From A Will-Less Gigolo Of A Divinity To The Gore-Splattered Lion On His Own Hearth, Odysseus Becomes “Odysseus” BEE MASK

this was the soundtrack to my jog this afternoon. haven't really familiarized myself with Bee Mask (aka Chris Madak who also runs the exceptional Deception Island label) until recently. the last slew of tapes he released on Deception Island really blew me away: Tiger Hatchery, Mark McGuire, Radio People and this exceptional new release from the man himself Bee Mask.

i tend to prefer my drone music to lean toward the analog side of things (emeralds, mist, oneohtrix point never, keith fullerton whitman, etc), however Bee Mask primarily deals with the electronic although many analog elements creep in. the beauty is that the two are hardly distinguishable from each other. side A is all swirls and cosmic synth zones but with an underlying order to it all. there is even an eastern-leaning feel to parts of it but it always flows smoothly. there are plenty of changes but to Mardak's credit they hardly create any sort of shift in mood. zone out extraordinaire. side B starts with synths that wouldn't be out of place on a oneohtrix point never album but somehow seemlessly drifts into a world where dub music meets drone. it's beautifully done and truly has a sound not often heard on modern kosmische/drone albums. extremely impressive and highly recommended!

this tape is already OOP from Deception Island but you might be able to snag a copy at Mimaroglu or Discriminate still. also, Bee Mask's earlier and maybe even more impressive tape "canzoni dal laboratorio del silenzio cosmico" is getting a deluxe vinyl pressing in April from Spectrum Spools a new subsidary label of the always excellent Editions Mego. listen to Bee Mask here.