Beach Sloth

                Hobo Cubes & Jonathan James Carr create exploratory music. It is music that changes at the drop of the hat. Geography is invoked through the assorted sounds. Often it feels like the two of them are charting new paths in an aural soundscape. Each one of them has plenty of time to discover new territories where the sound becomes completely free. Both take advantage of the over 15 minutes of time allotted for their pieces. With these similar sounds though they create entirely different universes: Hobo Cubes picks a more anxious approach while Jonathan James Carr takes a brighter more relaxed approach. 

                ‘The Vertigo Ship’ is the A-side, Hobo Cube’s piece. Right from the beginning it begins by twittering quite quickly before expanding into a tropical rainforest of sound. Occasionally bass reinforces this humid feeling. From there things get considerably colder, almost Gregorian in sound. Hobo Cube chooses to end the piece with a rather intense pulse-like static rhythm. While uncomfortable it is also somewhat exciting. Jonathan James Carr’s piece takes a considerably lighter tone. Beginning with a rather active sound it expands infinitely. Arpeggios flow on top of one another. The bass in this case adds to the elegance. Eventually it transforms into something positively airy. After a while the bass completely takes over. By the very end the piece becomes nearly hysterical as the rhythm falls over itself towards a beautiful sunset. 

Part of what makes the two of them so appealing is considering how similar they are to each other (sound-wise) they manage to create different ends with the same means. This is an unusual complimentary album of both the darkness and the light.