Adderall Canyonly / Ak’chamel – split
6.2.17 by Ryan Masteller

Dang, Adderall, why the long face? I mean, I guess things aren’t super rosy these days, not like they used to be anyway. But when you preface your promo material with “It’s a bit sad and angry maybe…actually it is. Fuck this shit,” maybe it’s time we had a chat. See, we’re so used to the interstellar blasts of synthesizer goodness you usually transmit our way from the inside of whatever quasar you happen to be inhabiting at any given time that anything other than the norm is met with a raised eyebrow. We certainly don’t begrudge your branching out and experimenting– my god man, do what you feel! – and SINNER GET THEE READY, your side of this split with Ak’chamel, is fourteen minutes of engaging and all-encompassing mood, but we do want to make sure you’re doing OK. The darkness that “Sinner Get Thee Ready” and “But If Not” wallow in is positively Godspeed-ian in its menacing intensity. Both are slow burns to ear-shredding blastoffs, but instead of cosmic awareness our result is the bleakness of oblivion. Heady stuff, there, Adderall, and if you decide you like how this shoe fits, we’ll be happy to see you wander around for a while in it.

Maybe in the wastes of Texas? In fact, Adderall, I think you’ve been hanging out with that bad seed Ak’chamel a little too much, haven’t you? I know you have – that’s why this split exists (DUH, internet, I am so smart, S-M-R-T!). Listen, I know it’s easy to fall under the spell of that cult, what with their ramshackle hymns to The Giver of Illness (or, erm, as the Ecstatic Brotherhood of Anima Mundi?), and the hypnotic acoustics of their two-part live performance on Rice’s KTRU station in Houston are peak desert nightmare fodder. In fact, I think I’m falling under their spell myself: sun’s clouding over, spirits tumbling, despair redlining – is there salvation at hand? Probably not, which is why paeans to dark deities exist, I guess – wicked mantras such as these. So in the end, Adderall, I don’t blame you. In fact, as this split has inspired me to do, I may join you in rending my clothes, putting ash on my head, and gnashing my teeth in anger and disgust for a while, perfectly normal actions considering the status quo.

Tandem Tapes is located in Jakarta, Indonesia, and, as the name of the label implies, it releases strictly splits from likeminded artists. Adderall Canyonly and Ak’chamel’s came in an edition of 25, but only few remain!