The Encrustaceans “Cats In Eggs Aisle” cassette (Steep Gloss)

The murder of crows invited to participate in the making of Cats in Eggs Aisle delivers a satisfyingly aerodynamic outcome to Simon Wilson’s investigation into the nature of auto-assembled sky mosaics. Upon entering the chat, Neal Retke, Karen Constance, Sharon Gal, Stuart Chalmers, Theo Gowans, S. Glass and Wilson contribute their respective versions of the partially formed and the understated.

Named after the tarpit-inspired sculptures by the late LAFMS pioneer Damian Bisciglia of Agog, and adhering to the spiritual guidelines of early Points of Friction assemblages where targets and final destinations were unknown ahead of time, the debut c40 by this hand-picked gruppo nuovo could pass for TV station sound designers’ after-hours jam session.

Encrustaceans’ continuous sound-collage flows with an unexpectedly somber undercurrent, yet feels entirely apropos for an era when almost everyone would prefer almost everything to be different. Montages of fragments clipped from mass media, processed instruments, malleable electronics, manipulated tape noise, exhausted voices hounded by anxiety, assertive loops, and objects divorced from rational function all coast through the up-drafts and dust devils pocking the route in Wilson’s mission compatible.

– Charles Nielsen, January, 2026.