THE CONDUITS

Slide Thrombosis

(Steep Gloss) Cassette $8.00

If the only thing with which the twelve tracks on Slide Thrombosis were imbued was a degree of malevolent steadiness we usually encounter when getting stared down by giant mechanical lizards copulating under a rain of electric crust, hot bone shards, and blobs of paste made of shredded motherboard, we’d have to admit that grunts of “meh, forgettable” from dismissive critics might contain some merit. But the Conduits, two reclusive characters residing in the American south, assemble their loop-dominated tracks with more complicated and nuanced bad feelz. About a third of the sound sources on the album are field recordings captured while traveling on public transportation, where they eavesdrop on and surreptitiously record other passengers talking, streaming music, and watching videos. Another large chunk of the content, also field recordings, comes from anomalous weather and atmospheric activities (some mundane, some assumed to be paranormal environmental events caused by experiments going awry due to sloppy and/or indifferent adherence to protocols by underpaid employees of nefarious corporations). Sterility and lack of feeling are definitely present, but the Conduits’ sound processing and additional electronics decimate their sources into terse fragments. The tracks are bent, damaged, frozen in a state of oxidation, undermining their own sense of predictable drone-ishness with clouds of unease, revulsion, and discomfort. Innards are gorged upon. Old timey footage of buildings collapsing is reassembled in the wrong order. Itches are scratched until they become lesions. No course-correcting is needed when the destination is oblivion. Includes download card. C60 One-minute video here: https://youtu.be/XWzdff9zdIc