Aphrodisiac – Various Murky Basements

Artist: Aphrodisiac
title: Various Murky Basements
keywords: alternative electronic experimental rock experimental instrumental lo-fi rock Stroudsburg
reviewer: Simon Hit

Aphrodisiac has this album out that is loved by all; physical copies had been made, but the artist had been told to keep them all, as potential receivers probably thought the material was too good to leave their homely nest.

It starts with the title track ‘Various Murky Basements’ it is mostly a bit of a repetitive drum session, bass, added twinkles for the special effects and then most interestingly a voluminous electric guitar doing its thing. It’s fairly short, and somehow I had to play it four or five times in a row in the hope to write something interesting about it, yet I don’t know what to write other than that I will probably listen it a couple of times more on repeat. It’s one of those things that you don’t know why you like to hear it, yet you have no problem to hit that repeat button like it’s a monkeys ass. (not referring to an actual monkey’s ass, but some lame flash thing from the past…)

Then there is ‘Mind Left for Seattle’ which follows partially a similar concept in sound; having the same instruments and high replay value; yet I feel that this tune is a bit more intense, stirring up an actual feeling. It’s a feeling of walking around with a coat’s collar high up to hide your neck in, look bewildered out of your eyes while walking through dodgy alleys in a nightly situation. Somehow I think of outskirts of New York, a bottle of booze in one arm and perhaps a pair of sunglasses on your nose as to make the night even a bit more darker.

This walk seems to continue with the much uplifting ‘A Membrane’s Virtuous Sky’ which sounds nervous, funky, acidic, punky and quite happy in a nerve wrecking way! It’s the perfect soundtrack for a police chase kind of runaway-thing. It’s also not so serious sounding, more a chase that has some slapstick along the side; or perhaps the running shoes used are similar to the ones Ronald McDonald wears. I don’t know about you, but I like the image that this track shaped in my head!

More drum orientated material that I would definitely recommend you to listen to is the wicked and awesome tune named ‘The Rhesus Monkeys in Floaroma’. I think Aphrodisiac is at its strongest here, giving all who listens a rhythmic sensation with a nice edgy rawness that is lots of fun and yet not too funny! I mean it’s possible to get your inner monkey out and slap your own ass, dance around like you are crazy, yet keep a straight face while doing such thing…

Then it’s time for a bit of an oddball recording named ‘Lauren’. Not that it is actually odd, it just feels a tiny bit out of place as there are now drumming drums here, which is and has been a dominating element on the other tracks. It’s perhaps a moment to take a rest, relax for a bit and acknowledge that Aphrodisiac isn’t afraid to go minimal and certainly not scared for a bit of ambience.

Last tune is ‘Caleb’ which brings back the bass and the drum, keep them doing their thing by working together in a fancy way. The bass starts to growl a bit, as if it is poisoned with a bit of gnarly syntheses and then this short release is all over… Well that is, if you don’t press the whole thing on repeat again as even though not knowing exactly why; I feel it’s worth to repeat this stuff until you’ve spanked your own butt in such a way that sitting down would be a tingling sensation. And yes, that statement doesn’t make much sense, but at least it gets the job done. Check the release out over here:
https://aphrodisiac.bandcamp.com/album/various-murky-basements