Volt 9000
This week we talked to Portland person Andrew Dobbels of Volt 9000 over Skype! We talked about Aftermath, video games, doing bad band interviews, and things you can get in Portland that you can't get when you leave!
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Poltergeists is a biweekly feature in which Michael and Wes share tracks that they have had on repeat over the past two weeks.
Volt 9000 are one of the many bands that I am very excited to see at Terminus Festival here in JUST A FEW WEEKS! We spoke with Andrew Dobbles (episode will be coming up here soon) and Cory Gorski did Poltergeists a few weeks ago to help promote their new and awesome album Timeshift. “Grand Illusions” is a wonderfully constructed track that takes me to that warm Greater Wrong of the Right Skinny Puppy era that I thoroughly enjoyed! There is a building tension in this song that I really appreciate. The pulsing piano bass note and the reversed samples create a Jaws-like crescendo that ends with a very impactful “Holographic, automatic, static universe set to code through mathematics.” There is one moment in “Grand Illusions” that sticks out to me most - which was brilliantly placed - and that is right before the last big hurdle into the last chorus. A very calm, whispered voice, with a soft pad that leads into a gentle jazzy piano and just builds back into static. It makes the end of the song more emotionally charged.
I have recently become obsessed with field recordings and manipulating organic sounds, and I think that Hiraeth Eschar had something to do with it. “Hyalite Canyon” is a very calming and creepy motif that plants itself hard into the earth with a mixture of field recordings, acoustic guitars, and a very deep synth underling. It immediately takes me to the image of a forest in autumn. Hiraeth Eschar is a side project from Jason W. Walton of Agalloch, Self Spiller, and Nothing, and I think it really captures his talents. Jason also has a noise album called Mara coming out soon on Red Orchard Records under his name.
Any time a new Sofia Reta drops, I have to check it out. This new Sofia Reta reminds me a lot of the older music this artist put out as ^ (aarrcc), and it excels in the ways that Sofia Reta tends to excel. While much of the music tends to be minimalist in its layering, this song is a bit denser; strange pads meld with LFO basses, reminiscent of that brief moment of dubstep influence in industrial, without being aggressive and obnoxious. A heavy kick keeps beat throughout most of the song; this is a contrast to much of Sofia Reta’s back catalog which tends to be more atmospheric and slow paced.
I just recently came across Chynna and I haven’t been able to stop listening to her. The beat, produced by Cloud Atrium, is incredibly minimal, but though that minimalism manages to be incredibly impactful. Little, light arps mix with long kicks, a soft pad, and occasional hits of hats and snare to create a dark atmosphere. In terms of the flow, I love the fast paced flow Chynna puts out. Often with these slower, Southern-inspired beats you get a slow, almost drawling delivery; Chynna flips this on its head by spitting every single verse in double time. She’s definitely an artist to keep an eye on.