VILLA VALLEY / TREETOPS (Arbor)

This is a weird pairing. VV offer up yet another 20 minute headache of Michigan frequency shrapnel. Sounds like this was recorded in the engine room of a steamship when the hull busted a leak and a dozen sailors started brawling about whose fault it was. Shrieking metal scrapes, numb rumbling, angry voices buried in static. Ugly stuff. Flip the tape and yr in a new world. There’s hushed thumb piano meditations, new age drone loops, reverbed cymbal shimmers, keening whale-song guitar delay, all chopped up into little meandering short stories. One of Treetops’ better outings. Rad “meeting of the minds” cover art too.