MAMMAL + HIVE MIND “I've Been Sick” (Animal Disguise)

Michigan wastoid kings descend into the shock pit for 30 minutes of flat-lining tonal fisticuffs. Severe stasis shrieking gives way to oscillating bursts of blurry distortion roars, all coated in a cold hiss of galvanized steel and low-wage hostility. Not as stoned as most Hive Mind excursions but more loose and rambling than a lot of Mammal jams, “I've Been Sick” works pretty effectively as a nihilistic meditation tape. The B side in particular has a long back-and-forth swaying section that accurately simulates the sensation of staring drunkenly down at a table of pedal junk, eyes clouding over, everything going slowly black. The sickness thickens, building into a dense hypnotism of buried sirens, screeching wheels, and lifeless loops. Sounds like men being defeated by machines.