TAKAHIRO MUKAI “Helplessness" C36 (Degenerate Trifecta)

Both Osaka-based Takahiro Mukai and the Washington-based Degenerate Trifecta label (aka Mrs. Dink) have a real knack for kicking out mesmerising, quasi-tribal electronic jams that straddle the line 'twixt Industrial and Techno, finding new & creative ways to explore what it might sound like were a thrift store’s vintage electronics section to become both wholly possessed and highly caffeinated. 

Downright capital-s "Spooky" in parts, this half-hour plus soundtrack of nervous meditations has all the charm to rope in the anti-“beat shit” crowd AND bring some noisy/industrial flavor to those that do worship at the metronomic altar. Hard trick to pull, but TK & DT pull it off seamlessly!

https://degeneratetrifecta.bandcamp.com/album/helplessness

and/or

https://soundcloud.com/takahiro-5

—Jacob An Kittenplan

PICA “Psychedelic Technoise” (Degenerate Trifecta)

OK, I’m going with “ecto techno” because of the neon green, sure, but also because of the assonance that just flows that sucker together. And the music, subterranean, glowing, ethereal … poltergeist-y. Pica’s Psychedelic Technoise is indeed housed in a neon green shell, and that helps kick off this here fiesta. I honestly believe it’s the soundtrack to an inverted astral plane. An “Upside-Down,” if you will.

Meagan Johnson runs Degenerate Trifecta, and she makes acid-drenched electronic music under a variety of guises, Pica being one of them. Psychedelic Technoise is a weird trip down paths in my consciousness that barely feel familiar yet give me that incessant feeling that I’ve probably grooved to similarly gooey blacklit productions before. My grinning teeth glow purple (ignore the topographic map of radiant fuzz on my shirt), and I slip as if in a kinesthetic trance into bizarre movement. I am overcome and overwhelmed by the sticky yet sheer delight of Pica’s geometric wiggling.

Everything is recycled: case, tape, j-card (library free-bin atlas!), and check out the link to Flash Drives for Freedom below, which this release supports. People of North Korea deserve a better life, and this is a start!

https://degeneratetrifecta.bandcamp.com/

https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/

--Ryan