Well gee whiz, No Sides Records, that's quite the mouthful for a release title! Right off the bat, let's just settle on calling this thirteen track compilation of sound artists' music Foresight In Retrospect, shall we? Disaster Amnesiac is grateful to No Sides for putting this release out there, and also for making this listener aware of the various projects featured upon it. Many and varied sounds and approaches to sound production are presented within its duration, so let's dive in. Chandra Shulka starts of the album with Antariksha, a sonic diptych of atmospheric sounds. Long tones and minor synth wave forms characterize this piece, one which could be excellent for an afternoon spent painting or perhaps a morning yoga sesh. There is some nice tweaking of sounds going on during its second half. The second track features percussionist Sean Hamilton, a name familiar to me. It's possible that I saw him play in 'frisco once, too. His track, User Experience, starts with small, wispy percussion bits before building into bigger clacks and scrapes. Bells join in a one is treated to a very intimate microtonal experience indeed. Eventually an avalanche of sound cascades within this feature of unique percussive ideas. Highly worth the eight minutes of its duration. Enchanted Helm come next, with three untitled pieces. Big synthesizer sounds fly by, graciously presenting big chords or are they clouds? Angelic voices ring and there's no shame in that, even in a scene that's probably pretty agnostic. Slow arpeggio forms follow with vertical harmonies very present and a conclusion of harder tones for a coda. Foresight In Retrospect continues with the wonderfully named Insect Deli, who pound the eardrums with straight up machine gun sounds on This Is the Version I Have Right Now. Crazed heaviness and spoken word ruminations upon ontology make this track an absolute crusher. Seriously insane action! Soundoferror have Disaster Amnesiac's favorite title for the proceedings on Hello Breakfast. There's just something so surreal about it. It's a track made up of three parts, with high register beepies and gackles, deeply rhythmic synth tightness and a consummate Head Music vibe that just hits correct while its music spreads out wide into signal feeds of delight! The Long Room is Bob Bucko Jr.'s contribution, wherein a drum machine pulse pushes the the keyboard and woodwind riffs into a Fourth World statement of international polyglot creole. It's a song of realm-wide trance moves which presents musical possibilities that should be further expounded upon. Two tracks of Dream Pop, Germs Burn and An Ode To Fred, are played by Peter Boof. Any kind of Darby reference and Disaster Amnesiac is in, that's a given. The latter is great for dancing around, while the former is more abstract in its sound but still playful. Living Room come up next with Untitled (Song Titles Are For Assholes). Why so dour? Harsh grinding primitive guitar/drums/noise action, that's why! A deeper listen shows that the Living Room dudes are indeed really good at their instruments, which literally rocks. The Avant Garde needn't worry though, as their is a ton on straight up Noise within this primitivist power trio. With Dub! The Drowned World must be Angus Maclise fans, as their Dreamweapon suggests. It starts out with a quite Minimalist arc and builds upon that with paced layers. It's a song like a sky full of slow moving cloud forms and as such very relaxing to hear. Last up on Foresight In Retrospect is Inscrutable Matter from Crow Hotel. Cool moniker and neat, dialed in electrical tones blend with wide Industrial samples to create a sonic junk heap of intricate granular details. Juicy electronics push and weave a track that gets pretty crunchy at times. Are they using contact mics to produce their machinic melodies? As stated, there a pleasing variance to the acts presented upon Foresight In Retrospect: A 10-Way Split, Or A Compilation, and any fan of underground sounds will likely be pleased to interface with all of them. You must be a bit tired of blasting your P.E.A.C.E. comp by now, surely, so seek this one out for some fresh examples from the subterranean music scene!
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