- "I don't want to be too negative," Physical Therapy recently told The Fader, "but I will say that people spend a little too much time focusing on trying to invent these imaginary scenes and micro-genres and trends instead of taking the music a little more at face value." Listen to "Safety Net," an uncommonly sprawling 20-minute EP for the ever-interesting Hippos In Tanks label, and you'll see why folks might be looking for something to latch onto: from rumbling hardcore to chugging downtempo experiments to what might once have been called electronica, the Leonia, New Jersey-based producer grabs from more bags simultaneously than you'd think he has hands for.
But Physical Therapy makes a good point about "face value": when you take a step back, soften your gaze and unfix all the pegs your brain immediately wants to stick in his sound, you'll find yourself swept away by surprisingly beautiful music. Opener "Record Sales" trades in messy sound design—a jangly panorama of guitars, some Animal Collective-ready yelps, an extra-crunchy breakbeat—yet goes straight for your tear ducts. "Drone On" softens its heavy Amen break and insistent synths with low-key vocals and well-placed dissonances. "Mind You" shows Physical Therapy finding unlikely compositional epiphanies in applause samples, canyon-wide guitar noodling and droning cinematic strings. The subtly bombastic "Do It Alone" hits like Machinedrum, but the bliss is short-lived: on a chilly "Outro," we ride boxy drums and days-old echoes across a creepily windswept landscape, though we never doubt we're in good hands.
Tracklist A1 Record Sales
A2 Drone On feat. Jamie Krasner
B1 Mind You
B2 Do It Alone
B3 Outro