You’ll remember my first ever review of Holy Hills’ self-titled album (http://bit.ly/1Up0GJF). I was critical of their supposedly “experimental” tape and how it lacked any “experimental” content whatsoever. I bring up this review because I heard dangerously similar tones in the first track of “vergier begets”: malaise 1-4 by Dog Hallucination.
Dog Hallucination was slightly reminiscent of that traumatic Holy Hills tape in that it lacked the melodious overtones that most of today’s modern pop hits have. That’s not to say it lacked rhythm altogether, however. The tape opens with a dulcet binary-esque tune that drops to a grisly strain, which truly does have a dearth of cadence. This second coming evolves into pealing and equally rhythmless (yet admittedly slightly intriguing) slack. It was this tune’s evolution into the final little ditty that I realized something: the reason I couldn’t find myself so horrendously bored while listening to this track was not only because it possessed euphonious fluctuation (something Holy Hills desperately needs in its tracks) but also because during the entirety of the time I listened to that side, I ideated literal dog hallucinations. This track may truly contain the malaisical sounds that a dog suffering from cataplexy may hear. And for this reason my rating immediately went from a 4/10 to a 7/10. Good naming reaps good ratings. Words to live by.
The second side/track was labeled Deimonstritus by Ichtyor Tides. I looked into the meaning or origins of the word “Deimonstritus" (hoping to exact this newfound track-naming tip I discovered upon this side), but Google either failed me or the word was invented. Maybe the track name is as experimental as the song it titles. In any case I popped the tape into my boombox and gave it a listen. If you didn’t like the Buggles you won’t like this track, let me tell you know. The synth is heavy with this one. I personally am a big fan of the synth noise, and the silvery sounds organized on this track engendered a surprisingly decent listen, especially for an experimental track. Even so it’s not good as anything except background music, like really any experimental track (let’s be candid here). I rate it a 6/10, points were taken for repetitiveness.
As an aggregate I rate this album a 6.5/10.
https://bicephalicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vergier-begets
http://doghallucination.bandcamp.com/
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—M. Syed