a necessary evil for us. We don’t particularly have a ton of fun making them. But they are all part of the process of us searching for folks to hear the songs and share in the stories of them. Each of your songs has a lyric sheet for it with illustration from Willow Quillen. How did you find Willow Quillen and decide to have her work on these pieces? She’s a good friend who lives in Pittsburgh. I sat with her and we talked about specific lyrics to highlight, and how they should feel. She did a great job visualizing the songs.
It goes without saying that design and art plays a large roll in sharing information. What sort of motifs do you consistently comeback to as a band? Do you think that there is a visual that is more representative of this time versus the past? I just think about being a kid, listening to dead Kennedy’s records. Their art was always so in depth and thought provoking. We just want to carry on that tradition of making each record unique and worth spending the time on. This kind of political climate can often be exhausting and hard to bare. How do you combat the exhaustion? And where do you see hope? We get to do this really awesome thing and play hundreds of shows every year. Meet people who are fight fascism and doing the tangible work to spread empathy. Each show is a shot of hope and optimism. Then we have each other. We rely on our brothers in the band to carry weight when it’s too heavy for others. That’s a unique part of what we do. I’m sure there are a lot of people who want to know your opinion on getting involved and becoming active and what they can do. What do you think are the most effective ways for others to get involved? Do it. It’s fun. You’ll make friends. You’ll find that hope and optimism are bottomless wells. Start with the big ones. Amnesty International, Sea Sheppard, Greenpeace. Tangible victory goes a long way when becoming active. Go to a protest. An extinction rebellion march. A women’s march. In 2020 if you want to be a revolutionary, be kind. The status quo is one that is filled with division and hate. The antithesis is everywhere. With the exception of the world tour, what should people be expecting from you? Honestly we’re looking to be allies and accomplices in the fight for the lives of our brothers, sisters and all in between who are being victimized and marginalized by world leaders that put neo-fascism and profit over people. We just happen to partake in this fight with guitars.
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GENIE ESPINOSA Tell us a bit about your post-secondary education and your journey to obtain your two technical degrees revolving around design. What prompted you to attend school for design and illustration? It was just something I needed to do. I realized, quite late, I could at least try to study something related to arts because everyone [had] told me there was no future in it. Before that, I was studying economics (age 16 -18) and [that’s] when I realized I needed to at least try it. Since I didn’t make any art in high school I thought trying to enter to University would have been difficult for me. I thought that starting with the technical degrees would kick me a bit faster into that world. I thought Graphic Design will get me close to illustration so that’s why I started there.
What do you think was the most beneficial take away from it? Oh! It certainly complements illustration a lot ... I can manage spaces, weights, and it also turned me into a font freak so I can add bits here and there. Graphic design is super fun and complementary to illustration; it helps me set the space and the voids of the paper. It still fills my hear with joy! hehehe
While you do a lot of work in illustration, you also have work in ceramics. Tell us a bit about that process and what it is that you appreciate about it in comparison to illustration. Do you like to have your ceramics mirror your illustrations? Ceramics was a choice regarding my mental health. I really needed a break from all the stress and pressure and also get away of the screen. Ceramics was the choice to make, I went to LUSESITA DELICATESSEN which is a wonderful ceramic studio in Poblenou, Barcelona and she helped me getting started with. I had a lot of fun and of course I tried to reflect my own illustrations on it. Being a super different media it [has been] very interesting to work on it, and has also helped me with patience. It keeps me distracted [since] my hands were so dirty I couldn’t reach my phone so I avoided mail notifications for 2 hours. Although you have a large body of work, do you have a particular favourite project that you have worked on? What about it makes you think of this versus others? I can say I take my work very seriously and that if I jump in a project I will do it 100%. I like to work carefully and [with] dedication on it for when times come that you need to get more [done] at a time (of course, money issues). It is super hard for me to divide my attention so I end up working crazy hours and having bad sleep schedules. I love anything that the client trust me on, when I can run free and go crazy about it. But those are the most stressful ones too because there’re parts of myself in every one of them so I end up a bit exhausted.
