Geotic: Mend

Geotic
Mend
Rating: Grrrr

The free music keeps appearing this year. I think it is fantastic that a lot of artists are allowing listeners better access to their works. Geotic is the ambient side-project of electronic artist Will Wiesenfeld, a.k.a. Baths. Unlike Baths, with its heavily programmed beats and dense musical arrangements, Geotic is beatless, featuring a lot of acoustic, treated and looped guitar arrangments, augmented by washes of gauzy synths and piano.

Most of Mend reminded me of the ambient half of one of my favorite albums of all time, David Sylvian's Gone To Earth, but without its fractured take on ambient music and overreliance on samples. While each track sticks to a fairly rigid template, Wiesenfeld's keen ear for melody keeps the listener consistently engaged.

Whether it is the looping guitars of "Beaming Husband,"



the stark, icy synths of "Time Passes In A Slow Sundown,"



the dreamy, wistfulness of "Get Held,"



or the gorgeous, treated guitars on "Our Awe,"



Wiesenfeld has a way with making beautiful music. The fact that he wrote and recorded all 14 tracks in 4 days, is also completely amazing, as it sounds like it has been meticulously poured over. Again, this release is technically free, as you can download it and pay whatever you would like. Throw him a bone though and put in a few dollars to make sure he continues to put out amazing music.

Further fun fact, the album cover is a Optomap Retinal Photo of his left eye.

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/postfoetus/geotic.html

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.