Review
Remnants
Suspension

Tycho Magnetic Anomalies (2011) Cheryl

Remnants – Suspension cover artwork
Remnants – Suspension — Tycho Magnetic Anomalies, 2011

Brooklyn based drone purveyors Remnants four track cassette Suspension is a curious little release, building on a foundation of fuzzy electronic notes, and deep unnerving tones. Lead track "Ornamentals" is a tad unsettling in it's minimalism. The quiet buzz of white noise sitting just behind dissonant strikes slowly build in sound level, washing over the touches of an almost bell-like sound. It's just the right side of perturbing, a tiny bit ominous and a lot intriguing and leads into "Conical Intersect," a track which begins which the a somewhat brass instrument sounding clamour. Of course this soon changes into a dim, distant memory of the sound it once was. Reaching far into the recesses of both the mind and space.

Other strangeness abounds in this track, birds calling, perhaps the crackle of a fire - it's barely there, the hum of that initial noise still permeating through - a quick sound of an alarm and masses of white noise creep in. That first sound now building into a heightened cacophony, it's electronically dense and terrifically harsh in tone. There's quite a lot to take in on Suspension, somehow everything and nothing happening all at once.

It's a theme carried throughout the tape, the third track being a shorter effort much like the first, as well as being a mite creepy. The repetitive nature of drone is used to great effect in these four tracks, the final being "Entropy Loop." A single sound taken and built upon with distortion and additional elements; Remnants know to how hold the attention whilst doing really quite little. Suspension is solid in it's execution and design, it's fairly hard work in terms of "getting into it" but the rewards are there to be found in it's mind-twisting properties.

7.0 / 10Cheryl • March 26, 2012

Remnants – Suspension cover artwork
Remnants – Suspension — Tycho Magnetic Anomalies, 2011

Recently-posted album reviews

Alien Nosejob

How A Mosquito Operates
Anti Fade, Iron Lung (2026)

The one-man band of Alien Nosejob continues to crank out short, angry hardcore in quick bursts. I've lost count of how many records Jake Robertson has now released under the name. I'll just say that while the first couple took some direction changes, the project seems to have found its footing in 1980s-influenced hardcore. With 17 songs in 24 minutes, … Read more

Cancer Bats

Give Me Dirt
Marshall Amplification PLC, New Damage records (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Bright Eyes of Gold”, “Give Me Dirt”, “Long Tooth”, “Fools Like You” Almost exactly two years ago, on 8th August 2024, Cancer Bats played Conne Island in Leipzig – a choice they would live to regret. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the centre had slowly become renowned for its radical politics and, more recently, the ban … Read more

Tyler Sonnichsen

The Dead Milkmen
J-Card Press (2026)

When I saw The Dead Milkmen at Toronto’s Diamond Club back in the late 1980s, the floor was a volatile, beautiful mess of colliding subcultures. It was like different species of house flies bumping into one another, wondering what the hell you were doing in the mason jar. You had suburban high school pocket-pen-protector pencil-neck nubile nerds, college radio snobs … Read more