How do you approach your personal work versus commissions or editorial work? How do you manage your time to ensure that you are still able to do personal work? [laughs] Well! I am kind of a workaholic, as my friends say, so when I am not working illustrating I am illustrating for fun to try new stuff or see how I can express my feelings better. I sometimes don’t have enough time or find myself super tired to produce anything visible (let’s say to post on instagram) but there are many notebooks and hidden folders on my ipad with unfinished ideas and sketches waiting for me to get my hands on them!
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With your personal work, what kinds of narratives or themes do you find yourself most attracted to illustrating?
I often talk about what’s on my head or life, and usually about feelings. It is easy for me express one kind of situation and also represent it with non normative characters, as this is one thing I was missing when i was a little kid. My personal projects talk about what I am up to at the moment, what concerns me, interest me or annoy me.
With editorials, you often are working with important topics associated with bodies of text. How much of your voice do you find you are able to put into those illustrations? Has there ever been one that you had trouble with drawing? Is there a particular article that you feel most attached to with your work along next to it? Editorial is very tricky! Sometimes you only get the idea in a two line description and you have to [wrap] your head around it and come up with some sketches you think could work. It’s fun to do and it has this stress kick I really I am addicted to. I think my “voice” is not just the things I say but the way I say them? So, I am guessing that the same hand doing the illustration for me or others will produce a very similar result that can be easily recognized. I am a sufferer so I get very anxious with every project but if the article talks about stronger women I think I just get bonded very quickly in a “I want to be like them” way. Do you actually find it easier to do illustrations that have social commentary?
If we are talking about my own idea it can take from 2 hours up, from concept to sketch to final. If it’s an editorial I think I need several days [though], sometimes there’s just no time, so I have to rush! I love thinking on different concepts and sending some of them to the client so we can chat about them before working on the final together. What forms of mediums do you use? Do you find that you are mostly working with paints, or have you gravitated more towards digital illustrations? I mostly work digital, so Photoshop and cintiq or else Procreate and an iPad. I have been approaching paints lately as a way to think outside the screens again. So, murals and acrylics help me a lot with that, and I also have a lot of fun [with them].
Yes! If it’s something I’m interested to or relate in any way I get along with it very quickly.
What should people be looking out for from you and your work in the near future?
You have a very bright and bold style. What brought you to find this particular style and what about it are you most attracted to?
Oh! please don’t expect anything! I hope they like what they see and I hope to connect with the viewer in many ways. I hope you see things in my work you can relate to and, of course, I hope you’ve fun with it. I am currently working on my first graphic novel so there’re many things to be said there! [laughs]
It was a logical jump as I com from illustrating children books so these have to be very bright. I kind of needed to develop my own voice and start doing all the work, stories and illustrations, on my own so it became quick and natural. I don’t think I’ll ever stop working as I am usually never satisfied.
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Tell us a bit about your process from working on an illustration beginning to end. How long do you find it takes for you to finish a particular piece?
ALBUM REVIEWS THE AMITY AFFLICTION 02.21.20
2.4
EVERYONE LOVES YOU ... ONCE YOU LEAVE THEM Pure Noise Records
Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them is the seventh studio album from Australian rock outfit The Amity Affliction, and the band’s first release through Pure Noise Records. The LP opens like any other cookie-cutter metalcore release; a dramatic, piano-heavy introduction, repeated vocal mantra and subsequent build to a bland, chugging breakdown. “All My Friends are Dead” kicks off the album with a flurry of blast beats and drop tuned guitars but really flubs the landing by dropping into the next section with the ham-fisted lyric “Crushed by Depression”. I understand the raw sentiment of the words but in a world saturated with music like this there are far more artful and nuanced ways to convey these emotions to one’s audience. Screamer Joel Birch might has well have just spelled out the entire sentence. There is no reading between the lines, no subtext; it’s completely surface level, with no depth, nuance or any care put into the