7.13.21 by Matty McPherson

Dax Pierson’s triumphant homecoming transcends the body. Open the tape and you find a picture of the wheelchair, the station from which this album was concocted in Ableton like it was a flowing rhythm. Ratskin Records, the local Oakland, CA collective, released a single run of hi bias chrome Nerve Bump tapes in February. I’m glad to see it is being blessed with a reprinting that should not go unnoticed. Each of his 8 Nerve Bumps are balls-to-the-walls full of ideas that stick. Pierson finds harmony on the dance floor, as much grace in the peaks and crevices of ambience.

There is greater emphasis towards dance tracks that never feels one-track minded. The marking of this as “A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction” means that it is necessary to revel in zones beyond people, places, and typical boundaries. It’s the synth atmospherics that latch on strongest, working them into anything between the whiplash of bungee bounce (“I Slay the Pain”), screams of an angel (“For The Angels”), and vaporous disintegration (“For 2_24”) that can carry you there. All the while, Pierson sprinkles musique concrete mischief (“Snap”) and trap-drum psychedelia (“Keflex”). Yet, with closer “NTHNG FKS U HRDR THN TM”  Pierson decides to take things outside, stretching all those atmospheric touch points of this dance smorgasbord into a UFO calling drone piece. Of course, just when you think Pierson might close on a grim note, those trap cymbals hit back, hissing and leading out in a most featherweight manner. 

Available on cassette (and various formats) from Dax Pierson.