Photo by Bill T Miller
Will Mayo is a tall and impressive figure in the Boston underground, both literaly and figuratively. This jack-of-all-trades is a prolific freak by any measure. In the past year alone, this experimental electronic fiend has contributed his developed tastes to the racks of Deep Thoughts record store, hosted a solid series of outsider dance music with the SCANNERS dance night, plus he’s a bold musician in his own right, exploring sonic terrains as Double Awake, Homeworld and DJ Won’t. Somehow between all that he finds the time to listen to music. These are his reflections on 2014.
Favorite Full-lengths…
Actress – Ghettoville (Werkdiscs)
Supposedly final album from one of the best contemporary producers… a soundtrack to urban & psychic decay that woozily sets a diverse variety of scenes… if your regrets and disappointments could dance they would cut a rug to these tunes..
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Call Super – Suzi Ecto (Houndstooth)
A drippy set of ambient “tea-time techno” sure to relax your mental muscles… a nice counterpart to his more dancefloor-oriented EP’s also on Fabric’s in-house label Houndstooth…
Untold – Black Light Spiral (Hemlock)
A moody set of bass-bin-rattling techno that stomps in like riot police… ragged Möbius-strip samples looping over in-the-red kicks and click-click-boom riddims…
Population One – Theater Of A Confused Mind (Rush Hour)
An eerie and hypnotic journey into deep inner-space… thudding and mysterious motor-music from Detroit veteran Terrence Dixon…
Form A Log – For The Record
The best power trio in America doesn’t use “instruments”, they use a bunch of tape machines to warp sounds into new shapes… and those shapes fuckin rock so get into it…
Profligate – Finding The Floor (Not Not Fun)
A nasty blend of industrial and wavey elements with distinctive use of tape manipulation and murky vocals… sex-dungeon dance-party type shit…
Via App – Dangerous Game (1080p)
Frenetic, funky, and downright wiggly tunes… techno of future past…
http://1080pcollection.bandcamp.com/album/dangerous-game
Amps For Christ – Canyons Cars and Crows (Shrimper)
Some of the best songwriting yet from this prolific outsider… Barnes is still winding his way down the punk-rock back-roads of Americana…
Favorite EP’s…
Minor Science – Noble Gas (The Trilogy Tapes)
Skittery and entrancing… fire up the strobe light and get weird…
Helena Hauff – Shatter Cone (Lux Rec)
Industrial-strength acid bangers from 1/2 of Black Sites…
Veiled – Testimoni (Anómia)
Minimal electronics producing maximum results… dark & noisy industrial dance music…
http://boomkat.com/downloads/1176831-veiled-testimoni
Container – Adhesive (Liberation Technologies)
Mosh to noisy techno everyday…
M. Rav – xmas 02 (L.I.E.S.)
Four murky but movement-inducing jammers from the man behind Patricia… believe the hype…
http://youtu.be/HWF3Ws6xZBg
Powell – Club Music + Club Music remixes (Diagonal)
I don’t think Ghost Rider would listen to Suicide on earbuds made of fire, I think he would listen to Powell…
Helm – Hollow Organ (PAN)
A delicately textured, claustrophobic panorama of dark industrial ambience…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bkcKv0Gklg
Lee Gamble – Kuang (PAN)
Some experimental but bouncy techno paired with a whole side of melancholy ambience that creeps across the room like dawn light filtering through the curtains…
Guerilla Toss – Smack The Brick (NNA Tapes)
Boston’s favorite no-core outfit getting even dancier but without abandoning their mutant-skrunk roots… you can take the freak out of the basement but…
Voices From The Lake – Velo Di Maya (Bunker New York)
Deep ambient dub techno from Donato Dozzy & Neel…
Favorite Reissues…
Witch – Movin On (Invisible City Editions)
Zambian disco-rock that doesn’t fail to put a smile on my face…
Surgeon – Surgeon EP + Pet 2000 Remasters (SRX)
Classic tough-as-nails techno sounding better than ever…
Ingram Marshall – Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem (Arc Light Editions)
Haunting and elegiac… electro-acoustic minimalism that combines live orchestral arrangements with electronics and tape manipulation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYXKHsi9lgo
Tropical Disco Hustle (Cultures Of Soul)
An all-killer-no-filler collection of summer jams collected from obscure corners of the Caribbean…
Unit Moebius – Kuiken I & II (Bunker)
Stark minimal electronics from the Netherlands’ answer to Underground Resistance… unlock your inner alien…
Hartley C. White – This Is Not What You Expect (OSR Tapes)
A survey of the vast output of this NYC outsider, lovingly curated by Zach Phillips of Blanche Blanche Blanche… jittery cut&paste songwriting that evokes the anxieties of an awakening global consciousness…
Favorite Instagram Accounts:
@chimpendale
See the world through the fanciful eye of Brian Chippendale from Black Pus and Lightning Bolt …
@edsunspot
Robert Beatty is a favorite of mine, both for his music and graphic design… his account gives you some cool insight into his artistic process…
@ed_schrader
Worth it for the Frasier Pic Of The Day alone…
@josh_hydeman
Josh Hydeman came up in the noise scene in Boston before moving to Portland Oregon, producing 2 under-rated albums of dark ambient, and eventually quitting music to focus on cave photography…
@tsa
This account is a fine piece of propaganda meant to convince you that the TSA’s invasive tactics are necessary but oh man get a load of the knife-guns and drug-piles… plus all the cute doggies!!!
Most Memorable Live Sets:
Form A Log at Deep Thoughts JP
Veiled and Universal Cell Unlock at Deep Thoughts JP
Patricia and Via App at Deep Thoughts JP
Moritz Von Oswald and Legowelt at Output
Porter Ricks at Goethe Insitut (Non-Event)
Ed Schraders and Skimask at Deep Thoughts JP
Rakta and Helm at Great Scott
PC Worship at Deep Thoughts JP
Loop at Middle East Downstairs
Couples Counseling at Whitehaus
Profligate at SBC
Los Condenados at Cuisine En Locale (NEUMF)
Albums I Look Forward to Spending More Time With:
Shinichi Atobe – Butterfly Effect (DDS)
Vladislav Delay -Visa (Ripatti)
Powell – 11-14 (Diagonal)
D’Angelo & The Vanguard – Black Messiah (RCA)
Theo Parrish – American Intelligence (Sound Signature)
Lee Gamble – Koch (PAN)
Afrikan Sciences – Circuitous (PAN)
