Al Lover - Existential Everything
by Maarten Schiethart
published: 22 / 2 / 2019
Label:
Stolen Body Recordings
Format: CD
intro
Nostalgia-inducing instrumental electronica on experimental album from Los Angeles-based producer Al Lover
Headphone music used to describe introvert music, but with billions listening to their phone these day, Al Lover's ‘Existential Everything’ LP is headphone music for today. Soundscapes - with gently pulsating beats that feel organic as well as urban - need to be listened to closely. 'Heavy Rain in Visual Fields' is the first truly wonderful track after a bunch of five previous tracks that warm up ‘Existential Everything’ in fine style. A minimalistic violin, a few light chords and a brooding atmosphere that owes a debt to slow US hip hop is perhaps not what the busy bees of Britain would go for. But in Bristol it was picked up by Stolen Body Records whose open minds persist. Drizzling trap beats - trap is the US answer to the UK's dubstep - are particularly striking on 'Subversive Science'. This second highlight has an almost analogue sound. With a bubbling transistor type of sound ‘Existential Everything’ makes one feel a bit nostalgic. Epic compositions with foreboding titles , 'Haunted Trap House', 'Death in Texas' and 'Electric Meat', plus the quirky and experimental 'Reverberating Gymnasium' round off this brittle brainwash of an album. Play loud when you're not listening over headphones. I'm not of the age to call music ‘chill ‘but 'Existential Everything' is what around thirty years ago was called post-rave party music. A seamless listen with a bite.
Track Listing:-
1 Uninhibited Dither2 California Yuga
3 Portable Dada Device
4 Static Snake Charmer
5 Consensus Reality
6 Heavy Rain In Visual Fields
7 Hubris in Real Time
8 Subversive Science
9 Quarantined Cauldron
10 Haunted Trap House
11 Reverberating Gymnasium
12 Death In Texas
13 Electric Meat
most viewed articles
current edition
The Church - Interview with Steve KilbeySimon Heavisides - Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - #15- On Being Dignified and Old aka Ten Tips From Jah Wobble On How To Be Happy.
Secret Shine - Interview
Vetchinsky Settings - Interview
Repomen - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Jack Roscoe - Interview
Near Jazz Experience - Interview
Sami Sumner - Interview
Flaming Stars - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Lewis 'Burner' Pugh - Bullets for BreadIan Hunter - Defiance Part 2: Fiction
Inutili - A Love Supreme
Kula Shaker - Natural Magick
Smalltown Tigers - Crush On You
Hillbilly Moon Explosion - Back in Time
My Life Story - Loving You is Killing Me
David Cross Band - Ice Blue Silver Sky
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Ty Segall - Three Bells
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart