Prostitutes - Ghost Detergent

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  • It's rather bold to say your music is beholden to no trends, but James Donadio's latest album as Prostitutes holds up well to his claim. Ghost Detergent isn't genre-less by any stretch—Donadio folds a number of recognizable flavors into his pulsing sound. But he never seems to be aping a style or jumping on a bandwagon. His omnivorous sonic appetite is utilitarian: every sound, be it borrowed or mutated or wholly invented, is employed to move things forward. That forward motion keeps Ghost Detergent from sounding like a crowded mess. Donadio is adept at adding accents to his music that gather and build, but nothing gets in the way of his relentless, driving rhythms. It results in the most mixtape-style Prostitutes album yet, as most tracks start and end with a prominent, purposeful beat. The densest cuts hearken back to the days when Prostitutes could be described as "technoise." Take the crunchy rattle of "Pressure On The Haunted," whose fuzzed throb shares the singed vibe of recent Container albums, or the coagulating percussion of the aptly named "Cheap Amplifiers." But there's more going on here than just beats run through a blender. Donadio has an ear for texture, though that's never the goal in and of itself. He's always careful to give each track an arc that unfolds like a wordless plot. Sometimes those arcs are a little too on the nose, resulting in flows that struggle to surprise ("Served On The Floor" particularly feels like a string of leftover moves). But that's the exception on Ghost Detergent rather than the rule. More often than not, Donadio strikes the right balance between a sturdy, unwavering foundation that you can rely on and layers of sound and momentum that keep you guessing.
  • Tracklist
      01. Nerve And Gall 02. Chandeliers Shake 03. Government Wrecker 04. The Sting That Stung 05. Pressure On The Haunted 06. Skeptalepsy 07. Pregnant Toad 08. Cheap Amplifiers 09. Fake Hawaiian Suit 10. Served On The Floor
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