RICK REED

The Way Things Go

(Elevator Bath - eeaoa035) 2xLP $22.00

Rooted in the process of experience, the music of this Austin-based electronic instrumentalist and composer unfolds along the lines of fellow travelers Klaus Schulze and Christoph Heemann, utilizing analog synthesizers, sine waves, shortwave radio, and sampled field recordings. The waves that unfold in the opening “Mesmerism” are deep and somewhat akin to the vibrational frequencies of biofeedback. “Capitalism: Child Labor” merges analog buzz and whir with the glassine textures of vibraphones or tubular bells, composed as a soundtrack to the 2005 Ken Jacobs film of the same name. Harsh electronic blasts and obscured voices provide bookends to areas of waves, refractions, and gooey pulses of rockish fuzz. Knob-twisting and crotchety flashes gradually merge and fall away to leave an area of near-singularity, coursing hums revealing stringy subtones and colliding layers before an abrupt conclusion. Turbine-like rumble, light tendrils of feedback, and organ-esque fluff that would make Gerd Zacher proud characterize “Hidden Voices Part One,” with the occasional passing blip among splayed-out tones a clue to their newer electric origin. The closing title composition pits glittery wash against layers of modulated feedback, a nattering growl at the heels of thin, gradated whines. Massive chords are their eventual replacement, monolithic and coarse. A sudden shift brings out staggered chunks of thick and striated tones before the piece returns to its original stage, closing with a lengthy and gorgeous coda of bells, kalimba-like plucks, and clavichord bounce. Includes download card.