presentation. If that wasn’t enough, this passage drops into a bouncy yet hilariously underwhelming hook. The dead pan woah-oh’s and corny lyrics of “Dying slowly is dying lonely” murder any momentum the track had. Not to mention the out-of-place trap percussion in the bridge to really make this opener a confusing mess. This haphazard blending of sounds is a prominent issue throughout Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them. Teaser single “Soak Me in Bleach” starts with an ethereal instrumental backdrop as the vocalist drops fake-deep lines such as “When the dreamer dies, so dies the dream”, before leading into yet another underwhelming dad-rock chorus. The fluttering piano arpeggios that pop up in the pre-chorus add some interesting texture to the mix, but the unironic “ROCK!” shouted before the bridge is just too much. Even worse are the EDM-sounding pitch-shifted vocals that are worked into the track’s finale. The perplexing sonic decisions continue with the drum choice throughout “All I Do Is Sink”, as the closed hi-hat groove on the verses completely clashes with the instrumentation surrounding it. On the topic of clashing, the five second trap introduction of “Baltimore Rain” transitions jarringly into a section of screamed vocals that is interrupted by a repeating gunshot snare leading into a shockingly weak chorus. The clean vocalist sounds truly bored to tears here,
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and the performance is so devoid of any force, power or conviction that the dramatic guitar chords and glitched pianos underneath just sound awkward. The laughably simplistic, glam-rock guitar solo on this track is the truly hilarious cherry on top of this absolute mess of a track. The middle section of Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them is equally confusing but contains a few more bearable moments. “Aloneliness” sets a mood with gently plucked guitar notes and a vocal line layered with melodic synthesized harmonies. This mantra is actually quite pleasant to listen to, but as soon as the solo vocal performance comes in, the melodramatic lyrics and tone-deaf singing ruin anything that the track previously had going for it. The hook of “Just Like Me” has a solid message and dreamy layers of backing vocals before introducing a truly ugly passage with chugging guitars and gruff singing that conflict heavily with the reverbed whistling and twinkling, lead melody. A driving drum groove and melodic screaming section actually compliments the following chorus of “Forever”. In comparison with the rest of the record, this song is much more soundly composed as a result of significantly smoother transitions between The Amity Affliction’s repetitive structures and an effectively forlorn lead guitar melody. “Born to Lose” opens with a faux-heavy nu-metal riff before hard cutting with a pathetic snare transition into the opening verse. At this point the band is so far beyond making anything sound close to coherent... Are they even trying? The breakdown on this song is the heaviest moment on Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave, but it is contradicted by an abrupt ambient detour that adds absolutely nothing to the song. The final, half-assed hit at the song’s conclusion further proves that The Amity Affliction is trying to get away with the absolute bare minimum of effort. The vocal melody of “Fever Dream” is the strongest on the album, and the way the band busts into the song’s climactic guitar solo sounds surprisingly solid, but the ludicrous lyric “My heavy heart is heavy often” makes this track a struggle to take seriously. The chorus of “Catatonia” is the final nail in the coffin for Everyone Loves You… Once You Leave Them, completely neutering the actually decent heavy sections of the album’s finale. BEST TRACK: “Fever Dream” WORST TRACK: “Soak Me in Bleach ”
DENZEL CURRY & KENNY BEATS 02.06.20
8.2
UNLOCKED Loma Vista
UNLOCKED is the latest collaborative project between American record producer Kenny Beats and Florida MC Denzel Curry. Clocking in at just under twenty minutes, these eight tracks are a colorful and eclectic collection beginning with “Track 01”. This tone-setting prelude is full of obscure, retro voice samples that aptly introduces the iconic duo; reminiscent of the classic work MF Doom created throughout the early 2000s, particularly on Madvillainy. A prickly, detuning synth lead drones over ominous tones on the following “Take_it_Back_v2”, a joint that transitions halfway into a sinister and nostalgic boom-bap beat laced with Curry’s chopped vocals. It is a creative touch that the hook repeats in a consistently different octave but Denzel’s cadence on this track does not sound great pitched up. Warped vocals are worked in much more effectively on later tracks such as the project’s standout banger “DIET_”. The subsequent “So.Incredible.pkg” carries over the murky, tropical vibe of “DIET_” with watery synth chords and smooth melodic drum loops. The sliding, descending bassline weaving throughout the mix sounds fantastic, and considering the blissful vibe of the instrumental, it would’ve been nice to hear a bit more melody from Denzel’s delivery. “Track07” is a subtle instrumental flex from Kenny Beats full of dreamy guitars, a nimble bass line and groovy percussion patterns. This song’s vocal contributions are mostly made up of screwed sections of the previous “So.Incredible.pkg” and are worked in tastefully. It is a general solid instrumental and works well as a moment of meditation before the bombastic finale. Although far from either artist’s best work, UNLOCKED is still an entertainingly cartoonish collection of charismatic hip-hop tracks from two of the rap game’s most prolific personalities. BEST TRACK: “DIET_” WORST TRACK: “Track 01”
