Zack Kouns - Network and Circuitry of Nettles (Cassette tape)

Kouns’ lyrical vignettes are full of disturbing yet precisely rendered detail. His poetry is sharp; his thoughts have impact. As if scared of the vision he has aired, he allows the song’s structure to dissolve in a barrage of retro computer game chirps and thundering distorted drone. This is like nothing else.The vocals stretch and change shape throughout; operatic warbles giving way to staccato beat poet utterances - all managing to convey emotion successfully, if unconventionally. The love songs here hammer at your conscience, dent your cynicism and bruise your contempt. Drenched in an omnipresent inventiveness, Kouns’ textured room tones and iambic electronica prolapse in delightful circus pop and modem riffage. Like a modern, less inflated and self-consciously ‘far-out’ Trout Mask Replica, Kouns has created a subtle, chaotic masterpiece.