The Deli #56 - Altopalo, NAMM 2019, Queens takes over Brooklyn

Records of the Month
CONDUIT
Drowning World
The sheer volume of this album is bound
to be a deal-breaker for some listeners. Yet
for the brave there is much to appreciate
here. “Saturn,” its opening track,” flutters
and screeches, hanging in suspension as
any good intro might. “Hypnagog” is the
album’s full-scale launch, however, pitched
somewhere between the muscular metal of
the Melvins and the more orthodox hardcore-punk.
“End Times” is built on a minor
chord guitar dirge and pounding rhythm,
each taken from the Black Sabbath playbook,
yet juxtaposed by screamed vocals.
“Gille de Rais” is the closest Conduit
comes to modern psychedelic music. Its
menacing rhythm gives rise to a thick wall
of distortion which skirts the line between
post-rock and metal. “Parasites” is the
closest to straight-up hardcore; yet even
here the tension felt in its combination of
instruments seems less message-driven.
“Zero Days” finishes the LP with a clear
almost direct incantation—an oddity in
terms of strategy (yet not out of place).
Drowning World is not for the faint of heart.
But if straight-up truth is your poison then
here’s the antidote. (BRIAN CHIDESTER)
EYES OF LOVE
End of The Game
In August, Eyes of Love put out their
debut LP, End of The Game. Helmed
by Brooklyn songwriter Andrea Schiavelli,
EoL is a true meeting of the minds
that brings together some of the New
York underground’s most innovative
musicians including Lily Konigsberg
(Palberta, Lily and Horn Horse), Sammy
Weissberg (The Cradle, Sweet Baby
Jesus), and Paco Cathcart (The Cradle,
Shimmer). End of The Game is an expansive—and
impressive—debut of 14
tracks ranging from breezy pop to lush
orchestral arrangements, but mostly
reveling in what could be described as
a subdued, broken-up version of postpunk.
Schiavelli’s vocals, reminiscent of
the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, find
the ability to make any turn of phrase
sound instantly classic and soaked with
character. Be sure to give their excellent
album a listen, it’s a lesson in entertaining
unconventionality. (SARA NUTA)
L’RAIN
Self-Titled
Brooklyn’s Taja Cheek is an experimental
singer/instrumentalist whose classical
music education inspires her solo project
L’Rain’s rich, ambient sound. While
creating her debut, self-titled record in
2017, Taja’s burgeoning music career
was intersected by the passing of her
mother Lorraine, which affected L’Rain’s
lyrical content with themes centered on
the subject of grief—as heard in tracks
like “Stay, Go (Go, Stay)” and “Heavy
(But Not in Wait)”. Her tracks, however,
wander through mystifying and dreamy
territories with the effect of blending
morbidity with cheery effervescence.
Listening to L’Rain’s is the aural equivalent
of gazing into a sonic kaleidoscope
composed by a multitude of synths,
samples, and effects, concocting a wistful
carpet blanketed with her lush, whispery
vocals. (REBECCA CARROLL)
12 the deli Winter 2019