ASTRO “Confide in Jest" (Strange Daisy)

Chillwave is alive and well, and Astro makes it, with competence, just like his forefathers used to make it. The ancients smile upon Robert Landry, sometime drummer for New Orleans alternative rock bands. They see in him a vessel to fill with their knowledge, a torchbearer for the archaic sounds once so formidable within the consciousness of the blogerati. The statues of Sts. MillionYoung and Small Black weep tears of blood. Stigmata appear on the hands and feet of Dream Boat. David Bazan’s Headphones project is mentioned in hushed whispers. A new day is dawning, one in which “The music you are listening to is completely electronic” is an actual sample in a song (“Wet Redux”). Life moves endlessly, and it is endlessly contemplated through computer programs. The world becomes soft pastels, and we are integrated into its network.

Astro
Strange Daisy

--Ryan Masteller

ASTRO “Cosmic Radiation” (self-released)

If there’s one goddamned thing I can’t stand, it’s reggae music. Well, for the most part I guess. That Congos record that came out on RVNG Intl. with M. Geddes Gengras and Cam Stallones was pretty OK. But other than that (and I guess “Redemption Song), you can pretty much take your reggae somewhere else. Sorry. I just don’t get it.

If there’s another thing I can’t stand, it’s jam bands (sorry, Nick). Jam bands and reggae bands exist in the same center of the Venn diagram entitled “Music I Can’t Stand.” Sometimes they sound like one another. A lot of jam bands cover Bob Marley.

Can I stop writing about this now?

Astro’s Cosmic Radiation Bandcamp page

--Ryan Masteller