5 Noteworthy Releases from August, 2020

August 2020 roundup

As always, the pool of new music coming out is too vast for anyone to fully experience or even comprehend. With established artists putting out fantastic new work, old releases being dug up, and new artists making their first statements, you can look almost anywhere and find something worth your time. Here are somethings we have stumbled upon that we found especially enthralling, presented in the form of a list to you. These selections are all Creative Commons, and though the various specific licenses vary, they are all free for you to listen, share, and adapt upon.

1. The Happening at Groom Lake – CLOUDWARMER

1. The Happening at Groom Lake – CLOUDWARMER artwork

SYPMTOMS

Shortness of breath
Anxiety
Trembling
Feelings of terror
Panic
Rapid heartbeat

If you have _____, you aren’t just uneasy with the thought of ______. You have a persistent fear and anxiety related to it possibly affecting your life.

The symptoms of _______ are similar to those of other common phobias, which include:

______ can cause some symptoms that are similar to those of other phobias, as well as some that are unique. Sweating, shaking and crying may occur during a thunderstorm or even just before one begins. You may seek constant reassurance during the storm. Symptoms are often heightened when you are alone.

Additionally, many people with ______ seek shelter beyond normal protection from the storm. For example, you may hide under the covers or even under the bed. You may go to the basement, an inside room (such as a bathroom) or even a closet. You may close the curtains and attempt to block out the sounds of the storm.

Another fairly common symptom is an obsession with weather forecasts. You may find yourself glued to the ______ during the rainy season or tracking storms online. You may develop an inability to go about activities outside your home without first checking the weather reports. In extreme cases, _____ can eventually lead to you being afraid to leave your home. 

2. Precaution – Real Clothes

Precaution - Real Clothes artwork

While production and writing for this album began in November 2019, in January 2020 a pandemic called COVID-19 ravaged humanity in addition to the recognition of violence against Black people worldwide (and the subsequent violence of oppressors).

This prompted a lockdown that not only encompassed the city of New York, but the entire world (save for the ignorant few who deigned to care or those critical Workers that the rich found to be expendable). Add rising authoritarianism and instability: these themes were the basis for Precaution.

Functionally, it is an outlet for all encompassing grief during preventable historical events.

3. Coriolis Effect – Shekuza

Coriolis Effect – Shekuza artwork

Following his captivating debut full-length De Sica, one of the most ambitious regional electronic albums of 2019, the Slovenian synth wizard, composer, keyboardist and DJ returns with Coriolis Effect, a tour de force in daring, innovative and multi-layered modular synthesis, or rather a slap in the face of those saying all modular techno sounds the same.

Shekuza doesn’t shy away from flexing the muscles of his module army. Contrarily, it seems like the powers of his studio are exploited to the full. But despite the elaborate arrangements and mind-altering sound design, blending elements from contemporary breakneck techno, hyperkinetic electro, rolling dubstep and fictional darkstep, his tracks are all about the funk. It sometimes feels like your body is being radiated by a brain-squishing sound beam that absorbs you in a vortex of polyrhythms and auditory spectres. The production is defined by crystalline textures and mischievous syncopated rhythms, giving you a hard time to wrap your mind around what you hear. And though they might sound knotty, his spiraling grooves, full of singular percussive details, are definite party material.

Coriolis Effect is a breaky peak-time techno roller with an eccentric groove and psychedelic melodic flourishes that will make you sweat on the floor. On the meditative Sand Mantis, a nod to the Ilian sound, the dubby sub frequencies are complemented with tribal modular percussion and transfixed by ghostly vocal chops emanating from your subconscious. With its Mentasm stabs running at 170 bpm, Color of Ice roars like some deconstructed neurofunk from a parallel universe. Shekuza also delivers one of the most beautiful love letters to a tooth doctor. My Dentist sounds like the electro track you imagine when sitting in your dentist’s chair with your mouth under siege, but because of its airy saturated pads actually way more pleasant. Don’t relax too much, though, as the closing Some Spatter Left with its warped rhythmic pulses running along one another, growling synth feedbacks and razor-sharp machine shrieks will catapult you directly in the mouth of the dancefloor beast.

Mindfully sequenced and aesthetically diverse, Coriolis Effect is best consumed in a single listen. It’s not an overstatement if we say both Blawan and Peder Mannerfelt will be glad to discover this shining example of cutting-edge modular sonic explorations. Two decades after Umek and Random Logic, Shekuza is almost single-handedly taking Slovenian techno into the future.

4. Doors Outside – Corsica Annex

Doors Outside -  Corsica Annex artwork

At last, Corsica Annnex returns to Ingrown with the long-awaited followup to 2017 Tabs Out Top Tape Fluid Electric.

5. GXH – MIL KDU DES

GXH – MIL KDU DES artwork

On May 31st, 2014, MIL KDU DES returned from the depths of the ocean to present and score GXH. A collaborative effort featuring the skillful edit of none other than Louis Piquette and that classic MIL KDU DES sound – fully formed (and performed) in the hallowed halls of Spectacle – a place that has recently been called “The Worst Sandwich Shop In Brooklyn” and “The Greatest Movie Theater In The Entire World.”

With water coolers abuzz and the rumor mills churning, America is settling into be cautiously optimistic about the newest entry in the Godzilla canon. (Full disclosure, some of us are pretty hyped up about it.) But with the bad taste of 1998’s utter disaster still on our tongues, we here at Spectacle set our sights to a simpler time. A time of rubber suits and miniature cities. Piquette takes his razor sharp edits to 1971’s GODZILLA vs. HEDORAH, a strange, colorful, psyched out, and environmentally-conscious film filled to the brim with incredible sets and (of course) big bad battles.