Josh Hydeman- Chiaroscuro

Artist: Josh Hydeman

Album: Chiaroscuro

Label: Entropic Tarot

Country: U.S.

Website: Myspace.com/thejoshhydeman

Genre: Experimental/Power Electronics/Dark Ambient

Josh Hydeman is no stranger to the Experimental music realm. As one third of the infamous Boston Power Electronics group Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck, he has seen and done a lot  in his short time on earth, including making one of the sickest solo albums of the year. I recently had the chance to play a show with him and Shane Broderick (TDSOGF) and we did a little trading after the show at my house. I ended up with a bunch of noise morsels, including "Chiaroscuro" by Josh Hydeman. The artwork alone is very obscure, and the music helps paint an even larger picture. Chiaroscuro starts frigidly cold and barren, like one of those desolate winter nights at The Overlook Hotel with the spirits of the twins drifting about. The feeling I get from the opening track "Resurfacing" reminds me of what it would be like to watch a corpse collect snow after your first kill. Recorded in the winter of '08-'09, I’m assuming in Portland, Oregon. There are seven tracks total, clocking in at just over 36 minutes of dark ambient power electronics and noise. He used all kinds of equipment to make this release including a Korg Mono/Poly, Roland Juno 6, Yamaha e1010 Analog Delay, and many more toys. This is the kind of album where I would recommend listening to the whole thing, but my favorite tracks would be "Bioluminescent", a 7 and a half minute dronescape of torture, "The Red Hall", a distorted vision of synth abuse and frostbite, and "Slowly Moving Sun". If you haven’t heard Josh Hydeman, go find his music. If you haven’t seen him live, go see him! If you haven’t heard of Twodeadsluts Onegoodfuck, you are really missing out.

-Jay Watson