Splinter Group's "Blowing Down Blue Sky" is a
strikingly beautiful release. Sharp and murky;
noisy and musical; intelligent and visceral --
near perfection.

(Their publicity quotes come from "The Wire":
it figures.)

(1) Begins slow, dark, ominous and strange...
a slow pulse comes in, then some wailing female
vocals.
(2) A fast, danceable piece
(3) Quite an excursion, 16 minutes and worth it:
starts slow and sinister with odd little high
licks crawling around on the floor. It closes
with a humming drone. In between the female
vox comes in ("what happened to the snowmen?")
it builds, gets increasingly noisy and almost
bouncey, then reaches a total wall of noise
that eventually fades to let a clean bass lick
come through. Oh, and there's a pulsing/blippy
passage in there before the end...
(4) A quiet, spacey piece.
(5) A quick, oddly awkward drum rhythm with
unrecognizeable female vocals.
(6) Goes through many changes, but maintains a
fast, throbbing quality throughout. Develops
a striding, driving feel.