BLANK THOMAS “405 Skies” (Dismal Niche)




2016 is turning out to be a really weird year. It feels like I’ve said that somewhere before … but where? Oh yeah – in my Critical Masses review of Blank Thomas’s 405 Skies. It happens sometimes – I get doubled up there and here. So what? It gives me the chance to get back into a release I totally dug, even though it sort of freaked me out considering the direction it pointed me toward back in January. Still, I’ll give you a second to read that review, because it was an awesome review, and that’s where you’ll find the details.


So here’s where we stand: 2016 is still really weird, and Blank Thomas has still offered the best soundtrack to that weirdness. Heavy oscillating synth action with beats. Sometimes. Sometimes not. Filling in this year’s cracks like grout in my bathroom tile and holding it all together. This is an election year, too (maybe you’re aware?), so Blank Thomas filters the 24-hour news cycle through a poorly tracked VHS spectrum. Grout gets moldy, cracks, bathroom becomes unusable, atomic bomb nullifies everything. Or Ebola.



--Ryan Masteller