GREEN DAY 02.07.19
1.0
FATHER OF ALL ... Reprise Records
Father of All… is the latest LP from long-running American rock band Green Day, a trio that has marketed their thirteenth album with the perplexing promise that the music contains “No features, no trap beats, no Swedish songwriters, just 100% pure uncut rock”. This statement was plastered upon billboards throughout the United States to show the world that Green Day will not fall prey to what the trio deems “poisonous” influences that hurt the foundations of the “rock”. This could also be a jab at the band’s contemporaries such as blink-182, who have at least attempted albeit poorly, to refresh their sound and adapt in this new era of music. The irony of this absurd marketing lies in the fact that Father of All… is such an atrocious collection of songs that ANY of these omitted aspects would have helped the enjoyability of the record. On top of that, the very concept that Green Day is marketing this album on is what hurts it the most; instead of revitalizing rock music by going back to its roots, Green Day perfectly captures why the genre is dying and on the decline. Between the cheesy shots of guitars and overblown clapping samples, Billie Joe Armstrong’s terrible falsetto delivery is what really kills the opening title track. Considering the singer’s statement that “Rock has lost its balls”, the performance here does little to improve the situation. The horror continues on the following “Fire Ready Aim” where Green Day’s unhealthy obsession with clapping is assisted by a plunking piano that is almost as ugly as the album’s abhorrent artwork. The extraneous instrumentation of “Oh Yeah!” is even worse, featuring a grating organ sound on the chorus as Green Day laughably attempts their best Arctic Monkeys impression… It makes perfect sense here that in order for Green Day to make a purist rock album, the band would attempt to copy a more successful band and call it their own. “Meet Me on the Roof” sees Green Day butchering a nostalgic 50’s rock sound, where irritating backing vocals and Armstrong’s ridiculous embellishments rapidly sour the homage. The attempts at wistful lyrics on “I Was a Teenage Teenager” are complete
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madness as they describe themselves as “living like a prisoner for haters” with the resolve that “School is just for suckers”; for a band that is trying to revitalize themselves with youthful energy, Green Day sure does resemble a group of out-of-touch fifty somethings. The claps are back in full force on the blues rip-off “Stab You in the Heart” and appear once again on the painfully uneventful “Junkies on a High”. At least Green Day sound like themselves on tracks like “Sugar Youth”, but even this song wouldn’t be able to stand toe-to-toe with the weakest cuts on records like American Idiot. The sample that opens “Take the Money and Crawl” is enjoyable simply because it isn’t Green Day playing, and the second the record scratching vocals come in on the refrain, this song becomes just as unbearable as every other. Father of All… lasts just under twenty-seven minutes, and while it feels like the record is over ninety minutes, these ignorant, fake punks were at least kind enough to wrap up this abysmal excuse of a rock album in under half an hour. BEST TRACK: “Sugar Youth” WORST TRACK: The other nine songs
HAYLEY WILLIAMS 02.06.20
4.0
PETALS FOR ARMOR I - EP Atlantic
Paramore frontwoman and singer Hayley Williams has made her solo debut with Petals for Armor I, an EP that supposedly makes up a significant chunk of her upcoming debut album. This project was teased with the hypnotizing lead single “Simmer”, a dark introduction that opens the EP with a creative collage of Williams’ vocal samples. The lyrics revolve around abuse that Hayley has gone through in the past and her delivery feels incredibly raw and urgent. Although I found this track to be both well-written and enticing, the rest of Petals for Armor – I does not hold up to the quality of the opener. Contrary to “Simmer” the following “Leave it Alone” is a downright snooze with its sleepy guitars and arduous acoustic instrumentation. It feels a bit like a Paramore song without a pulse, and the surges of strings are strikingly reminiscent of contemporaries like Angel Olsen. This is an issue that is prevalent throughout Petals for Armor – I