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MH-222 Octavius - Audio Noir  Octavius has strived to perfect his stunning amalgam of hip-hop, electronic and avant-rock music in the San Francisco underground over the past four years. This dedication has culminated in his Mush full-length release Audio Noir. Serving as a slight departure from the beats and noise frenzy that ignited a buzz around his 2001 work with 4AM, the new release looks to establish Octavius as a purveyor of even more elaborate territories of sound. Experimental freak-outs collide with classic song structures, tension and attitude give way to raw vulnerability, and Octavius' vocal and production techniques are employed to unnerving effect. Audio Noir adds previously missing darkness and edge to the Mush catalog in a way that overwhelms, thrills, and astonishes in equal measure. |
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| Reviews Summary |
| An important record - LA Weekly / Literally unforgettable - Industrial Nation / Delicious left-field despondency - Outburn / Great invention and blasted beauty throughout - The Wire / A tense, aggressive and surprisingly beautiful album that dares you to define it as hip-hop - Signal to Noise / A new flavor of hop that's dangerous and mesmerizing - San Francisco Examiner |
| Reviews |
| The Octavius recipe goes a little something like this: Take quarter cup of IDM, hip-hop, experimental electronics, and spoken-word, throw it all in a mixer, add a few dashes of cataclysmic beats and reverb, and blend on high. What do you get? An absolute sonic treat. Octavius, nee William Marshall is a one-man aural goldmine. Audio Noir is perhaps one of the most perfectly conceived records I've heard in a long time. Audio Noir manages to consistently hit the right notes, both literally and figuratively. Its spare haunting melodies are enough to pique IDM acolytes, its reverberating soulful beats are a feast for illbient freaks, and its discordant electronics are perfect for experimentalists. Yet despite its genre-bending twists, Audio Noir manages to strike a cohesive tone rooted in its discordant breakbeats. Like a roadmap they lead the listener back to familiar territory even in the midst of one of Marshall's sonic free-for-alls. This record is literally unforgettable. - Industrial Nation |
2XLP/Out Of Print