Tony Conrad
Slapping Pythagoras

★★★★

Tony Conrad has always remained quite the polarizing figure in modern music. Ever since listening to his first album with Faust I've been intrigued but somewhat intimidated. This release comes decades after his first one, but you can see that there's not a lot of drastic differences. 

I will say that this album seems more mathematical and extravagant than the material on his first release. It's a different group too: the newly blossoming Chicago Post-Rock scene. Grubbs, O'Rourke, Albini, Kevin Drumm are all admirers of Conrad and now get to serve as his loyal sidemen. This seemed to go by fast for me too. 

The drones are obvious and grating, some parts even appear to feel like a body that's giving up. The drum in the background is the heartbeat, while the strained micro-tonal strings give this feeling of desperation. And the first track especially drives this feeling with the grating accordion. 

The second track and arguably my favorite, completes this sort of transformation that this entire album has been leading up to. Near the end when all the strings are wailing for their own demise, that's what gave me goosebumps. It may be layered and complex, but in the end it drew that feeling out of me. 

Favorite Song: The Heterophony of the Avenging Democrats, Outside, Cheers the Incineration of the Oythagorean Elite, Whose Shrill Harmonic Agonies Merge and Shimmer Inside Their Torched Meeting House

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