Talons - Hollow Realm

One of my favorite albums of the year (right at the end). It placed 28th on The Silent Ballet's year end list. Check out my full review.


The fusion of punk, math, metal, and post-rock isn’t often achieved with such natural results. Just one listen to “Peter Pan” gives the listener a sense of how much fun the band had in scribing these tunes. A roiling, octopoidal drumbeat with violins as menacing zephyrs breaks down into a distorted, chugging trawl before a ferocious strumming section kicks into gear. Already the mind is dancing pirouettes. Then the sumptuous rock breakdown snaps into action, like a mechanical saber-tooth tiger racing through a canyon at mach three, ubiquitous explosions and gunfire barely making a dent in its magical hide.

Danny Saul - Kinison - Goldthwait

My review of this suspiciously good album by Danny Saul. It still haunts me, its sounds bewildering at times, stuck in my head, a gluey maelstrom.


This is music that clusters and billows. It has a deceptive speed to it, mutating in a clandestine fashion while it casts a spell. Melodies I could not place that were playing in my head turned out to be pieces from Kinison - Goldthwait. The album begins with a subtractive static that slowly births a swooning guitar melody drenched in sumptuous reverb on “Kinison (Part 1)”. It is quite beautiful, as if it is setting the stage for more exotic emotions, like those in Parts 2 and 3. Skeletal piano chords flock to the clouds before a wet electric acoustic guitar leads the ambient drift toward organ and drone. This melodic and delicate portion of the album is not where the story ends.