Mittimus
2014
(Band Submission)
Review by Brayden Bagnall
Genre/s: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation, Noise, Avant Garde, Experimental
For Fans Of: Fushitsusha, Zu, Borbetomagus, Skullflower, Ground Zero
Mittimus are doing a lot of things right - well, at least as I'm concerned. I like jazz, I like noise and I like both of those things when they thrown together with reckless abandon and played loudly. So naturally I was drawn to this band's promise of such things and thankfully I was not let down.
Event Horizon begins like a noise album, with a lengthy, spaced out drone track before sucker punching you with full band, improvisational antics. Entanglement the second track introduces you to the highly syncopated, disjointed and oh so good band dynamic that is Mittimus - via call and response instrumentation, challenging tempo changes and tasteful post production manipulation. From there on in you're in for a veritable sonic rollercoaster, that'll see you exposed to harsh guitar drones, synth freakouts, noise rock tantrums and snide jazz outbursts. If you came into this album expecting to be able to place your finger on an exact genre by the time it's over - than you're in for a good couple of hours of head scratchingm friend-o.
Event Horizon is 18 tracks long, with more than a few tracks stretching past the five minute mark. While that may seem long, it never feels that way, due to the band's constant exploration of sound and incorporation of new musical elements. The constant change-up of styles may come of as jarring to some listeners - but honestly I find it to be rather refreshing. To see a band explore more ideas in one release than another band might explore in their entire career is pretty impressive, to say the least.
TRACKLISTING:
1. Piercing the Singularity
2. Entanglement
3. Door to the Edge
4. Dark Matters
5. Passing the Event Horizon
6. Spaghettified
7. Sagan the Father, Hawking the Sun, Tyson the Holy Ghost
8. The Only Signal that Escaped
9. Light from a Million Years Ago
10. Solar Blizzard
11. Voyager's Reply
12. Reflection on the Death of Time
13. Perpetual Flight
14. Universe Bleeding at Edges
15. The Tyranny of Physics
16. Oceans without Gravity
17. Circumstellar Disk
18. A Path Impossible to Retrace
Download/Listen
As a long time fan of Mittimus with some local ties, I highly encourage listeners to search out their earlier material as well. You can hear them evolve without disappointment.
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