The Aesthetics

Off (Mental Telemetry)
by Lex Marburger

To say that this album was “recorded,” “mastered,” and “engineered” is to take a leap of faith. The Aesthetics is apparently the brain-spawn of one Matt Middleton, a “cult” figure. Essentially, it sounds like a drunk paranoid trying to play Chrome covers strained through Fat Possum Records and recorded on a Radio Shack cassette recorder. That is to say, extremely lo-fi and distorted, blues-like progressions (when you can make them out), and lots of extraneous noise that develops into its own twisted atmosphere. A nice break from the radio, for sure.
(PO Box 46643 Kansas City, MO 64188)