in that Hayley Williams seems to want to play chameleon rather than forge her own identity as an artist. This is painfully clear on the track “Creepin’”, where the minimalist instrumental, lyrical content and vocal manipulations come together to form the most blatant Billie Eilish bite I have heard from another popular artist. On the topic of painful, the vocal riffing William’s opens with on “Cinnamon” sounds downright awful and sours the song’s refrain with its awkward and clunky delivery. It might have worked as a subtle ad-lib or intro but making it such an integral part of the track really kills this track’s enjoyability. “Sudden Desire” is a complete mess of an ending that features Hayley Williams hilariously trying to do her best Bjork impression, reaching into her upper register over robotic vocals and heavy synth bass. This EP is baffling. The reason for its existence should be to shape Hayley as a solo artist, but instead this feels like a mix of lifeless Paramore B-sides and rip-offs of other female pop-artists. These songs are lengthy but unsuccessful in displaying Hayley as a unique songwriter; she fails to come into her own as an artist on this release and as a result, Petals for
Armor – I does not add up to a satisfying project and will unlikely improve in the context of the upcoming album. BEST TRACK: “Simmer” WORST TRACK: “Cinnamon”
POLARIS 02.21.20
6.9
THE DEATH OF ME Sharptone Records
The Death of Me is the second studio album from Australian metalcore act Polaris. Setting the tone with an eerie guitar line and progressively intensifying vocal passage from vocalist Jamie Hails, “Pray for Rain” builds with spacious drums and a distant electric guitar towards a monumental, groove-centered riff. It’s a Hell of an introduction, with the clean vocal passages being the only weak point; an issue that remains unfortunately consistent throughout The Death of Me. In contrast to this weakness, the opening tracks are an excellent display of how great the screaming is on this record. Jamie’s conviction and electrifying performances on the opener as well as the following track are what really sells these songs.
making the melodic sections come through with the bite that was desperately needed on previous tracks. The Death of Me ends on a strong note with the band’s finest display of clean vocal melody and delivery on “Martyr (Waves)”. A powerful and effective ballad, the singing on this track is forceful and emotional, as opposed to the typically robotic sounding delivery up until this point. The penultimate “All of This is Fleeting” opens with a hypnotic, delayheavy guitar riff that is prominent throughout the verses. The panned tremolo guitars that trade off throughout the song add tons of color to the mix, but the spacious and gratuitous breakdown section comes off as stale this far into the album.
“Hypermania” is an absolute barn burner of a track, throttling the listener from beginning to end in a relentless torrent of groovy riffs paired with an exhilarating vocal performance. The song is superbly paced and the band’s transition into the final refrain is a fantastically fun ending. Another reason this track is so well assembled is the intentional lack of clean vocals, which immediately kill the momentum of The Death of Me on with the subsequent “Masochist”. “Landmine” picks up the pace by presenting a more alt-metal sound reminiscent of early Slipknot, particularly through the rhythmic vocal delivery and loud chants layered into the refrain. The chugging bridge section shifts into a wicked guitar solo before returning to the chanting chorus to close out the track. The song feels familiar on the whole, but the blast beat section introduced at the conclusion is an interesting change-up that shows Polaris somewhat tried to put their own spin on this sound. The alt-metal influence continues on the refrain of “Vagabond”, leaving the middle of this album feeling far from refreshing.
A crushing finale, “The Descent” wastes no time kicking into technical two-step and half-time sections before building into a crushing chugging part laced with natural harmonics. Jamie takes up a large section of the hook, keeping this track satisfyingly aggressive before it continues its veritable “descent” of impressively intricate and melodic instrumental passages. The single singing section before the second refrain is the only portion of “The Descent” that seems to lack in energy, once again due to the deadpan delivery; this Achilles heel of The Death of Me stays harshly apparent until the very end. The gritty and prominent bass guitar sounds fantastic with the drum’s swinging ride and hypnotic guitarwork as the closer melts into a meditative bridge. It is almost psychedelic sounding, building in a satisfying way towards the album’s climactic concluding breakdown. Polaris have successfully come through with a solid sophomore record, although the amateurish cleanvocals are a glaring weakness in comparison to the technical ability and talent of the rest of the band
