ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB / GLOCKENSPIEL
Astral Social Club / Glockenspiel
(Krayon Recordings - KR014) split 7-inch $8.25
Machines groan and distant melodies ascend on the face-chewer by Neil Campbell on one side, while Glockenspiel’s vinyl debut on the flip weaves wooly tones with the harmonics of rubbed toms and bowed metal. A snow-blind haze of feedback, amplified string scrape and analogue electronics.
ASTRAL SOCIAL CLUB / TOMUTONTTU
Wet Wheel / Hot Wheel b/w Syvät Svyät
(Tipped Bowler - TBT012) split LP $16.50
On “Wet Wheel / Hot Wheel,” Neil Campbell of Astral Social Club succumbs to the heartbeat throb of house, but tops the bass with a frenetic squall of darting alien melodies. On cursory listen, the elements congeal into honest-to-goodness body music, but the track is riddled with stutters and gaps that flooded synapses fill with aural afterimages. On the reverse, Jan Anderzén of Tomutonttu buries the dance influence, retaining only the genre’s neon shimmer and linear logic. The cuckoo loops of “Syvät Svyät” briefly cohere into musical shapes before casting off, replaced by an ecstatic march of manic squiggles. 150-gram vinyl. Stamped and screened sleeves by Siwa. Edition of 300.