Jacoti Sommes
Travel Time
Orange Milk Records (2020)
Clocking it at just under 27 minutes, Columbus, Ohio electronic music producer Jacoti Sommes’ 2020 release Travel Time is all around better than his excellent 2018 effort Ubermensch. I think the album’s title accurately reflects what it’s all about. Featuring a handful of longer tracks periodically broken up by short ambient interludes (“Phases” I through III) that sound similar to whistling wind or some kind of vehicle whooshing forward, Travel Time strives to represent a journey that the listener is being taken on, a notion established right off the bat by opener “Mars.”Taken out of context, I could probably be convinced that this album was actually an IDM release from the mid ‘90s. Tracks like “Subblue” and “Pulse Start” conjure the electronic music landscape of yesteryear since they have a much lighter feel than many of today’s more punchy and aggressive offerings. The album’s also downright playful at times, perhaps nowhere more then on the feel good “I Got Your Back” and “Push On” which pops up around the album’s midway point. With its bouncy bass and kitschy sort of sound, the latter somewhat reminds me of stereotypical “porn music,” but it’s certainly well crafted and genuinely fun. Afterwards, “Everything … Read more
The Suicide Machines
Revolution Spring
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)
Me: The Suicide Machines got really angry.[Looks at news coming out of Michigan.]Me: Oh, yeah. They should be.Flint’s waters crisis, … Read more
Western Addiction
Frail Bray
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)
There are bands who you rush to get the new record to see what direction they’ve gone. There are others … Read more
Pilkington
Pilkington
Independent (2020)
Pilkington's self-titled debut is at the same time their swansong. It serves as a testimony to the good time the … Read more
