These Nights Are Ours

  Hold It Together by w u s o 命   Notes Haunting Memories - The track slowly fades in and washes over you with a low tone, any sense that there is nature as an influence on this album is quickly washed out the window.  This is absolutely an urban setting for this release.  The deep tone and the synths over it all embrace the sense that this is something artificial, something man made.  Samples of a woman speaking (in japanese?) sprinkle the background as the track slowly begins to take shape.  It's obvious that despite the 4 minute run time in the track it is in no hurry to get anywhere.  ‘ In fact this is one of the themes of the album, this album embraces mood and atmosphere over any sort of instant gratification.  We are meant to wait for the payoff, and we are meant to immerse ourselves in this world that Hold it Together brings for us to observe.  This right here is one of the reasons why I love this album so very much.  It take...

      “Hold It Together is literally the message of the album. That despite everything that is going on in your life, whether you’re haunted by memories of a bygone time or you’re struggling with current events, you have to hold it together and keep yourself collected, because it is guaranteed that there are probably millions going through the exact same things that you are, and you can find solidarity in that .” - w u s o 命 April 2021 A year ago - April 2020 - I got a package in the mail, having just discovered a label by the name of Dream Catalogue .  I got six records that I had been told were vaporwave.  These weren’t like other vaporwave albums that I’d heard though, these were quite different.  As I was listening to  チェスマスター’s I am Chesumasta ,  2 8 1 4’s 新しい日の誕生 and Remember’s The City is My Friend , I found myself enthralled by the visual art styles and how they perfectly matched the music on those records.   Each one of those rel...

  Temple of Khronos by Spire Chronometer - Alternating tones akin to a clock start off the album.  This isn't just a clock like you would hear in passing, this one has a sense of a countdown towards something ominous.  The way that it is produced really brings out a sense of dread.  That and the accompanying sound effects really build this up into something wicked.  By the end we have all sorts of distortion, guitars, subtle electronic effects and ultimately the clock.  The speed increases and increases until there is this horrible sense of whatever is hunting us has finally caught up.  We are now forced to face our doom.  Everything ends, and I get this picture of slowly turning around to face what has been chasing us as the track is silent and complacent in letting us face the horror to come.  Excellent intro. Hymn I - Tyrant - With as insane as the buildup was in the first track I was expecting something to absolutely pulverize me....

    “ The bleakest truth of existence is the lack of any form of falsifiable scientific, philosophical, or theological evidence to support the notion of free will. As far as anyone can tell, we're forcibly strapped into a one way trolley cart, which was set in motion some 14 billion years ago. Every choice, thought, action, belief, and value mechanically pre-determined at the dawn of the universe. Quite simply, you're but an insignificant cog in the cosmological machine and your suffering was scribed at a temporally unimaginable distance. ”  - V.S. anno 2021 It’s not often that one can bear witness to a descent into madness - a gradual loss of sanity and rational thought.  The human psyche is such a fragile thing.  A multitude of happenings may cause a mind to break, to lose touch with that common denominator that binds humanity together.   A philosophical breakthrough, a sense of lost control, or perhaps there never was anything to control in the first pla...

The deep dive is for readers who want to dig further into the album by reading the notes and pre-review interview that is done with each artist.  It is best read after the review. Muziek Voor Muren by AUT2M Notes Gekanteld - The song starts off with something akin to a horror movie chord, very eerie but isn’t necessarily indicative of everything that is to come.  Its quickly followed by a simple three note melody.  The chord reprises its role shortly after that.  Just when I thought this was going to be a pattern it gets switched up again.  The melody is expanded on, in almost a playful fashion.   Despite me being wrong about a pattern happening, what this does establish for the song though is the general structure. The chord will enter and leave the song at various places, followed by another melody.  At least for the first minute 45 of the song.  There is this tension in the way that the music has been created, conflicting elements.  T...