By: Maple Graham
- “all so that they can then demand the cash for this service of love.”
Pleasant, harmonious harp solo. That’s it. It sounds good, and is a wonderful transition, but I come back with the question I keep asking: why couldn’t this be added on to the song it transitions into? 5/10, it sounds really good on its own, but it perplexes me how this was decided to be put into its own entry.
- “Big Rock Candy Mountain ([unicorn] w [amnesia] [misspends ubi] to [self-care] @ [the mid-century suburb]) ([hOuSeWiFe_fAnTaSy] [daydream#01])”
Standing out from the crowd, this is another good song in the album, and acts as a good landmark due to its distribution of volume being much different from most of the other tracks here. Yet, despite its originality, I don’t like it all that much, and it feels too tonally distant from its surrounding tracks. I’d give this a 6/10 solely because I can enjoy it during a full album listen.
- “There is no horizon.”
“I don’t see a lotta money here.” 2/10, acts as the first to a string to segues that go nowhere.
- “The bald hillzones facing the spectator only form a line that merges with the void hanging over them.”
Lyrics taken from another piece of media, combined with other noise. 2/10, works as a transition well enough.
- “Anyone can see that this man and this woman are no longer alive.”
Same premise as the last two transitions. 3/10, no further comment.
- “There is no pessimism here either.”
Some sound effect tinkering followed by “where am I?” 1.5/10; this entire stretch of segues feels redundant and unproductive.
- “What had to happen happened.”
A little bit of a longer transition, which is a welcome change of pace from whatever the last 4 songs were. Starts off with a ‘My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic’ quote, and goes off on some random plunderphonics stuff combined with guitar for the rest of the song’s small runtime. 4/10, it’s listenable.
- “They did not kill each other.”
A cool transition that fades to silence. The best way I can describe it is as an acoustic guitar—the same as the one in the last track—morphing into a low, pure tone. 2/10.
- “[…] every person speculates on creating a new need in another, so as to drive folx to fresh sacrifice,”
Nonsensical sample in isolation. 1.5/10, at least it makes me smile during this stretch of random samples.
- “to place them in a new dependence and to seduce them into a new mode of enjoyment and therefore economic ruin.”
Last transition, including a military-esque chant from the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket’. While meaningless on its own, this flows very well into the next song on the album. I give it a 2.5/10, weighed down by the 6 interlude tracks played before this. This entire ouroboros of transitions is easily the worst part on the album, and describing each one here is mind-numbingly tedious and unfulfilling.
- “Solidarity Forever ([zombie] w [obsessive-compulsive disorder] [conspires] to [bond] @ [the military fortification]) ([i_nEeD_My_bOsS_AnD_He_nEeDs_mE])”
A light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s a shame the massive buildup for this song feels wasted. As I’ve pointed out before, numerous songs here tend to blend into one another, and this is no different. The actual song blends together a choir, trumpets, and chants that were sampled. I give this a 5/10, it’s disappointingly average for its placement.
- “Capital is an abstract parasite, an insatiable vampire and zombie-maker; but the living flesh it converts into dead labo[u]r is ours, and the zombies it makes are us.”
A simple transition that works the same way as the earlier segues: short, sweet, and interesting enough to keep you engaged, but not enough to take away from the other songs. Primarily consists of some sort of growling, followed by an electric guitar melody that is continued on in the next song. 3/10, it does what it needs to.
- “I Walk the Line ([oracle] w [hypochondria] [obstructs justice] to [comply] @ [the forensic laboratory]) ([fOlLoWiNg_mY_BoSsEs_iNsTrUcTiOnS_PrEcIsElY_BeCaUsE])”
I’m a sucker for the sampling in this one, which notably has Johnny Cash singing an excerpt of his “I Walk The Line” threaded into the rest of the composition. It’s pretty casual otherwise, leaning further away from the hyperpop influences that drive the album and towards a guitar-centered song, complete with a solo at the end. It’s a 6/10. This song does incorporate a good bit of generative artificial intelligence, which I do not condone using, but I do appreciate how it was utilized here.
- “Thus every factor, which works against a repetition of the old crises, carries within itself the germ of a far more powerful future crisis.”
A truly magnificent segue, incorporating what sounds to be a crowd arguing following the toll of a bell. There’s also faint My Little Pony sampling again, which shows up in the next song, and the crowd noises carry over as well. It has great sound design, so with all this in mind, I’m giving it a 4/10.
- “Angel from Montgomery ([devil] w [discouraged borderline personality disorder] [extorts] to [negotiate] @ [the sympathy strike]) ([iM_NoT_ArGuInG_WiTh_mY_BoSs_iM_StArTiNg_aN_OpEn_dIaLoGuE])”
This song is a bit of a gray area in my head, as I simultaneously think it sounds decent, but this is a classic example of too many cooks in the kitchen for every part aside from the end. The ending of this song is its only saving grace, where all is stripped away aside from the bassline and vocals, making a wonderful, harmonious soundscape. 6/10.
- “The double bind, […] “[…] the simultaneous transmission of two kinds of messages, one of which contradicts the other, […]””
A single triad vocalized. There is frankly no reason why this should have been separated from “Angel from Montgomery ([devil] w [discouraged borderline personality disorder] [extorts] to [negotiate] @ [the sympathy strike]) ([iM_NoT_ArGuInG_WiTh_mY_BoSs_iM_StArTiNg_aN_OpEn_dIaLoGuE]).” 1/10, no further comment.
- “The contradictory instructions serve to destabilise the folx, keeping them in a state of permanent neurotic anxiety.”
Foreshadowing for “The death model appears when the body without organs repels the organs and lays them aside[…] no mouth,,” which is placed almost 50 songs after. Characterized by little crinkling sounds that I can’t put into words, combined with small pings and crackles. Also interweaves the aforementioned dominant sample in the above song. 2.5/10.
- “The Sound(s) of Silence ([manticore] w [social anxiety] [stalks] to [supervise] @ [the processing plant]) ([lEtTiNg_gO_Of_fRiEnDs_wHo_cAnT_AcCePt_tHaT_Im_hApPy_dAtInG_My_bOsS])”
This song starts with a piano solo that persists throughout, and vocals that are complimented by random samples. Maximalism is sacrificed here for novelty, and it really works well because this track feels so much bigger than it is, giving it a 6/10. Upon re-listening, I was shocked to learn that it’s only 2 minutes.
- “[…] in all spheres of social life the lion’s share falls to the middleman. […]”
3 seconds of utter silence. 0.5/10.
- “in religion, God is pushed into the background by the “Mediator,” and the latter again is shoved back by the priests, the inevitable middlemen between the good shepherd and his sheep.”
Static that brings you back from the silence of before. 0.5/10; these transitions are annoying when trying to review every song here. The transitions work fine in the album, but as I’m going back to relisten to every individual song, they seem like such a poor design choice. For a production time of a little less than a decade, I’m surprised more wasn’t done for these minute segues. To the compiler and hosts of this album, titles can be as long as you want, you know.
