Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Opposite Day – Space Taste Race, Pt. 2 (progressive rock)

    Opposite Day – Space Taste Race, Pt. 2 (progressive rock)

    The ‘progressive’ is a quietly contested quality in rock music. There’s a great deal of music that can be accurately described as such, a small subset of which can be categorised stylistically as ‘progressive rock’. A smaller subset of music that is ‘progressive rock’ in style could also be described as progressive in character. There… Read more

  • Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral – Grunt Gullet Pogrom (pronk)

    Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral – Grunt Gullet Pogrom (pronk)

    It’s tempting to say that the Hobopope project hasn’t been well documented enough, but I think I’m just saying that I wish Paul David Rhodes would write and record some more songs. This release, from a few years ago, brings together pretty much all the material that I’ve heard, in versions that I think can… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Richard Wileman seems to be going through a particularly fertile patch of late, putting out releases somewhat faster than I can write about them (and the day he puts out something I don’t write about will be a long time coming). After the vigorous collaborative chops-fest (I simplify unfairly) of Strange Relations comes this short… Read more

  • The Chewers – Dead Dads (avant-rock)

    The Chewers – Dead Dads (avant-rock)

    Sections of rock’s avant-garde feel the need to dress themselves in the armour of technical facility, and indeed some of its practitioners are instrumental virtuosi who base their practice on complexity and sophisticated musical structures. Not The Chewers, who are somewhere to the left of even bands like Sonic Youth or Melvins, in terms of… Read more

  • Dropout Patrol – Sunny Hill (art-pop)

    Dropout Patrol – Sunny Hill (art-pop)

    ‘Literate’ is a term that some might use to characterise Dropout Patrol, and ‘erudite’ is another: neither is really up to the task. Sunny Hill is not a literate record in the sense of being wordy, or more concerned with meaning than feeling, and neither is its erudition of the obvious sort, presenting a succession… Read more

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    ‘Let it be known’, begins the declamation with which Damon Locks opens the first of these two live sets: the immense complexity of the knowing we are invited to share soon becomes apparent. I come across a huge variety of music, much of it extremely creative, inventive, accomplished and unconventional, but rarely do I encounter… Read more