The Mayors of Nothing
Lo-Fi Industrial Hip-Hop Post-Punk Beats To Have An Existential Crisis To 24/7
self-released
The use of memes and increasingly byzantine chains of reference as mechanisms for coping with, well, everything might be the dominant pathology experienced by everyone aged 15-50 with an internet connection. That’s an indirect way of saying that the new project from longtime collaborators in Klack and countless other projects, Eric Oehler and Matt Fanale has, at least on paper, a broader target demographic than anything either man has ever released before. And while you could draw a whole bunch of links between individual elements in The Mayors Of Nothing’s debut and particular sounds in the Caustic or Null Device back catalog, the record is ultimately created with vibes and moods in mind rather than songs. Whether the patina of dust sprinkled across the jammed up lope of “Rebooting Again” makes you think of Consolidated, Def Jux, or Dälek will likely be a matter of generational difference, but in any case it shows how versed the pair are in the nuances of integrating hip-hop beats into industrial production. The titular post-punk side of things is definitely in capable hands as well: “Crippling Student Debt” connects meandering, dreamy chorus pedal bass to mid-tempo breaks in a manner which almost ends up retro-engineering the ethos of Porl King’s In Death It Ends. Despite a title so lengthy my PC couldn’t handle the mp3’s file path lengths (if you want to hear about existential crises, ask your favourite DJ about file management), the actual music here is exactly the sort of calm but honest stuff you might want to keep at hand while dealing with… *gestures broadly at everything*