“Creatures of Habit” grabs the ear right away with its impressively serpentine guitar work. A prominent tapping lead glides over the instrumental, almost drowning out the clean vocals sung throughout the hook, to the song’s overall benefit. Polaris layers the clean and screaming vocals throughout this track,
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BEST TRACK: “Hypermania” WORST TRACK: “Masochist”
SUPER WHATEVR 02.07.20
5.5
DON’T YOU WANNA BE GLAD? Hopeless Records
Super Whatevr’s second studio album don’t you wanna be glad? sees the California band exploring new sonic territory while maintaining their emo and alternative rock influences. A punchy drum groove and prominent synth bass introduce “Better.”, the cheerful and peppy opening cut. This track works as a lyrical tone setter but the pitch-shifted vocal layers and rhythmic delivery are so sonically similar to artists such as twenty one pilots that it becomes rapidly off-putting. The-four on-the-floor pattern and ear-grabbing bass line of the following “Yours Truly.” are instantaneously catchy however, and the subtle strummed acoustic guitars and filtered claps add plenty of color to the mix. The ascending keyboards in the bridge also add a pleasant instrumental change-up but the song seems a bit too focused on the hook, leaving it wearisome by the conclusion. The summery guitar chords and infectious hook of “So Am I.” are nothing but enhanced by the subtle synth work throughout, making it an easy standout. The subsequent “Sober.” begins with playful keyboards and rubbery sub bass that syncs up nicely with the piano’s rhythm. The trap percussion worked into the track is a surprisingly effective addition that still leaves plenty of room for the band’s instrumentation. The blissful soundscape of “I Wanna Be Cool.” sets the perfect foundation for the unique lyrical expressions on this track; yearning to resemble massive figures in the upper echelon of pop music such as Post Malone, while simultaneously resigning to the alternative niche that Super Whatevr resides in. The beat is pleasantly funky while the modern rap flows throughout the verses match with the sentiment of the lyrics. These above-mentioned tracks are effectively enhanced by their unique production and add a lot to the character of the album, unfortunately some of these pairings are not so smooth… “Unhealthy.” is an ironically weak marriage of Super Whatevr’s newly established sound with their new pop and hip-hop influences; it’s an awkward clash with the main offender being the noisy synth bass worked into the bridge. “Eternity Complex.” and “Life
(I Want U).” both suffer through the delivery of the vocals, which severely lack the emotive conviction or flare needed to really sell these tracks. Meanwhile, the happy-go-lucky whistling section and commercialready hook on “Everything’s New, Everything Hurts.” gets painfully tiresome with consistent listens. don’t you wanna be glad? improves with the shivering synth chords and unique percussive elements of “Wesleepwedream.”, seamlessly building a dreamy atmosphere through reserved, repeating vocals and luscious guitar chords. “Melancholyism.” is a solid conclusion that aptly displays the rich instrumental palette of this album, but the amount of sonic details throughout leaves the penultimate “Holy Anxious” feeling too skeletal by comparison. Sadly, the performances are not captivating enough to keep this barebones ballad interesting across its run time. Super Whatevr’s sophomore LP is a respectable attempt to branch out and expand their sound, and although there are just as many duds as hits on don’t you wanna be glad?, the band’s original charm still comes through on a few songs. BEST TRACK: “So Am I” WORST TRACK: “Everything’s New, Everything Hurts”
TAME IMPALA 02.14.20
7.9
THE SLOW RUSH Interscope
It has been five years since psychedelic rock mastermind Kevin Parker took his passion project Tame Impala in a progressive and synth-heavy direction with 2015’s Currents. Many years have passed since the world has heard from Kevin, and the concept of time is woven throughout his lyrics on Tame Impala’s latest record The Slow Rush. The shimmering opening melodies of “One More Year” speak to the strength of Tame Impala’s engineering and production, but the vocal performance is fairly underwhelming and does little to add to the track more than establish the album’s main themes. After a somewhat dragging introduction, “Instant Destiny” picks up the pace with a much bolder vocal performance over jubilant synth chords and a triumphant beat. The lovestruck and seemingly ecstatic lyrics evoke a sense of brightness that comes through strongly in the instrumental as well, closing out with a wall of fluttering electronics. The bouncy piano line and irresistible groove of lead single “Borderline” is greatly enriched by the nostalgic woodwinds and groaning synth bass. This track is where the album begins to really express its disco influence, which is further explored on the labyrinthine “Breathe Deeper”. The dreary organs and descending guitar line, curiously reminiscent of Iron Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name” set