#25: Protomartyr – Consolation – This EP from these garage punks is solid and intriguing. Sporting two tracks with the Breeders’ Kim Deal as well, the record hits hard but knows when to be soft.
#24: Steve Hauschildt – Dissolvi – I hadn’t heard of Steve Hauschildt until this album somewhat fell into my lap. It’s intriguing electro that reveals more layers with each listen.
#23: Bev Rage and the Drinks – Cockeyed – Besides having the naughtiest album name on this list, Cockeyed is also one of the best punk records I’ve heard in a long while. Queercore punk is back in business, bitches!
#22: Public Practice – Distance Is a Mirror – This post-punk EP from prior members of WALL was a welcome addition to my collection of post-punk records. It’s full of razor sharp lyrics and equally sharp guitars, bass, and beats.
#21: All Them Witches – ATW – These Nashville psychedelic blues rockers upped the volume and fuzz and became a three-piece to get back to basics and melt faces.
Chicago resident and electronic minimalist musician Steve Hauschildtexperiments with introspection on his new record, Dissolvi. Reducing the self leads to viewing the world as it is and not as you wish it to be (the first step in the Eightfold Path). Through this record, Hauschildt tries to do just that and encourages us to do the same.
The title of the opening track, “M Path,” is a play on “empathy” – someone who can sense emotional states. It’s bubbly and curious, perhaps as it might be if one could instinctively tap into another’s emotions. Hauschildt’s synths float around you like jellyfish throughout the track. “Phantox” dials down the curiosity to meditative introspection. The quiet dance floor bass thumps are even restrained as they remind you of an excited pulse. “Saccade” is restful yet seductive, especially with Julianna Barwick‘s guest vocals that snuggle up to you like a cat.
The seven-minute “Alienself” lands in the middle of the record and is an interesting view on Hauschildt’s vision of himself. Don’t we all feel alien at some point(s) in our lives? We feel like we don’t belong or are witnessing things so bizarre that they are hard to fathom. This can happen every day if you watch the news. Thankfully, Hauschildt takes the right approach by embracing this alien within and looking at the world with outsider’s eyes. The song floats along with the same curiosity found on “M Path,” but with a bit of a more playful sound with popping bass and toned down dance synths.
“Aroid” is the soundtrack of replicant dreams, or the ambient music playing on the ship taking you to the off-world colonies. Dance beats take front stage on “Syncope,” and I think it’s impossible to sit still during the song. Not that it’s a floor-filler or a club banger. It’s subtle dance music. That’s probably the best way I can describe it. “Lyngr” is another excellent “subtle dance” track, but with faster beats and synths that pop all around you. The bass on the title track is so fuzzed out that it sounds like the footsteps of an electric giant.
It’s a lovely record, and certainly one of the most upbeat ambient albums of the year (and who even knew there were such things). It will help you dissolve out of whatever doldrums you’re experiencing at the moment and at least bring you into the present long enough to change your outlook.
Keep your mind open.
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STEVE HAUSCHILDT SHARES “ALIENSELF”
OFF UPCOMING ALBUM DISSOLVI GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL DEBUT OUT AUGUST 3
(photo credit: Maria Tzeka)
Today, electronic musician Steve Hauschildt shares “Alienself,” the second song off his new full-length and Ghostly International debut, Dissolvi (out August 3rd). “Alienself is a song that began in my live set and so I had the luxury of developing it gradually over the last two years,” says Hauschildt. “The final version features guitar by Rafael Irisarri in the first half of the track which then transitions into synthesized voices in the latter half. The song title refers to a psychoanalytical term which has to do with the development of a false aspect of the self and how mental states are not only envisioned in others but how they’re externalized or projected.”
The album’s title — a reference to cupiodissolvi, the Latin phrase meaning “I wish to be dissolved” — needn’t be taken one-dimensionally or as purely solipsistic. Physiological phenomena are of interest to Hauschildt. These back-of-mind ruminations find their way out. Songs are cerebral in orientation, but beyond explanation, the music is truly visceral.
Late last month, Steve shared the first single off the record, the sublime “Saccade,” which featured vocals from Julianna Barwick. The album, which is his most collaborative work to date, also features a song with Gabrielle Herbst, aka GABI. Watch visuals for “Alienself” and “Saccade” below (art by Robert Beatty).
