Writhing Squares have been conjuring up cosmic slop from the Philadelphia underground for a few years now, mixing growling bass, motorik synthesis, and skronking sax into a heady brew of punk-laced progressive RnR. The duo of Daniel Provenzano (Purling Hiss, Spacin, Rosali & the Middlemen) & Kevin Nickles (Ecstatic Vision, Taiwan Housing Project) emerged in 2015 with their self-released Gemini Blues 7-inch, following it up the next year with their debut album In The Void Above for the renowned Siltbreeze imprint. Out of The Ether is their sophomore effort, & first for Trouble In Mind.

Out of the Ether kicks off with the metronomic throb of Dirt In My Minds Eye, setting the stage for the albums 5 tracks of minimal, droning ambience, overtaken at times by Nickles wailing, saxophone skronk; a mixture of the soulful runs of The Stooges Steve McKay & the no-wave stabs of James Chance. Steely Eyed Missile Man picks up the pace, with a four-on-the-floor drive underneath Provenzanos guttural basslines. Bloodborne Hate and Black Book Mass and side one closer I Turned To The Mirror add the industrial menace of Cabaret Voltaire to a locked-in groove and lysergicly introspective lyrics. Album closer A Whole New Jupiter takes up all of the LP versions side two, slingshotting the listener over the event horizon and thru the center of a sonically sculpted black hole, its relentless motorik dirge evolving over the course of the tracks 19-minute runtime into an abstract pulse before lurching back into the groove, riding it into the sun.

Out of the Ether by The Writhing Squares