a gloomy tone for “Posthumous Forgiveness”. The pulsing synths that sync up with the drums compliment the dramatic and tragic lyrics throughout this song detailing Kevin’s falling out with his deceased father. The massive wall of throbbing drums and keyboards transition the song into its dreamier second phase, where the forlorn lyrics become quite heartbreaking as Kevin Parker declares he would give anything to simply see his father once again and show him how music has changed his life. The recurring and final line “Want to play you all my songs, and hear your voice sing along” captures this sense of “Posthumous Forgiveness” perfectly. As The Slow Rush carries on into its second half, the instrumentals become noticeably less expansive and experimental, with the meditative “Tomorrow’s Dust” and bubbly “Lost In Yesterday” completely paling in comparison to tracks like “Breathe Deeper”. These tracks are far from duds but are lacking
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a sense complexity and uniqueness. The vocal performance throughout “On Track” however is completely unimpressive compared to its intoxicating instrumental palette. The explosive energy of “It Might Be Time” revitalizes the album with bouncy keyboards and wailing, noisy synth leads. The bass guitar is slathered in rich distortion that adds to the grittiness of this track, which is followed by the blissful “Glimmer”; a primarily instrumental detour that is a surprising standout. Tense staccato keyboards are the driving melodic component of “One More Hour”, leading into huge hits of guitars, bass and crashing cymbals that give the sense of a grand finale. It is not exactly a dramatic send off, but the song plays out in a blissful and enjoyable way increasing layers of instrumentation before slowly falling away like the last grains of sand in an hourglass. Considering the gap between this album and Tame Impala’s last, there is a frustrating lack of growth on a lot of these songs, as many of them could fit quite snugly into the track listing of Currents. That being said The Slow Rush is still a more solid and holistic experience than its predecessor and the songs that land are truly great. BEST TRACK: “Breathe Deeper” WORST TRACK: “On Track”
TERRACE MARTIN 02.28.20
3.5
SINTHESIZE Sounds of Crenshaw
Terrace Martin is an American producer and multiinstrumentalist known for his work with acts such as Kendrick Lamar, Problem, Talib Kwali and Snoop Dogg. Typically, he is seen with a saxophone in his hands, but Terrace took his new album Sinthesize in a notably different direction. This is evident in the intoxicating and ethereal “Intro”. A nimble, wailing synth lead floats through the mix as a bed of synthesizers slowly builds, melting into the simple kick and snare pattern of “Slauson Walker”. Promptly joined by an expressive synth bass, heavily modulated synthesizers and spacious guitar strumming, the timbre of this track and Sinthesize as a whole is reminiscent of artists in the Brainfeeder community like Flying Lotus or Thundercat. However, something feels missing. “Slauson Walker” does little to progress what is established in the initial twenty seconds and comes to few, if any sonic conclusions before the listener is transitioned into the next song. Airy synthesizers and a palm muted guitar line take the spotlight of “Breakfast Sandwich”, a song made up of a frustratingly similar sound palette to the previous two tracks. Perhaps Terrace Martin was attempting to set a uniform vibe with these opening songs, but this track fails to leave an impression other than the haphazardly mixed guitar embellishments. Sinthesize serves up its first vocal performance in the form of “Lies”, a simple mantra revolving around the song’s title delivered in an effects-heavy robotic voice. The beat isn’t terrible but on the whole, this track just feels like discount Daft Punk. Descending keyboards and off-kilter percussion are slowly added into the bass-heavy mix of “Surely Unsure”. The staccato keyboard melody worked into the second-half clashes hideously as the track builds to yet another inconclusive instrumental, leaving the song both inconsequential and ungratifying. For an album that is desperate to be unimpressionable, all of the transitions between songs are incredibly sloppy and jarring. They are particularly gross going into and out of “The Blue Line”; an instrumental with a ton of space that would have benefitted from a vocal guest to keep the song more engaging. A nimble synth bass and wah-heavy guitar compliment the oddball synthesizers of “Taco Mel’s Three Meat
Burrito”, although the title’s reference could very well contain more substance than this entire project. The strange, plucky synthesizers of “Big Toe” are an indication of good sound design, but once again the progression goes nowhere and simply repeats into oblivion before the flute heavy “Outro” glides the listener out of this ultimately unsubstantial project. BEST TRACK: “Slauson Walker ” WORST TRACK: “Surely Unsure”
W E A L L H AV E T H I S O B S E S S I V E
COMPULSION TO CREATE
