Ferran Fages - Pèl Nord (Bocian)

Robin Fox - More Impossible Futures (Bocian)

And still another pair of 7" vinyl releases from Bocian...

Fages eschews the uniquely gorgeous guitar sounds heard in recent albums and launches full bore into a piercing, whining squall conjured from "manipulated AM radios". "Pel" needles its way into ones ears before splaying out into subtly layered (but no less abrasive for that) slab of splintering harshness. It's monolithic in one sense but prismatic enough to invite, if one's ears can withstand it, deep consideration. "Nord" is rounder, more hollow but cuts a not dissimilar path, just a slightly more negotiable one. Unlike some qualms I've had with previous Bocian 7 inchers, the length (about 3-4 minutes each) works quite well here, cramming more than enough information into the short span, providing a large amount to chew on and tasty too. A fine addition to Fages' already impressive catalog.

Robin Fox spins his wax via synthesizers. On the title cut, he sets three or four differently lengthed and timbred patterns atop each other, each seesawing in varying tempi, each mutating as it goes, forming a quasi-regular iteration that leaves just enough space for an organic feel to manifest. "Drift Compression" ventures too far into loopy synth territory for my taste but it's all quite handsomely done. I'd have liked to hear the first piece evolve a bit more, curious to see where it would have gone.

Bocian