STYLIANOS OU - TO QFAHLOGO

Released: February 3

Here is an album that I found exceptionally difficult to categorize. It's not quite noise, it has some avant garde qualities, and it is most certainly not ambient. It's a strange and complex combination of sounds and sources that is deeply brain-bending and difficult to wrap in any kind of understanding.  I do have to say that one of my favorite features of this album is the use of vocal samples in a way that makes them almost indistinguishable from the erratic percussion that permeates the album. 

Choosing a favorite track on this album is a fool's errand for me. Maybe it is because i enjoyed each track as more as the one before it or maybe it is because the entire experience left me dizzy and completely disoriented. Despite this, there is something about this album that resonates with me though I can't exactly pinpoint what it is. Perhaps it is the way in which this album attempts to depict the mental struggles of its creator in such a stark and jarring way with no buffer or padding. The freeform and quickly shifting nature of the album will leave you shaken to an extent. But if it doesn't, perhaps you just enjoy the insanity.